One in A Generation Volume 3 TEXT v3

The Footsteps
of Moshiach
Copyright © Shuvu Banim International
Jerusalem 2023 / 5783
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated, reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without express written
permission from the publishers.
Cover Design / Typesetting: Jose Pepito
www.ravberland.com
Rabbi Eliezer Berland
One in a
GENERATION
Volume III
Other Books from Shuvu Banim International:
One in a Generation Volume 1: From Haifa to Uman

The Official Biography of Rabbi Eliezer Berland
One in a Generation Volume 2: Into Exile

The Official Biography of Rabbi Eliezer Berland
Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Advice
Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Advice for Success and Happiness
Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Advice for Shalom

Bayit - for Men Only (#1, #2 and #3)
Rabbi Eliezer Berland on the Parsha
Rabbi Eliezer Berland on Jewish Holidays
Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Conversations
Rabbi Berland’s Miracles
Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Prayers
Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Prayers for Health
Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Prayers for Holy Children
Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Prayers for Shalom Bayit
Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Prayers for

Shalom Bayit - for Men Only
iv
Dedicated in the merit and for the ilui neshama of:
Avraham ben Yitzhak Eizik, z’l

Chava Tzirel bat Avraham, a’h
v
Dedicated for the merit and ilui neshama of:
SALEM BEN HAMAMA

ISRAEL DOV BEN ZALTA
MOSHE BEN SHAMAH
HAYA BAT GOLDA
And for the merit and ilui neshama of:
Livia bat Batya
vi
Dedicated in the zchut of:
Danny and Heidi Shwer
And their children:
Yisrael Meir
Aharon
Yakira
Gavriel
Layve
Rachaeli
vii
Dedicated formostly for the hatzlacha and refuah of our
dear Rebbe, the Tzaddik Hador, Harav Eliezer Ben Etiyah.
Dedicated in appreciation to Hashem for

bringing us close to the Tzaddik.
May this dedication, be”H, be a zchus for

hatzlacha in all areas, to all of us, as well as for
the hatzlacha of our entire extended family.
May it, be”H, also bring about an iluy

neshama to all our ancestors:
Reuven Pinchas Ben Sara Naomi

Dina Chaya Bas Chana
Gavriel Ben Dina Chaya
Tuvya Ben Dina Chaya
Ovadya Yosef Chaim Ben Dina Chaya
Yocheved Esther Bas Dina Chaya
Tzipora Batya Bas Dina Chaya
Elisha Shalom Ben Dina Chaya
And in honor of our parents:
Azriel Ben Chasya

Sara Naomi Bas Victoria
Dovid Leib Ben Hadassa
Chana Bas Liba
viii
Dedicated for the zchut of Rav Eliezer ben Etia.
To B’H, bring the revelation of Mashiach, the geula

hashelema, the rebuilding of the Bet haMikdash,
the in-gathering of all Jews in Eretz HaKodesh and
the yeshua of all Jews and Righteous Gentiles.
And in particular, dedicated in the zchut of:
David, Hannah, Dvorah and David bnei Avraham

Avinu and Pinchas Shmuel ben Rivka.
ix
Dedicated for the hatzlacha of:
Yaakov Shalom Ben Rus, and the whole

mishpacha, b’ruchnius u v’gashmius.
x
Dedicated by:
Josh and Yaffa Moorvitch and family
Netanel Eshaghian
xi
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................... xvii
The Calamities Only In 200 Years’ Time.........................................1
Miracles From The Tzaddik.............................................................11
Trump’s Deal of the Century...........................................................17
The Psak from Bnei Brak..................................................................24
The Power of Prayer..........................................................................29
Redemption of the Soul....................................................................37
A Disease that has No Cure.............................................................52
The Tzaddik Returns to Prison.......................................................72
A National State of Emergency........................................................80
The Sufferings of Moshiach..............................................................93
Back into Lockdown.......................................................................112
Rosh Hashana 5781 - The Kibbutz is ‘Cancelled’........................119
Remember, and Don’t Forget.........................................................128
Orders from High Places................................................................146
The Winter of Discontent...............................................................158
They Wanted to Kill 100,000 Jews in 5 Minutes.........................170
The Message from the Hidden Tzaddik at Meron......................183
Tragedy in Meron............................................................................188
The Disgrace of the Tzaddik..........................................................218
In the Blink of an Eye.................................................................... 234
The Year of War...............................................................................261
The Death of a Tzaddik Atones.....................................................273
Uman Brings the Geula..................................................................287
The Heart of the World...................................................................296
The Time has Come for Ben Gvir................................................ 300
A Decree of Destruction.................................................................310
Blood Brothers.................................................................................326
The Wars of the Jews...................................................................... 340
Arrows and Shields.........................................................................354
Behold, Behold, Mashiach is Coming!.........................................369
Epilogue............................................................................................375
Glossary............................................................................................377
Additional Resources......................................................................381
“Now, we’re in the ‘ footsteps of Moshiach’. We see now
that they, mamash, want to sell out Israel to the nations
of the world. The Jewish people find themselves in the
midst of the most enormous suffering. “Your persecu-
tors and destroyers will come out of yourself.”
The Midrash says in Parshat Shemini, that before Gog

and Magog and the coming of the Moshiach, there will
suddenly be some terrible things.
Rabbenu brings down1 that it’s possible to cancel all

the decrees, if everyone will join together in prayer, be-
cause the misfortune is that no-one is joining together
in prayer at all!”
– Comments made by Rabbi Eliezer Berland

in a shiur in July 1995, two months before
the Oslo Accords were signed.
1
See Siach Sarfey Kodesh Part II:31.
xv
Introduction
T
his book, the third volume of the ‘One in a Generation’
series about Rabbi Eliezer Berland, begins where the last
one ended - April 8th, 2019, the day before the State of
Israel went to elections.
Nobody knew then what tremendous secrets, surprises and suffer-

ing the next four years was going to hold for the world generally,
the Jewish people specifically, and the Rav and his Shuvu Banim
community, in particular.
Even before the last book had gone to press, the media campaigns
against the Rav targeting him for performing pidyonot in hospi-
tals for sick people had already begun, marking the next round of
intensifying State-sponsored persecution of Rav Berland and his
family members.
So much has happened over the last four years, it was hard to
know where to start - and also where to stop - for Volume 3: The
Footsteps of Moshiach.
If only some of all the stories were told, if only some of all the
Rav’s pearls of wisdom were included, if the details about all the
terrible persecution and hardships were included, this book would
probably be at least a thousand pages long.
xvii
In the end, the decision was made to stick to the highlights and the
main headlines of the last four years, heavily spiced with some of
Rav Berland’s most relevant Torah discourses and conversations.
Strange to say for a book about the Rav, and in contrast to the first
two volumes, he is actually absent from many of the following
pages. This is due to the fact that for much of the last three years,
the Rav has been ‘hidden away’ in many different ways from his
community, and from the world more generally.
Beyond the fact that the Rav was returned to prison, this time
around the courts also ordered very stringent limitations on the
amount of contact the Rav could have with anyone from the com-
munity, as well as severely curtailing his activities with the general
public in a myriad different ways.
For these reasons, and also because this volume is being written
in a climate of intensifying censorship, and State-sponsored per-
secution against Torah Judaism, and the Torah-observant Jews
who try to follow its laws and live by its values and morality, this
book has been written in a somewhat different format from the
previous volumes.
The authors also want to draw the reader’s attention to the fact
that In some instances, we wanted to explain more, and to include
more details, but we have been unable to do so, for many various
reasons beyond our control. It’s our fervent wish that in happier
times, more of those gaps, and more of those stories, will finally
be told.
But in the meantime, despite the censorship and legalities in-

volved, we hope that you, the reader, will be uplifted and inspired
and strengthened by this volume of One in a Generation. And
we also pray that this book will spread a little more of the light of
xviii
the Tzaddik and help to dispel more the dark clouds gathered all
over the world.
Completed in Jerusalem, on the day of ‘Yesod

she b’Yesod’ in the counting of the Omer, 5783,
with God’s help, on May 15th, 2023.
xix
The Calamities Only
In 200 Years’ Time
“It’s written in the holy books that Jews have been burned in all the
cataclysms, in all the holocausts, throughout all the generations.
Everything that happened, it’s only because we still haven’t atoned
for the fact that throughout every day of the Shoftim (period of the
Judges) and Malachim (period of the Kings of Israel and Judah),
we were putting our children into the fire.
All of us are reincarnations of the people who lived in the days of
the Shoftim and the Kings, and we still haven’t atoned for [that
period of time], imagining that there isn’t a tzaddik who knows
how to sweeten this.
So, to put it simply, we still need to atone for what we did then, when
we put our sons and our daughters, and our fathers, and the old
people before [Moloch], and we burned everyone up, 2-3000 years
ago, at the time of the First Temple, and at the time of the Shoftim.
And now, these holocausts, these cataclysms, are meant to come
again.
And that’s why each time, they put us to the fire, and renew this,
and all of this is because we didn’t atone for the period of the
Shoftim. This was a period that lasted for 350 years. It’s written
that [King] Menashe just by himself used to slaughter a thousand
people a day for his idol, and to throw them into the fire.”
– Excerpt of a shiur given by Rav Eliezer Berland,
shlita, Purim night, 5768
1
The Footsteps of Moshiach
B
ack in April 2019, no-one had any idea that the previously
‘stable right-wing bloc’ governments that had been led by
Benjamin Netanyahu for the best part of a decade were
about to become a thing of the past.
But when we revisit some of Rav Berland’s statements from that

