The Power of Emunah - Do Not Fear at All

From the words of the esteemed Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a

(From the newsletter Tzama Nafshi, Parshat Naso)

"And the spirit of Hashem began to move him" (Judges 13:25)

The main purpose of the creation of the world was to reveal His awe and sovereignty, "The fear of Hashem is pure, enduring forever." One must know that there is only the fear of Hashem; one should only fear Hashem, not fear anyone else, no person, not Haman, not Pharaoh, not blasphemers. One should only have the fear of Hashem; there should be no fear of a minister, a master, a thief, a robber, or a terrorist. The entire creation is in the aspect of sovereignty that reveals the sovereignty of Hashem in the world. The entire creation declares "Hashem reigns, Hashem has reigned, Hashem will reign forever and ever" – apart from Hashem, nothing exists, there are no terrorists, no murderers, nothing.

Our Rebbe says the first thing in serving Hashem is to have no fear! The main thing you should receive from me is to have no fear at all. The Rebbe does not need cowards; the Rebbe does not tolerate faint-hearted people. What are you afraid of? There is Hashem in the world, Hashem is alive and existing, there are tzaddikim, there is Moshe Rabbeinu, there is Yehoshua bin Nun, they rule here in the world, they are the prime ministers. If a person wants to succeed in serving Hashem, if a person wants to succeed in anything, the first thing is to have no fear at all, not a trace of fear. Rabbi Natan Shapira (Megaleh Amukot) says that fear is the greatest impurity in the world. When a person is afraid, it means he has no emunah at all. Therefore, when a person has fear, he must uproot it from the root.

Our Rebbe says in Torah 249 "The essence of strength is in the heart, for one whose heart is strong and does not fear any person or anything can perform great feats and conquer battles through the strength and firmness of his heart" – A person must be a mighty warrior, a person must have endless courage, he must have strength in his heart, he must be brave-hearted, and then he can conquer all his battles. This is the aspect of "Who is the mighty one? He who conquers his inclination," because the first thing is to overcome evil thoughts, to overcome evil visions. And this is what is written about Samson the mighty "And the spirit of Hashem began to move him between Zorah and Eshtaol," from those places the spirit of Hashem came upon him, and he donned strength, and he gained firmness and courage in his heart. There, in that place, he tore the lion and performed great feats.

Rabbi Natan says that when Daniel was thrown into the lions' den, the king, who loved Daniel and did not want him to be killed, prayed that there would be some miracle that Daniel would be covered and not be exposed because if the pit were exposed, there was a chance they would shoot arrows at him. The king knew that the lions would not harm him, they would not overpower him, he was sure that the lions would not devour him, but he feared that a person might shoot an arrow at him. But Daniel was not confused by anything; he maintained his emunah. Daniel said, if Hashem protects me from a lion, then He will also protect me from an arrow. The king said, I fear an arrow, I do not fear a lion. And Rabbi Natan asks, what is the difference between an arrow and a lion? – Rabbi Natan explains that when a person sees an animal, he can maintain his emunah, even if a lion attacks him, he will cry out "Shema Yisrael" with all his emunah, with all his strength, and he will nullify the fear of the lion because a lion cannot cause a person to fall from emunah. On the contrary, when he sees the lion, he gains even more emunah in Hashem, he cries out to Hashem more strongly, and Hashem saves him from the lion – but if a person comes and aims an arrow at him, and that person is a murderer, an atheist, a person without emunah, a wicked person, then he is worse than a lion because he can cause him to fall from emunah. Rabbi Natan explains that this murderer is a demon; he is not a person at all; he is full of heresy, and his heresy radiates onto the person he is going to murder and clings to him, and the person becomes confused by the heresy, by this radiation, and says, "Why are they killing me, what did I do?" He becomes filled with questions in emunah, and this is what causes a person to fall from emunah, from crying out to Hashem. But if a person overcomes these thoughts, these fears, then even if a Nazi murderer comes to a person with a gun to his chest and shouts at him "I am shooting you," and that person remains pure in emunah, clean in emunah, then nothing can be done to him.

As they tell a true story from the Holocaust, a Nazi stood to shoot a Jew, stood him against the wall, and said to him, "Now I am killing you!" That Jew said to him, "You cannot kill me! Only Hashem can kill me!" The Nazi got angry and said, "I am killing you! Here, I am shooting you!" The Jew said to him, "It is Hashem who is shooting me, not you." The Nazi said, "I am shooting! I decide!" The Jew said, "No! It is only Hashem, only Hashem can shoot me." The Jew survived the entire war, went through everything, and knew everything is Hashem, there is nothing besides Him. That Nazi fell silent, he fled for his life, thinking if everything is Hashem, then I am not willing to be Hashem's messenger, and that Jew was saved.

Everything that happens to us for 120 years, everything that happens to us is only tests. Tests with Nazis, with terrorists, with murderers, with harsh decrees – and one must reveal the hidden emunah in the heart, reveal the emunah so that we do not fall in our minds because of any minister, any person, any enemy. We must truly strengthen ourselves that there is only Hashem and stand firm in the emunah that Hashem is one, and everything is illusions, everything is null and void. The main thing is to believe in the true tzaddik, to believe in such a tzaddik who can impart such emunah that there is only Hashem, who can illuminate such emunah, who can reveal the point of emunah, because alone it is difficult to reach such emunah. Only someone who is attached to a true tzaddik, then the tzaddik can awaken him to this emunah and develop it so that he can truly use this point of emunah, because the tzaddik is entirely nullified to Hashem, he has no existence, he has no entity, he is in nullification to Hashem, he has no fear of anything. And whoever merits to reach such a tzaddik and receive from the tzaddik this nullification, this emunah, which is a very high and awesome level, then all will bow and fall before him, all the enemies, all the Nazis, all the terrorists, they and their ilk will all bow and fall.