time, we can see that the Rav truly had a much clearer picture of
what was about to transpire here in the State of Israel. On April
7, 2019, when he was encouraging his followers to attend a special
prayer gathering called at the Mearat HaMachpela in Hevron, Rav
Berland said:
“Tomorrow is the prayer gathering, and we’re going

to nullify all the decrees of the Zionists, who want to
‘cancel’ Shabbat, so that all the malls and the stores will
be open on Shabbat.
“They want to do the most terrible things in the world,

they want to outlaw Brit Milah, they want to make it
illegal to read Megillat Esther, because ‘how can the
Jews have killed 75,000 people?!’2 When did you ever
hear of something like that?! Only the Nazis would do
something like that, may we be preserved from sin….”
At that time, still almost a year before ‘Covid 19’, it sounded far-
fetched that any democratic country would ‘make it illegal to read
Megillat Esther’, or act in a manner reminiscent of the Nazis... But
not for the first time, the Rav was hinting at some very big secrets
in his ‘casual’ remarks.
2
A reference to Megillat Esther 9:16.
2
The following day, on April 8th, 10,000 people attended the prayer
gathering in Hevron, where the Rav also joined the crowd to
recite the Tikkun HaKlali together. At the end of that evening,
Rabbi Berland announced another prayer gathering happening
soon, and even gave a specific date: Thursday, June 6, 2019, Erev
Shavuot.3
Again at the time, nobody thought too much about the signifi-
cance. The following day, Israel went to the polls, and at midnight
Benny Gantz announced that his ‘anti-Torah’ Blue and White
Party had won the elections. As it turned out, Gantz’s celebration
was premature. As the final counts continued into the morning
hours, Israel woke up to the news that Netanyahu’s Likud and
Gantz’s Blue and White were tied.
In a huge political upset, the ‘New Right’ Party of Naftali Bennett

and Ayelet Shaked failed to cross the threshold required to get
into the Knesset by just 1,500 votes. Nobody knew it back then,
but the stage was set for months of political wrangling and endless
elections, which would keep ‘the Zionists’ on the back foot over
the next four years.
The prayers of the holy congregation apparently had their effect,

and the decrees of the evildoers – who on election night actually
believed they’d won, – seemed to be nullified.
While the politicians continued to fight amongst themselves, in

April 2019 Prime Minister Netanyahu still found time to sign an
agreement with Big Pharma, together with some guy no-one had
heard of, Moshe Bar Siman Tov, Director General of the Health
Ministry. Together, these two men agreed to ‘share’ all of Israel’s
3
Watch livestream footage of the gathering here:
3
‘DNA’ and health information with Big Pharma companies, who

were looking to develop innovative new medical treatments....
This was part of the State of Israel’s billion-dollar investment in

‘digital health’4 - again something that no-one paid attention to
at the time. But all this would come into much sharper focus as
the events of the following years unfolded.
When the second volume of One in a Generation II was pub-

lished on April 17, 2019, a big war of words was going on between
Trump’s White House and Iran, after the United States designated
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign
terrorist organization and put even tougher sanctions on Iran.
A few days’ later, on April 21, Sri Lanka’s commercial capital,

Columbo, was hit by a series of coordinated bombings, targeting
churches and luxury hotels across the city, killing over 250 people
and wounding 500 more.
Very shortly after those attacks, some videos came to light show-
ing Rabbi Berland talking about ‘Colombo’ on many separate
occasions in the two weeks before the attacks. Later, Rabbi Berland
explained that the terrorists wanted the attacks to take place in
Jerusalem, but their plans got ‘changed’.
In many ways, 2019 was a strange ‘in-between’ year for Rav

Berland and Shuvu Banim. On one hand, it seemed then that the
worst persecution was finally over, and that things could get ‘back
to normal’.
4
https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/emea/gold-mine-data-driving-
israels-billion-shekel-bet-digital-health
4
On the other hand, there were hints that more storm clouds were
gathering on the horizon. There was still a lot of ‘din’ in the air,
and harsh judgements befalling the wider Breslov community.
At the beginning of May, someone ventured to ask Rav Berland

why so many young Breslov men were dying strange deaths, in
a string of motorbike accidents and drownings in the Kinneret.
The questioner asked, “Honored rabbi, why are so many young

Breslov men being killed in strange ways, and how can we put an
end to this awful situation?”
Rav Berland replied:
“[It’s happening] because of the opposition to the Rav.

[The people against the Rav] have been causing young
men to stumble and go against the Rav. They put stum-
bling blocks before the young men, and they believe
them. And so, there are traffic accidents, and people
drowning in bodies of water, rachmana litzlan.”
Also at the beginning of May 2019, the Rav asked the community
to read the entire book of Tehillim every day, until Rosh Chodesh
Iyar, which that year fell on May 4th. Two hundred avreichim from
Shuvu Banim also took upon themselves to read the whole book
of Tehillim every single day, until Rosh Hashana 5780.
As happened so many times, when May 4th rolled around, it be-

came clear what the Rav had been trying to sweeten. More than
600 rockets fell on the South of Israel in just one day, leaving three
people dead and scores more wounded. For the ‘land of miracles’,
that was an unusually high death toll.
5
But then, the rocket attacks from Gaza stopped as quickly as they
started. And no-one could explain why.
A few days later, the bad news continued when Iran announced it
was preparing to increase enriched uranium and heavy water pro-
duction, ahead of restarting its nuclear program. On May 12, 2019,
the Rav responded with the following short note to his followers:
“Be strong and strengthen others.
Distribute all the prayers from Tiferet Zion, until there

won’t be a house in all the nation of Israel that won’t
have a prayer from the Rav.
In the merit of Rabbenu HaKadosh, the holy and awe-

some Rebbe, and in the merit of the holy, pure Torah.
Your faithful servant,
Eliezer Berland”
Later that day, four oil tankers were sabotaged off the coast of the
United Arab Emirates, and the international community rushed
to blame Iran for it. Iran denied the accusation – but the war of
words was clearly ratcheting up another level, bringing a conflict
with Iran perilously closer.
At the same time, some real hopes emerged that ‘the footsteps of
Moshiach’ were finally on the threshold. At a bris mila in Givat
Olga5, the Rav announced:
5
A small town close to the city of Hadera, in the North of Israel.
6
May 13, 2019:
“Today, we are bringing the geula (redemption).

Moshiach is already here. Today, we are bringing the
geula, the Moshiach is already here. The Moshiach is
going to come from Givat Olga. Now, everyone is going
with the Moshiach.”
The next day, Houthi rebels in Yemen destroyed an oil pipeline in

Saudi Arabia and by the end of that week, President Trump was
blowing off more steam at Iran, tweeting that:
“IF IRAN WANTS TO FIGHT, THAT WILL BE THE

OFFICIAL END OF IRAN. NEVER THREATEN THE
UNITED STATES AGAIN!”
The precarious ‘see-saw’ between geula and the war of Gog and
Magog continued. On May 20, the dani18.com website posted
two messages from the autistic young men Binyamin Goldin and
Menachem, stating that Rabbi Eliezer ben Ettia was Moshiach
ben David.
The announcement sparked off such a huge storm of controversy,

that the site’s owner quickly decided to take the messages down,
even though his own son, the autistic man Daniel, had com-
municated his own message that also said “Eliezer ben Ettia is
Moshiach ben David.”
The next day, with Lag BaOmer 5779 (May 23, 2019) just two days
away, Rav Berland said the following:
7
“[O]n Lag BaOmer all the trumpets of war that are

heard around us will be cancelled. In the merit of Rebbe
Shimon bar Yochai and Lag B’Omer, may there be no
more wars in Eretz Yisrael.
We are standing before that great moment when the

great shofar will be blown.
We are standing before the most dramatic moment

ever, the moment when: “And it will be on that day, the
great shofar will be sounded, and those lost in the land
of Assyria and those exiled in the land of Egypt shall
come to Hashem, at the holy mountain in Jerusalem.”
The geula shleima (complete redemption) will come via

this L’ag BaOmer, and we will see how the sea will split
anew…”
To our great sorrow, that didn’t happen back in 2019. Perhaps, the
Rav was explaining why things needed to be slowed down again
when he gave another shiur a few days later, on May 26th, where
he explained:
“The calamities will only take place in another 200

years, not now. Moshiach will come without anyone
dying.
In the Midrashim, it’s written that: In the days that the

Moshiach comes, there will be a terrible war. People
will be chopped and sliced into bits, because everybody
will have done so many transgressions, that it’s impos-
sible to atone for any other way.
8
It’s written that in the war of Gog and Magog all the
mountains will totter and melt. All the mountains will
collapse, the big mountains! They will collapse because
of all the explosions. All the mountains!
But whoever is with Rabbenu (Rebbe Nachman of

Breslov), and whoever will do an hour a day of hit-
bodedut6, and whoever comes to pray together with the
Rav – so they have nothing to fear. Not him, and not
his children, and not the children of his children, all
his grandkids.
It’s written that Hashem will bring all the 10 plagues,

but this will be on the goyim (the non-Jewish nations),
not on the Jews. It will only be on the non-Jewish
nations.
We have nothing to be afraid of! These things are only

going to occur in another 200 years.”
Someone from the audience then said to the Rav, Chas v’shalom,
that this will only be in another 200 years! This should only apply
to the hard things!”
The Rav then told him:
“The good things will happen now. All the good things
will start to happen now.”
Immediately after Rav Berland said these words, he took very

seriously ill again, and was hospitalized. Prayer gatherings were
6
The practice of talking to Hashem in your own words.
9
organized for him all over the country, where people undertook
to read the whole book of tehillim for his recovery.
In the meantime, the Rav had emergency heart surgery at the

Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem. At almost exactly the
same time, the Knesset was dispersed, and new elections were
called for September 2019, as part of Netanyahu’s machinations
to prevent Benny Gantz from being the next designated Prime
Minister.
Jerusalem, the heart of the world, was in turmoil, and the Tzaddik,
the heart of the Jewish people, was also in pain.
10
Mir acles From The Tzaddik
F
or years, Gavriel Lavie had been walking in and out of the
Old City via the Damascus Gate, to learn at the main Shuvu
Banim yeshiva in the Muslim Quarter or attend prayers at
the Kotel.
That fateful day, on May 31, 2019, when Lavie walked out of the
Old City through the Damascus Gate, an Arab terrorist was wait-
ing for him with a knife. Lavie was stabbed more than 40 times, in
many of the most critical and vital areas of the torso. After losing
70% of his blood in the attack, his life was literally hanging by a
thread, and the doctors gave him just hours to live.7
At that point, some of his friends clubbed together to do a pidyon

nefesh for him with the Rav. Barely 10 days later, Gavriel was well
enough to give a press conference along with some of the doctors
who attended him at Shaarei Tzedek Hospital.
Here’s what Gavriel had to say about his ordeal, and miraculous
recovery, on the Breslov Hotline. He began:
“Mamash, we are talking about miracles from the tzad-

dik, and we really feel all the prayers that were said for
us by Am Yisrael,”
7
https://ravberland.com/back-to-life-after-being-stabbed-over-40-times/
11
Someone then asked him how he was doing, and he replied,
“Baruch Hashem, I feel good, although there will be

things we’ll have to learn to manage as we go along. But
generally, I simply went from death to life.
Several ambulance crew members who came to attend

me and to treat me after the attack told me, ‘You taught
us a real lesson for life, never to give up! You were in
critical condition, and it looked like it was terminal.’
Instead, just 10 days later Gavriel was talking, mov-

ing around and back on his feet. He continues his
story:I’d been in the yeshiva the whole week, and I’d
also been learning in the Chatzot (midnight) Kollel of
Rav Meir Sa’adeh, shlita, one of Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s
students, shlita. I’d prayed the morning service with the
vatikin (dawn) minyan by the Kotel, and I was hurry-
ing back home, via the Damascus Gate, to try and get
there in time to see my children before they left for the
Talmud Torah.
I was close to the Gate’s exit when I felt someone pull

my hat off, but I still hadn’t registered what was really
going on. At the time it was all happening, it’s very
hard to comprehend that you’re actually experiencing
a terror attack.
The terrorist attacked me from behind and started

stabbing me. It took me a couple of seconds to realize
what was happening, until I turned around and found
myself face-to-face with the terrorist.”
12
Gavriel continues:
“I didn’t run away, and I did whatever I could [to

defend myself]. Whatever happened, it was all from
Hashem Yitborach. I decided to accept that this could
be the last few seconds of my life. I was stabbed no less
than 40 times, in every part of my body. I started to
recite the Shema prayer as I fell onto my knees.
I fought with the accursed terrorist with every drop of

my strength for a minute and a half, until I could feel
that all my energy was used up, and I fell to the ground
and passed out. For the next 10 minutes, I just lay un-
conscious on the floor, and not a single one of the people
who were around me there called for help.
During this crucial time, I lost an awful lot of blood,

which led to me deteriorating into a critical, almost
terminal condition. I understood that I was hover-
ing between life and death. But in the merit of the
pidyon nefesh that my friends from the yeshiva did for
me [with Rabbi Berland], the whole situation turned
around for the good.”
Gavriel concluded the interview by saying:
“We will of course continue to travel via the Damascus

Gate, and to not be afraid. And to follow the words of
the Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland, that we shouldn’t
be afraid of anything or anyone, apart from the
Creator of the world.”
His story was so incredible, that on June 12, 2019, Lavie found
himself giving a press conference to a bunch of reporters at
13
Shaarei Tzedek Hospital, together with his doctors. When the

doctors themselves described the unprecedently fast, miraculous
way Gavriel had recovered, the story went viral, creating an enor-
mous Kiddush Hashem.8
At that point, it looked like the see-saw had tipped up again, into
‘geula’. On June 2, 2019, the Rav was released from the hospital af-
ter his heart surgery and returned home. Once back in the Homa
HaShlishit, he released another message urging everyone to attend
the prayer gathering in Hevron, scheduled for four days’ time.
The Rav said:
“In this prayer gathering, [people] will be healed from

all the diseases. From the age of 3 and up, everyone is
obligated to come, without any exceptions. Everyone
who comes to the gathering will immediately start func-
tioning normally again. They will function normally,
and they won’t have any more suffering, not for even
a second.”
Again, thousands of people heeded the call of the Tzaddik, and

attended the gathering on June 6, 2019.
But as the month wore on, it looked like things were tipping back
into horrible wars and ‘Gog and Magog’-type calamities again. On
June 13, two more oil tankers from Japan and Norway came under
attack in the Gulf of Oman, and the West once again blamed Iran
for it.
8
Watch Gavriel telling his story in his own words here: https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=Vf8AxdJJx68
14
Then on June 17, the Pentagon authorised the deployment of 1,000

additional troops to the Middle East, while Iran announced that
it was just 10 days away from passing the limits set by the nuclear
deal on its stockpile of low-enriched uranium.
The very next day, Rav Berland was back in Hadassah Ein Kerem
Hospital in Jerusalem after experiencing serious difficulties
breathing. On June 20, 2019, the Rav released the following mes-
sage from his hospital bed, that explained a little more of what
was really going on:9
“The Tzaddik sees awful gezeirot (decrees) that could

come to be on Am Yisrael. A war with Iran and
America, that will harm Israel – millions will be killed.
The Iranians have no end of weapons!
So, the Tzaddik is taking upon himself death, mamash.

To fast without a break from Shabbat to Shabbat. There
was a collapse on Tuesday, in the night, but there will
be a continuation of no eating, very simply, only the
sustenance that comes via a drip.
The Tzaddik is prepared to die for Am Yisrael.”
That very same day, something incredible happened. Iranian

forces shot down a US military drone, and the ‘neo-con’ war-
mongers in the US urged Trump to respond firmly. The next day,
June 21, Trump announced that the US had been on the verge of
launching a military strike on Iran the night before.
9
https://ravberland.com/massive-day-of-prayer-scheduled-today-
june-202019/
15
The American planes were already in the air when President

Trump, inexplicably, called them off, once again narrowly avoid-
ing a war. It looked like the Rav’s self-sacrifice had literally turned
the tables at the last minute, to ensure that ‘the calamities will only
be in 200 years.
At least, the calamities connected to the wars of ‘Gog and Magog’.

But before then, there were still a bunch of other trials and tribu-
lations to deal with.
16
Trump’s Deal of the Century
Evil King Armelius will arise and tell Edom: “I am your messiah!
I am your god!” The people will immediately believe in him and
unite under his leadership. He will say to Esav’s descendants
worldwide: “Bring me the Torah I gave you!”
Every nation will present its religious law. Armelius will declare:
“I gave you this law. I am your god.” He will likewise summon
the Jewish people and say: “Bring me your Torah and declare me
your god!” The Jews will be shocked and frightened…
Nechemiah will say: “You are not God, but the Satan!” He
and thirty thousand mighty Jews will battle Armelius and kill
200,000 of his soldiers. Outraged, Armelius will mobilize an
international army and wage a terrible war against the Jewish
people. Thousands of Jews will be killed, including Nechemiah,
who will die in the afternoon….
The Jewish survivors will flee into the wilderness. For forty-five
days, they will survive on grass.
Moshiach ben David and Eliyahu HaNavi will reveal themselves
to the Jews hiding in the wilderness and restore their spirits.
The people will know God has saved them. As it is said, For
God has redeemed Yaakov, and ransomed him from the hand
of one stronger than he (Yirmeyahu 31:10), and those lost in the
land of Assyria and the outcasts in the land of Egypt will come
(Yeshayahu 27:13).
The nations will fear God. Heretofore scattered, the Jewish people
will return to Israel with Moshiach. Uniting in the Judean desert,
17
the Jews will go to Jerusalem. Remnants of the house of David

will rise up from the ruins, and Moshiach will rule.
Armelius will assemble an international army to fight Moshiach
and the Jewish people. God will fight for his nation, telling
Moshiach: “Sit at my right hand…” (Tehillim 110:1). Moshiach
will say to the Jews, “stand firm, and see God’s salvation,” (Shemot
14:13).
God will immediately do battle for them.
– From the ‘Midrash Heichalos’
President Trump is the greatest President for Jews and for Israel in
the history of the world, not just America, he is the best President
for Israel in the history of the world…and the Jewish people in
Israel love him like he’s the King of Israel. They love him like he is
the second coming of God… But American Jews don’t know him
or like him. They don’t even know what they’re doing or saying
anymore.”
– Tweet from President Donald Trump, August 21, 2019.10
K
abbalistic texts including the Sefer Zerubavel and the
Nistarot d’Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai tell us that at the End
of Days, the Satan will come in the form of ‘Armilus’ to
wage one last battle against the Moshiach. This Armilus will try to
kill Moshiach - and he may even succeed in killing Moshiach ben
Yosef - before ultimately being defeated by Moshiach ben David.
Meanwhile, the Zohar11 talks about “a person who is not suitable

to be king,” shortly before Moshiach is revealed, explaining “it will
be given to him that he should rule.”
10
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1164138796205654016
11
https://ravberland.com/unpacking-the-zohar-on-the-end-of-days/
18
The Zohar continues: “And this same king, who rules with sweet
talk, will govern with great anger, and with rage and with force,
against the holy people.”
In June 2019, President Donald Trump was hitting headlines all

over the world, in a big push to seal his ‘Deal of the Century’ in
Israel.
But thanks to the political deadlock that had developed around

the elections, there was no-one on the other side of the table in a
position to negotiate - and so the ‘Deal of the Century’ effectively
got blown out of the water.
So much has happened since then, it’s hard to recall that less than
four years ago, Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were
making some very serious attempts to create another Palestinian
State, and to force the Jewish people to relinquish parts of the Holy
Land as part of his ‘Peace to Prosperity’ plan.12
According to media reports floating around at that time,

top-ranking Saudi diplomats were being publicly quoted as
saying that the plan included a “clear path leading to complete
Palestinian independence”.13 I.e, we were back to an updated ver-
sion of the Oslo Accords Mark II - just repackaged as the ‘Deal of
the Century’ and the ‘Peace to Prosperity’ Plan.
Kushner was quoted as saying:
12
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/trump-ad-
ministration-touts-mideast-peace-plan-at-kushners-bahrain-work-
shop/2019/06/25/b13a0136-9692-11e9-9a16-dc551ea5a43b_story.html
13
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_peace_plan
19
“The Palestinian leadership have to ask themselves a

question: Do they want to have a state? Do they want to
have a better life? If they do, we have created a frame-
work for them to have it, and we’re going to treat them
in a very respectful manner. If they don’t, then they’re
going to screw up another opportunity like they’ve
screwed up every other opportunity that they’ve ever
had in their existence.”
On another occasion, Kushner explained why this was

a ‘two state solution’ in everything except name. He
said:”If you say ‘two-state’, it means one thing to the
Israelis, it means one thing to the Palestinians. We said,
‘You know, let’s just not say it. Let’s just say, let’s work
on the details of what this means.’”
As well as wielding the stick, Trump was also dangling the carrot,
promising that Israel would get America’s ‘permission’ to annex
30% of the so-called ‘West Bank’. So, while Netanyahu went into
the elections due to be held on September 17, 2019, promising
to ‘annex 30% of the West Bank’, as per Trump’s ‘Deal of the
Century’ (with no mention about what was going to happen to
the other 70%....) the Rav was continuing to warn that Blue and
White’s ‘secular revolution’ was still the biggest danger facing the
people of Israel.
In comments made on September 9, 2019 the Rav said:
“Benny Gantz, together with Lapid, they want to uproot

all the chareidim. They want to throw all the chareidim
onto some island in the Caribbean, so that they’ll build
20
new houses there. So that Yosef Shor14 will start to build

houses, instead of being a mohel.
Also on the [Grand] Bahamas Island, all the buildings

were destroyed. They are blaming Shuvu Banim for all
of this. Now, there are planes here, ready to bring the
whole of Shuvu Banim to the Bahamas.”
The same day the Rav was saying this, Jason Greenblatt, the main
architect of the Trump administration’s ‘Deal of the Century’,
unexpectedly resigned.
The next day, Trump fired John Bolton, his National Security
Advisor, and one of the key figures in his administration who had
been continually pushing the US to start a war with Iran.
After the morning prayers on September 11, 2019, the Rav re-
turned to the political situation, saying:
“Next week, we will find out if Gantz will win, together

with Lapid and Lieberman. They want to do it together;
they will even accept the Arabs [the Arab parties]. The
ikker (whole thing) is that they will have 61 [seats].
Here, we talk about 61. 61 is the magic number.
“Whoever brings 61, he will be the king.”
The next day, the Rav dropped another clue, saying:
“The Tzaddik can sweeten every single thing in the

world.”
14
One of the best-known mohels in the Shuvu Banim community.
21
And honestly, the Tzaddik had a lot of work to do.
On Sept 17, 2019, Israelis again headed off to the polls, and even
before the day was over, Rabbi Berland was videoed saying:
“Now, there are no gezeirot (harsh decrees.) there is no

decree at all! it doesn’t matter what is going to happen
with the elections.
“We are in the canister of [pure] oil. Shuvu banim will

always win! They won’t take the Kotel, they won’t take
anything! Even if they want to.”
The following day, it transpired that the elections had been ‘hung’
again, with the Likud getting 33 seats and Blue and White getting
33 seats - but no-one getting enough seats for their bloc to ‘bring
61’ and ‘be the king’.
Once again, Ayelet Shaked and Naftali Bennett’s ‘New Right’ failed
to clear the electoral threshold. Readers may be interested to note
that Ayelet Shaked was the ‘Justice Minister’ when Rav Berland
was forced to make a plea bargain just so he could actually get
out of prison, where he was being held indefinitely without a trial.
Sometimes, the wheels of Divine justice grind a little slowly. But

eventually, they do grind.
In the meantime, the same old political horse trading continued,

with everyone refusing to sit with Netanyahu in a ‘unity govern-
ment’ and Netanyahu refusing to quit and step down as Prime
Minister. As the political impasse continued, with no end in sight,
the Trump administration started leaking their ‘frustration’ at
there not being a stable Israeli government to impose their ‘Deal
of the Century’ peace plan on.
22
Trump had been planning to roll it out in September 2019, but

thanks to three ‘hung elections’ in a row, that just didn’t happen.
A few weeks later, it was announced that Israel was heading into
an unprecedented 4th election in less than a year, scheduled for
March 2, 2020.
And shortly after that, no-one was talking about any ‘Deals of the
Century’ anymore, because suddenly, the world found itself facing
one of the biggest challenges, ever.
But we’ll get to that in due course.
23
The Psak from Bnei Br ak
A person thinks that it’s a mitzvah [to persecute someone else].

The Chazon Ish writes in “the trait of bitachon (trust)” that if a
person is a zealot in the name of Torah, then there is no limit to
his wickedness.
– Comments made by the Rav on Tuesday, 14 Cheshvan 5783
O
n June 24, 2019, in what initially looked like a very prom-
ising development for truth and justice, the Beit Din of
Nissim Karelitz in Bnei Brak announced that they were
formally looking into the false accusations against Rabbi Berland.
They also issued a statement that forbid any more slander or def-
amation being said about him in public.15
That psak din was signed by the Beis Din of Badatz Eida Chareidis,
Beis din of Rav Nissim Karelitz and Beis Din of Rav Shmuel
Wosner, as well as the Raavad, Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, and the
Gaavad, Rabbi Yitzchak Tuvia Weiss, amongst others.
This is what that signed letter said:
15
https://ravberland.com/new-bet-din-of-the-badatz-against-the-persecu-
tion-and-slander-of-rabbi-berland/
24
Court appointed by the most important Batei Din

in Israel
Monday the 21st of the month of Sivan 5779
After we the undersigned have been appointed by the

most important rabbinical courts in Israel to serve as
the “Beis Din” to clarify the machlokes against the Rav
and chossid Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit”a, leader of
the Shuvu Banim community, and to instruct the path
to be followed, and after the Rav and chossid Rabbi
Eliezer Berland shlit”a and his congregation accepted
to come before the court. Therefore, the court requires
all parties, from this day onward, to immediately cease
all hatred and persecution, and not to speak or publish
anything negative on each other and no derogatory
terms or names, in any matter or in any way, either
in writing or orally or in any written and broadcasted
media. And any person who has any claim or com-
plaint, debate and demand on this matter must bring
and lay out all his arguments for clarification and de-
cision only through this court. The court shall appoint a
special secretary, and only through him the arguments
may be brought for clarification and decision before
the dayanim.
And for this we signed:
Sariel Rosenberg, Av Beis Din of Bnei Brak and Av

Beit Din of Badatz – On behalf of Badatz Bnei Brak
under the leadership of Rabbi Nissim Karelitz shlit”a
Rabbi Shmuel Eliezer Stern, member of Badatz

Zichron Meir and Rabbi of Shaarei Torah – On behalf
25
of Badatz Zichron Meir, founded by Rabbi Wasner

ztz”l
Rabbi Yehuda Fisher, member of the Edatz

HaCharedit – On behalf of Badatz the Edah
HaCharedis Yerushalayim
We, the undersigned, rely on the important Geonim,

the members of the Badatz, to clarify and acknowl-
edge the way in which they will go and what deed
they will do
Yitzhak Tuvia Weiss, Av Beis Din of the Eda

HaCharedis
Moshe Sternbuch Rav of the Eda HaCharedis
Chaim Meir HaLevi Wosner, Av Beis Din of Zichron

Moshe
Yehuda Silman
Menachem Mendel Lubin
Zvi Rosenblatt
Yosef Binyamin Halevi Wasner
Menachem Mendel Hacohen Shafran
Naftali Nussbaum
All questions and matters pertaining to Beis Din

should be sent directly to Beis Din via the following
phone number +972-52-710-9158
26
Ruling of Beis Din against the slander and

persecution of Rabbi Berland
Initially, hopes were high in the Shuvu Banim community that

the involvement of the Beit Din would effectively end the ‘open
season’ on Rav Berland, at least in the chareidi world. How could
it not, when it was an open secret that the Rav’s persecutors within
Breslov were the only source of all the negative stories about him
appearing in the secular press, and also the people who had asked
the Beit Din to investigate Rabbi Berland in the first place, with a
view to getting him excommunicated?
But as the months dragged on, and no ruling was made, it ap-
peared that the Bnei Brak Beis Din was not really that interested
in getting to grips with the details of the case, after all. What they
were concerned about, it seemed, was ensuring that the Rav put
iron latticework across the windows of his beit midrash on Ido
27
HaNavi, to make it difficult for the women to see into the shul
when he was praying.
While the Beit Din’s decision dragged on, for no obvious reason,
the Rav was focussed on other things. In June 2019, the Rav told
one of his attendants that the entire geula depends on the Rav’s
prayers. When the prayers circulate throughout the world, geula
comes the sweet way, without war and bloodshed. 16
16
https://ravberland.com/a-z-index-of-prayers-by-rabbi-eliezer-berland/
28
The Power of Pr ayer
PRAYER 915 - THE OBLIGATION TO SPREAD THE LIGHT

OF THE TZADDIK.
TO MERIT TO DISTRIBUTE THE PRAYERS OF THE RAV
IN EVERY HOUSE AND TO SPREAD THE SPIRIT OF LIFE
THROUGH ALL THE NATION OF ISRAEL.
AND TO MERIT TO CONNECT TO A NUMBER OF PRAYERS
WITH WHICH I WILL GO ALL MY LIFE, BECAUSE THESE
PRAYERS ARE THE SANCTUARY OF CHANGING COLORS.
AND IN THE MERIT OF THESE PRAYERS, MAY WE
RECEIVE OUR RIGHTEOUS MOSHIACH.
Master of the world, may I merit to distribute the prayers

of the Rav in each and every house, and in each and ev-
ery place, and in each and every neighborhood, and to
each and every Jew, so that no Jew will be lacking in any
prayer, G-d forbid.
And on this depends the complete redemption, until the
revelation of Moshiach ben David through the prayers
of the Rav, until they are spread throughout the world,
and to every single Jew, which is the secret of the death
of the firstborn, when Hashem smote the sitra achra, on
account of there being not a single home without prayers
of the Rav.
29
And may we merit to go out and distribute every single

day all the prayers of the Rav.
And through this may we merit to enter in the blink
(305) of an eye (130) to the sanctuary of changing colors,
because the Rav wrote in all the colors, tens of prayers in
every color, and so every Jew is obligated to find for him-
self several prayers. So too in the merit of these prayers,
may we all merit to receive Moshiach ben David and
bring down the Temple of fire from the heavens before
the eyes of all Israel, and before the eyes of all the nations
of the world....
So too, there should now stop all the flood of the sitra
achra, and it should all be turned around into a flood of
prayers and supplications, and through this we should
be saved from the evil inclination.
– Prayer written by Rabbi Eliezer Berland
I
n his writings, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov explains in a few
different places that at the end of days, the world would be
drowned by a ‘flood’ of heresy, and it would rise so high, this
heretical ‘flood’ would even splash over the Holy Land of Israel,
which was untouched in Noach’s flood.
Anyone looking around at the last few years would understand

immediately that Rebbe Nachman was describing exactly what
is occurring in our world, where so many ‘false gods’ have been
elevated and worshipped, even within the apparently ‘religious’
Jewish community.
And Rebbe Nachman explained that there was only one way to
stop this ‘flood’ of the sitra achra, as Rabbi Berland described in
his prayer Number 915 - to turn everything around to become a
flood of prayers and supplications, instead.
30
A quick glance at the headlines from that time suggests that the
sitra achra was working overtime to try and trigger the world wars
that the Rav was constantly busy trying to postpone, annul and
sweeten. On July 1, 2019, Iran announced that it had exceeded the
300kg limit on its stockpile of enriched uranium, breaching the
cap set out in Obama’s nuclear deal.
Three days later, Britain decided to seize an Iranian super tanker

as it cruised through the Straits of Gibraltar, on the way to deliver
2m barrels of oil to Syria. Reports suggested that - who else? - the
USA was the guiding force behind this decision.17
Two weeks after that, Iran announced it had seized a British oil
tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, as a tit-for-tat reprisal - and the
war drums beat at ear-splitting levels again. It was hard to keep
up with all the ‘downed drones’, burning tankers and naval skir-
mishes occurring between Iran and the US’s proxies.
“I don’t think President Trump wants war,” the Iranian Foreign

Minister Mohammed Zarif said in an interview, “but I believe that
people are around him who wouldn’t mind.”18
In the meantime, we had the guarantee of the Tzaddik of the

Generation that “the calamities will only be in 200 years”, and the
terrible bloodshed surrounding the next stage of the geula process
would be pushed off.
17
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/04/royal-marines-
gibraltar-tanker-oil-syria-eu-sanctions
18
https://www.euronews.com/2019/07/19/british-oil-tanker-seized-irani-
an-forces-being-guided-strait-hormuz-n1031866
31
Again, it seemed that Moshiach was literally on the doorstep.

The Rav spoke frequently about ‘David’ being revealed, even giv-
ing specific times when that would happen. At the same time, it
seemed that America was bent on provoking a war with Iran that
could have terrible consequences for Israel.
The pressure became almost unbearable, when on July 22, 2019,

rumors started to circulate around the Shuvu Banim community
that Rav Berland had disappeared from Jerusalem, and no-one
knew where he’d gone.
Had the Rav gone into exile again? Was he even still in the coun-
try? No-one knew. Then a few days later, word reached the com-
munity that the Rav was recuperating in a private villa, after
experiencing another very serious health episode that landed him
back in the hospital. The Rav released a message explaining that:
“The legs are emuna (faith). The Rav already had one
leg in the next world, and he got to the hospital at the
last possible moment. The Rav’s kidney stopped work-
ing, and it was only with great difficulty that his heart
was working.”
The Rav’s health was always a barometer of the situation, and this
time even a blind man could see that the world was on the brink
of an awful world war.
But each time the Rav landed back in the hospital, taking more
suffering upon himself, miraculously everything just seemed to
melt away again, and the political crises defused all by themselves.
32
On August 6, 2019, the Rav came back to his home in Jerusalem

after a two-week absence. His attendant released a message setting
out new guidelines for anyone who wanted to pray with the Rav
at the Beit HaRav on Ido HaNavi:
The message said:
We are returning the ancient crown to its place, and

going back to conducting the prayers in the same way
they were done for 39 years – organized prayers, with
kavana (intention), and without notes, questions, and
‘meeting and greeting’ the Rav during the time of the
prayers. All personal questions will be answered imme-
diately after the prayers.
“Only prayer with intention, taking place in a state of

total dread and awe, can sweeten all of the judgments,
both in the world, and at the personal level.”
The next week, the Rav called in the editor of the ravberland.com
English site and told him to urgently get 75 of the Rav’s prayers
translated into English.19
Exactly that same day, after weeks of simmering tensions with

Iran, the British authorities in Gibraltar decided to release the
Iranian super tanker, despite heavy pressure from the Americans
to keep it detained.
The power of the Rav’s prayers was already beginning to work.
Thanks to a group of dedicated volunteers who worked around

the clock on the translations, by August 25, 2019, the ’75 Prayers
For Geula’ were ready, and posted up on the ravberland.com site.
19
https://ravberland.com/75-prayers-for-the-geula/
33
When the Rav was told this, he was very pleased, and said it was
better than he hoped - perhaps an allusion to their ‘sweetening
effect’ in the world. But he said the work should continue and
asked for 10 prayers a week to be translated until further notice.
Those prayers became the basis of the ‘A to Z of Prayers’ on the

English site, and then also led to a number of books being pub-
lished in English with the Rav’s prayers, on various topics includ-
ing health, shalom bayis, and holy children. The prayer factory
was up and running...
By the beginning of September 2019, Trump’s administration

continued to turn the screw on Iran, and implemented a raft of
new, even harsher, sanctions. With the Iranians blocked from
exporting oil abroad, and their economy starting to shake to its
foundation, the prospect of war seemed inevitable.
Around that time, the autistics were still communicating their

messages that ‘Eliezer ben Ettia’ was Moshiach ben David - and
that the world was about to plunge into terrible bloodshed, suf-
fering and chaos. At that stage, on September 7, 2019, Rav Berland
sent a message to the people doing the facilitated communication,
to tell them that all the information about the wars happening, etc,
was incorrect - and that the ‘messages from heaven’ should stop.
That same day, Iran announced that it had started to inject gas
into its advanced centrifuges to increase its stockpile of enriched
uranium, and warned the world that ‘time is running out’,20 to
find a peaceful solution to the stand-off with the US.
20
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/iran-standoff-timeline-key-
events-190622063937627.html
34
At the time all this was happening, the media was painting pic-
tures of a ‘nuclear Iran’ that suggested that the only ‘right way’
to deal with the threat was via an aggressive stance and crushing
economic sanctions.
But as we look back, we see that this approach truly brought

the world right up to the brink of a terrible war - and that very
nearly occurred in January 2020, when the US decided to assassi-
nate the Iranian General Qassem Solemaini when he was visiting
Baghdad21.
Hindsight is a tremendous thing, and it’s one of the precious gifts

a person develops when they follow Rebbe Nachman of Breslov’s
advice to do hitbodedut for an hour a day, to sift through the day’s
events, and develop a more objective perspective about what is
really happening.
If not for the Rav’s constant efforts to defuse the situation at the
spiritual level, who knows just how bad things might have got,
four years ago.
R’ Naftali Ropshitz told his followers that Jewish people would

have to wade through rivers of blood up to their knees for geula
to happen and for Moshiach to appear. But the Rav was intent on
21
https://www.rt.com/news/477404-trump-conflict-iran-unprecedent-
ed-war/
35
bringing ‘geula the sweet way’, so the war with Iran was switched
out for a different type of war, that would still pit one person
against another, but in very different circumstances.
On September 25, 2019, Rabbi Berland flew out to Uman, Ukraine,

a few days ahead of the kibbutz for Rosh Hashana, 5780. On ex-
actly the same day, Democrats in the US announced their plans
to push for the impeachment of President Trump, because of the
‘Ukrainian affair’.22
One way or another, Trump found his plans to impose the ‘Deal
of the Century’ on Israel, while all the avenues that could ignite a
war with Iran were somehow being blocked and stymied in myr-
iad different ways, as the Rav’s prayers started to spread around
the English-speaking world.
But the ‘birthpangs of Moshiach’ weren’t over yet. In fact, they

were just getting started.
22
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/463140-trump-claims-
markets-will-crash-if-he-is-impeached
36
Redemption of the Soul
“Know: There are 24 types of pidyon nefesh, corresponding to 24

courts of justice. For each and every court, there is a unique corre-
sponding pidyon nefesh to ameliorate its judgments. Therefore, a
ransom is not always effective. Not everyone knows all 24 pidyonei
nefesh. Even if one does, he cannot perform them, and when one
does not perform the specific ransom required by a specific court,
it is not effective.
But know: there is a certain ransom that includes all the twenty-four
courts of justice and is able to ameliorate [the judgments] of all the
twenty-four courts….”
…. Only one in a generation knows it, and sometimes even when
this tzaddik performs the ransom, it is ineffective. The reason
for this is that this ransom is greatly desired Above, for such a ran-
som does not frequently come from below that can ameliorate all
24 courts simultaneously. Therefore, when this amelioration does
come, it is used for other purposes, such as making converts….[W]
hen judgment and wrath are ameliorated, idolatry is ameliorated
and people convert.”
– Likutey Moharan, I:215.
37
I
n October 2019, Blue and White finally agreed on a deal to
sit in the government with Netanyahu, as part of a ‘rotating
premiership’, which was meant to see Benny Gantz taking
over as Prime Minister 18 months into the term. (Let’s spoil the
cliff-hanger: of course that never happened.)
The new MKs were sworn in and, at his very first speech to the
new Knesset, ‘New Hope’s’ Yoaz Hendel spent most of his time
slandering Rav Berland and Shuvu Banim and demanding that
the Israeli police ‘open an investigation into Rav Berland’.23
Open an investigation into what, exactly? Details like that of

course didn’t and still don’t matter. The important thing is that
the police should be set on the Rav’s tail, and the State-sponsored
persecution of Rav Berland should be cranked up again.
Before we move on, let’s just take a moment to understand the

context for Yoaz Hendel’s public campaign against Rav Berland.
If we fast-forward a little, to November 30, 2019, we see this brave
warrior for civil rights and social justice had another ‘big danger’
to Israeli society in his crosshairs: namely, kosher phones.24
Communications Minister Hendel had summoned a bunch of

leading Rabbis in the chareidi world to complain about the ‘prob-
lem’ of kosher phones. But that wasn’t the real agenda, which
Hendel hinted to in comments like this:
23
https://www.srugim.co.il/384274-‫ברלנד‬-‫הרב‬-‫נגד‬-‫בחקירה‬-‫לפתוח‬-‫הנדל‬-‫יועז‬
24
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-689481
38
“The real argument that is here on the table is how

we look at the State of Israel and whether the State of
Israel can regulate what happens in its space....”
Hendel continued:
“I cannot accept the idea that there is a monopoly of

Judaism that only belongs to the haredi community....
[T]his government is doing a lot to break up some of
[the haredi] hold on religion and state issues in this
country, and it’s something they’ve never experienced
before.”
Hopefully, the reader is starting to understand more of where

this burning need to ‘investigate’ Rav Berland - again - was really
coming from.
So the politicians decreed another witch-hunt should begin, and

the government-sponsored media was only too happy to comply.
On October 21, 2019, the notorious Channel 13 ran its first ‘ex-
pose’ on Rav’ Berland doing pidyonot nefesh for sick people and
introduced the viewing public to the late Shoshie Vidra. The story
was told by Shoshie’s rabidly ‘anti-religious’ mother, who hated
the fact that her daughter had adopted a religious Breslov lifestyle,
and who believed Rav Berland and his community were ‘a cult’.
When the Channel 13 hit pieces about the Rav first started to
air, no-one had any idea where all this was leading. It seemed
like just the usual sort of slanderous mishmash of lies that the
government-sponsored media was always churning out about Rav
Berland.
39
But a few days after the programs started airing, the late Shoshie’s
husband, R’ Asaf Vidra, decided to give an interview, in Hebrew,
where he tried to set the record straight about what had really
happened.25
The following is a translation of the piece that appeared in the Pele

Elyon Newsletter:
The recent, two-part ‘expose’ broadcast on Channel

13 accused Rabbi Berland of contributing to the death
of [Shoshie] Adel, a’h. The whole program was based
on the journalist’s main accusation that Rav Berland
told Adel to fast, and to not eat anything, and to shun
‘lifesaving’ treatment. And not only that, that he also
requested an enormous pidyon nefesh, and promised
her that she would live until 100.
The media went to great pains to show lots of footage

of Adel weeping in torment, in her last days… The me-
dia wasn’t just trying to destroy the concept of emunat
tzaddikim for the secular public, they were also hoping
to turn many chareidim against this concept…But here
is the truth of what really occurred.
Pele Elyon continued:
The Vidra family is part of the Shuvu Banim congrega-

tion in Jerusalem. Their children learn in the Breslov
cheder, and in other Breslov institutions in Jerusalem.
Some time ago, Adel, the wife and mother, discovered
she had gallbladder cancer. This is a rare, but very ag-
gressive form of the illness, that affects only 0.5% of all
cancer patients.
25
As appeared in the Pele Elyon Newsletter #15.
40
Gallbladder cancer is known to be exceptional because

there is effectively no way of curing the cancer, accord-
ing to natural laws. The maximum life expectancy is 5
years. The whole treatment schedule is based on this,
that the patient should live the maximum 5 years re-
maining to them, and no less.
According to the world-class doctors and professors of

medicine, patients with this type of cancer can be split
into two groups: the group where the growth can be
operated on and removed, and the group where no
operation is possible.
In either case, no doctor will promise the patient that

they will live longer than five years, maximum – even
in those cases where the surgery is successful. This is
because gallbladder cancer affects a number of addi-
tional, vital internal organs, including the liver, in a
way that the doctors can’t successfully manage or treat.
Adel belonged to the group where surgery was possible,

and she was operated on by Professor Ben Chaim. Ben
Chaim explained to Adel, and to her husband Assaf,
that he would clean out as much of the growth as he
could, which would enable her to continue to live – i.e.
for a maximum of five more years.
After the surgery, the doctors explained to the couple

that there were some other options – hishtadlut – they
could consider, to try to weaken the grip of the dis-
ease. One option discussed was chemotherapy, but the
doctors explained that this treatment was known to
weaken the body greatly, so was generally only consid-
ered in those cases where surgery was impossible.
41
It was further explained that there were doctors who

recommended patients to have chemotherapy after the
surgery, and many doctors who were against chemo-
therapy after surgery, because of its awful side effects.
Before they made their decision about what course of treatment to

follow, the Vidras spoke to a number of medical experts, doctors
and professors. After attaining all the facts, they decided against
chemotherapy, in preference to a program of holistic, natural
treatment that would focus on healthy eating, and a much greater
emphasis on praying.
Again, the goal of this treatment is to extend the patient’s life for
as long as possible, and not to cure the cancer. What follows is a
translation of R’ Assaf Vidra’s comments in Hebrew, which you
can see for yourself on Youtube.26
R’ Vidra explained that just like most believing Jews,

the couple didn’t want to begin any treatment before
they got a blessing from their Rav, Rabbi Berland, so
they came to see him for a bracha.
As part of that process, they asked the Rav to give

them a bottle of his ‘drops’, to strengthen Adel’s spir-
its and, by extension, her body. These drops are not
a ‘homeopathic remedy’, they are totally spiritual in
nature, and they are one of the ways the Rav clothes
his miracles in a ‘natural’ way.
26
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBZ1MExYBcs - the video has now
been seen by more than 65,000 people.
42
And R’ Vidra stresses that the drops were working. In

the handwritten letter of Adel that Rav Assaf shares in
the video, this is the period that Adel describes as feel-
ing as though she was really “in Gan Eden, mamash.”
But the mother continued to rail against the couple’s

decision, because Adel’s mother believed in the doc-
tors who recommended chemotherapy after surgery.
She did everything in her power to pressure the couple

to do as she wanted. She was used to this Breslov cou-
ple – who were sincere followers of the Rav – ‘giving
in’ to her, so she was sure that she’d also convince
them about this matter.
But the couple felt very strongly that chemotherapy

would only destroy Adel’s health further.
They had the opinions of many leading doctors and

professors to back them up, and they also had the
experience of Rav Assaf’s brother, who had also been
diagnosed with gallbladder cancer a couple of years
earlier. The brother had opted for chemotherapy after
the surgery, and as a result he died very shortly after
the operation, in tremendous agony.
The couple knew they were facing a harsh decree, so

they decided to invest the remaining time left to Adel
in living as healthily and happily as she could, and not
43
suffering from the awful side effects associated with

chemotherapy.
Adel’s mother accused her daughter or ‘not respecting

her parent’, in an attempt to manipulate her to have
the chemotherapy. When she heard that Rav Berland
had given his blessing to pursue a natural course of
palliative treatment, the mother decided to turn all
her efforts towards getting the Rav to pressure the
couple to do what the mother wanted.
At this stage, the mother turned to the known per-

secutors of the Rav, who had promoted the media’s
slanderous stories for years.
They advised her to set up hidden cameras in her

home, and then ask the Rav to come to her house for
a visit and insist that she was paying a large pidyon for
her daughter for a cure – even though she knew the
chances of being ‘cured’ were zero!
The mother also forced her way into the Rav’s home –
again wearing hidden cameras – when she told the
Rav and the Rabbanit that if they didn’t ‘force’ Adel
to have chemotherapy, she would go to the media to
slander them.
The Rav’s way is always to nullify himself before other

Jews, however lowly they may be. Whenever a Jew
makes a request of him, he says ‘yes, of course’, and he
is always very careful to not embarrass his fellow Jew.
44
The Rav told her that if that is what she (i.e. Adel) really
wanted, that she should have the chemotherapy. And
so, Adel was pressured into chemotherapy – which
totally ravaged her body and her spirit. She actually
wrote some very harsh words against her mother, for
forcing her down that path.
After Adel’s passing, a’h, the mother decided to con-

tinue her vendetta against Rav Assaf, for not ‘listening
to her early enough’ – and decided to take revenge by
portraying him as a ‘cult’ member, so she could ask
the authorities to take his children out of the chareidi
framework and give them to her, chas v’shalom.
To this end, the Rav’s usual persecutors helped her

connect to the media, who were only too happy to
publicize her claims that the Vidras were part of a
dangerous cult, and that Assaf Vidra wasn’t fit to raise
his own children.
That is the real story, from Shoshie Adel’s husband. Channel 13,
aka the “propaganda arm of the government”, was only too happy
to put together an ‘expose’ portraying Rabbi Berland as a ‘mur-
derer’. In truth, they painted the mirror image of what really oc-
curred. Rabbi Berland’s blessing and advice gave Adel chizzuk and
hope in her darkest days. What cut her life short prematurely –
and caused her to suffer tremendous agony in her last days on
earth – was the chemotherapy.
The chemotherapy that her own mother forced her to take.
45
Initially some journalists, notably from the Srugim website27,

wrote pieces explaining more of the real story to the public - but
those pieces were quickly pulled. At that time, a few months before
‘Covid 19’, it still seemed incredible that the government of an ap-
parently ‘democratic’ country could be controlling and censoring
the news in such an all-encompassing manner....
In the meantime, there was yet another ‘mini war’ that began on
November 11, when 450 rockets rained down on the Holy Land
from Gaza. But then the hostilities somehow melted away when
Hamas refused to join in, and an uneasy peace returned to the
Holy Land.
Exactly a week later, four rockets were shot into the Golan Heights
from Syrian territory. Israel retaliated by bombing 23 Syrian and
Iranian targets. Again, we all held our breath to see if a wider war
27
The author of the article on Srugim, Oren Amit, had interviewed both
sides in the Channel 13 affair, and formed an objective opinion of where
the truth really lay, which he set out very clearly for his readers. This is
a translated segment of his conclusions:
“The report that was publicized last week by Channel 13 news was
full of distortions designed to blacken [the Rav’s] name, incitement, and
biased attempts to portray Rabbi Berland as a killer and an extortionist,
and his community as a cult.
“The program vilified a recent widower and father of three orphaned
children, who only buried his wife – their mother – two months ago.
It made him out to be a brainless ‘cult member’, who was devoid of
rational thought or free choice – this even though in his past, he was an
elite fighter in an elite unit [of the army], (Sheldag / Maglan); owned a
productive, high-class woodwork business; and was a devoted husband
and ideal father.
“The program took a very difficult family tragedy and turned it into
a vehicle to advance the vengeful, negative media campaign against Rav
Berland, and his community.”
The piece was quickly pulled after Srugim recieved ‘threats’ from the
Rav’s persecutors.
46
was going to begin. And again, it all melted into nothing, and the
uneasy peace returned.
While all this was going on, the Rav put out another message that:
“There is an obligation to study 8 pages of Gemara, and

5 chapters of Rambam, because there is going to be a
terrible shoah, and whoever sticks to this holy learning
schedule will be saved.”
Not surprisingly, the Rav’s message caused a commotion, with

many people asking for clarification. The Rav responded that:
“People didn’t understand the matter correctly. The

shoah is only meant to be in another 200 years, chas
v’halila, and bezrat Hashem, the Rav will sweeten ev-
erything, and everything will turn around for the good.
In another 200 years, the war will begin.”
As the rockets started up again shortly afterwards, that was a

comforting thought.
The Rav returned to the subject again on a separate occasion,

during one of his house visits to the home of Rabbi Rachamim
Bracha, when he said this:
“In another 200 years, there will be the war of Gog and
Magog, but the brachot (blessings) can begin every sin-
gle day. Gog and Magog can only occur in another 200
years. It’s written ‘two thirds’. This is like when Shabbat
is brought in 40 minutes before sunset.
47
“This week, for example, sunset will be at 16:46, so we

light candles at 16:06. Everyone who comes to the shiur
of the Rav will live until 200, this one will live until 300,
that one until 400, this one 500 – everyone will live for
2000 years.
“There’s an obligation to [join with] Shuvu Banim, and

to nullify the decrees.”
On the Shabbat, Rav Berland returned to the subject again, and

remarked:
“Today is Chayai Sarah, Sarah didn’t die, Sarah lives

forever. The Tzaddik lives forever. A single Tzaddik can
sweeten all the decrees in the world. The Midrash Rabba
says that now, it’s enough to have a single Tzaddik.
After we received the Torah, after we had Rabbenu,
a single Tzaddik is enough to sweeten all the decrees.
“Now, it was already Gog and Magog.
“The rockets already got to Highway 1. I said that we

need to travel to Tel Aviv by way of Haifa. But we
cancelled the decrees! Gomarnu (it’s finished)! There
was a decree, [but] we said Tikkun HaKlali, we re-
cited the Shacharit prayers – all the decrees were nulli-
fied. Shacharit, mincha, ma’ariv. Praying with ‘Shuvu
Banim’ sweetens all the decrees in the world.”
48
On the Monday evening before the small ‘war’ with Gaza erupted,
Channel 13 was scheduled to show an interview with Rabbi
Berland, which was meant to be a balanced attempt to get to
the truth of what had really occurred with the infamous ‘pidyon
nefesh’ story.
A week before, the Channel 13 journalist spent hours with the

Rav, doing what a journalist is meant to do, i.e. speaking to both
sides and checking the facts. Very shortly before that program was
supposed to air, Rabbi Berland’s attendants were told that Channel
13 was pulling the piece.
No explanation was given at the time, but after digging around,

the attendants discovered that Channel 13 had been paid 150,000
nis by the men who had persecuted the Rav for years via the me-
dia, to pull the interview.
Two years ago, the Ha’aretz website ran a piece about Avi Nir, the
guy who owns Channel 13, with this headline:
“This Man is a Danger to Israeli Democracy: A televi-

sion channel should never accept government funds to
produce content that looks independent but is actually
pure propaganda.”
The Ha’aretz piece explained:
“In 2014 and the first half of 2015, the franchisee was
paid more than 10 million shekels for a campaign that
included government content inserted into broadcasts....
49
[I]n recent years Keshet has become a propaganda arm

of the government.”28
Here is a little of what Rabbi Berland had to say about this episode,
in own words:
The holkim (opposers) give their whole lifeforce to those

they persecute. They give all the Torah they learned,
all the work they’ve done for the 80 years of their life.
A person who is persecuted, he can finish the whole of
Shas in a second, because they [the holkim] give him all
their lifeforce, and everything they labored for – to the
person they persecute.
The holkim give a person his whole intellect.
A person could live for 400 years, in the merit of those

who persecute him. There is one person whom the whole
world persecutes – all the television channels, the me-
dia, everyone. They also persecuted Avraham Avinu.
That one from America29 paid 150,000 shekels for the

program [putting out the other side of the story] to not
be aired. But he will make teshuva.”30
28
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-this-man-is-a-danger-to-
israeli-democracy-1.5482946
29
This is probably referring to one of the Rav’s main persecutors, who was
specifically named and thanked on Facebook by the Channel 13 jour-
nalist who did the ‘expose’ on the Rav for setting up the whole thing.
30
https://ravberland.com/why-channel-13-is-a-danger-to-israels-democ-
racy/
50
It’s known that the True Tzaddikim see things when they are still
in their root, long before the ‘harsh judgements’ materialize down
here in this world as wars, pandemics, lockdowns...
And it’s also known that the Rav’s shita is to take shame and hu-
miliation upon himself, to sweeten the judgements. Given what
was just around the corner, the hatchet job by Channel 13 had
appeared right on cue. And that was clearly not a coincidence.
(Incidentally, Yoaz Hendel didn’t get to spend a long time in the

‘Communications Minister’ chair. By December 11, 2019, the
Knesset again voted to dissolve itself, and another round of elec-
tions was scheduled for 2 March 2020.)
51
A Disease that has No Cure
“What happens [when people start talking against Rav Berland?]

Machalat Corona. Dear Jews, there is a very hard gezeira, and chas
v’shalom that it should befall Am Yisrael.
“The Talmud says “Anyone who disgraces a talmid chacham –
receives a disease for which there is no cure.” - Kabbalist Rav
Menashe Amon, speaking on February 19, 2020
O
n the morning of Thursday Feb 6, 2020, after finishing
his morning learning schedule and immersing in the
mikvah, Rebbi Eliezer Berland told his attendant in a
very serious voice:
“There’s a terrible decree of world destruction by

the coronavirus.”
The Rav went on to explain that all of humanity is in danger of

complete destruction, and then he began to list several gematrias
related to the spiritual cause of this terrible illness. Among other
things, the Rav mentioned the mitzva of ben adam l’chaveiro, the
commandment including all the laws of how we treat others. In
Hebrew, it has the same numerical value as ‘corona’ in Hebrew,
363.
52
When the Rav’s attendant heard this, and saw the serious look on
Rav Berland’s face, he asked, “What should we do?”
Rav Berland answered:
“We will write a prayer and the decree will be cancelled.

The prayer should be translated in all languages and
read all over the world. With that, the virus will leave
as quickly as it came, leaving no trace behind.”
When this story was posted up on the RavBerland.com website the

first week of February 2020, many people had still not paid much
attention to the stories from China of a mystery ‘virus’ we were
told was highly infectious, highly dangerous, and killing large
numbers of people, especially in Wuhan.
Three short days after Rav Berland said this, the Israeli authorities
arrested him in a violent dawn raid that we’ll cover in more detail
in the next chapter.
And it was only over a month later, on March 11, 2020, that the
World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the novel coro-
navirus (COVID-19) outbreak was officially a ‘global pandemic’.
Right from the start, there were conflicting reports about how
serious the ‘pandemic’ was, what the mortality rates really were,
and how the virus was being spread. But it was not up for debate
that from February 2020 on, ‘Covid 19’ caused widespread panic
and hysteria in all four corners of the globe - and much of it was
deliberately egged on by the media.
53
Amidst all the speculation (and shortly before the Israeli authori-
ties got the Rav out of the picture by arresting him...) Rabbi Berland
shared a few clues about the spiritual causes of the ‘coronavirus’.
While the non-Jewish world discussed the mythical ‘wet markets’

in Wuhan31, Rabbi Berland was asked about the spiritual cause
of the Coronavirus. As mentioned above, the connection with
the way one person treats another, he also drew a connection
between coronavirus and pgmei habrit, (literally, ‘blemishing the
covenant’, i.e. sexual immorality), and the sin of eiver min ha-hai,
eating a limb or organ from a live animal.
Eating the organs of live animals, including the still beating hearts
of frogs and snakes (to quote one example), is a traditional and
widespread part of many Asian cultures. But according to the
seven Noahide laws, any non-Jew that eats eiver min ha-hai is
subject to the heavenly-appointed death penalty.
On January 22, 2022, the World Health Organisation (WHO)

announced that what they now called ‘coronavirus-n2019’ had
been traced to a live seafood and animal market in Wuhan. The
WHO statement said:
“Reducing…transmission from animals to humans

is important, and identifying the animal source or
sources, and limiting exposure to those sources is ex-
ceptionally important.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli Health Ministry was saying:
31
China passed - and strictly enforced! - legislation closing down so-called
‘wet markets’ where live animals were sold well in advance of the coro-
navirus pandemic.
54
“The way that the new coronavirus is being transmit-

ted, exactly, is still unknown. As of today, most of the
infected people have been connected back to a live an-
imal market in China (which has subsequently been
closed down by the authorities.)”
But even at this early stage, Rabbi Berland and many of our true
tzaddikim were shouting loudly that people weren’t connecting
the epidemic to its true cause, i.e. human sins. He said:
“Eating a limb from a live animal (achal eiver min ha-

hai) has the same gematria as ‘Corona’.” 32
The Rav continued that if the Jewish people didn’t wake up, this
new coronavirus epidemic could even reach the shores of Israel....
After the morning prayers on February 6, 2020, Rabbi Berland

explained:
They asked Rabbi Yose ben Kisme, when is Moshiach

ben David coming? He told them about the gate of the
city of Panias, which is a reference to ‘Banias’, and then
said: ‘When this gate falls, and they rebuild it, and it
falls again, and they rebuild it.’ The perush (explana-
tion) of ‘Panias’ is that it’s referring to pahad (fear).
Now, there is Corona. A decade ago, tens of thousands

of people died there from influenza, because China
is the most spiritually polluted and unhygienic place.
Everything there is bacteria and germs, they eat snakes,
frogs, and mice...”
32
The gematria of ‘Corona’ equals ‘Eiver min ha-hai’ = 367.
55
The Rav had been talking about the subject of eiver min ha-hai for
many months before ‘Covid 19’ began, and on those occasions,
he’d specifically connected it back to the sin of the brothers in
slandering and selling the Tzaddik HaDor of their generation,
Yosef HaTzaddik.
In a nutshell, the Rav said that the main dispute between the
brothers and Yosef was whether it was permissible for them to
eat eiver min ha-hai, or at least, to have the appearance of eating
eiver min ha-hai.
In a further connection that hints at how our true Tzaddikim

operate to ‘sweeten’ judgements by way of their Torah classes and
anecdotes, before they even manifest: Back in 5777 (2017) Rav
Berland gave a series of classes on Rabbi Nachman’s teaching in
Likutey Moharan II:83, also on the topic of eiver min ha-hai.
There, the Rav brought a passage from Likutey Moharan that

equates a tzaddik with a ‘limb from a living’ creature, and many
other stunning allusions (See the box out, for the full excerpt).
LESSON FROM LIKUTEY MOHARAN II:83 - THE

TZADDIK AND EIVER MIN HA HAI
When the Holy One wants to taste the positive mitzvos of a Jew
who is a tzaddik, at the moment he is [still] an aspect of a ‘limb
from a living [creature],’ which is forbidden for consumption, and
requires kosher slaughter to make it permissible.
Therefore, it’s necessary that humiliation, [an aspect of] spilling
of blood, an aspect of kosher slaughter, should come upon him.
This purifies the limb from a living creature [and makes it per-
missible]. Then Hashem can taste his positive mitzvos, whether
one mitzvah or several mitzvos…
And concerning spilling the blood of a Jew, there are many lofty
and hidden things, whether it involves spilling blood through
56
humiliation, or the actual spilling of blood. Because there are

countless fallen souls that have no ascent except through spilling
the blood of a great Jew. And sometimes they don’t have an ascent
except through the actual spilling of blood.
This is an aspect of (Yoma 86b) ‘deliberate sins are turned into
merits.’ That is, through humiliation and spilling of blood, the
Divine Presence covers their blood with love, as above.
And this is the aspect of: ‘Love covers all wilful transgressions,’
and the deliberate sins are turned into merits, and the fallen
souls, who are an aspect of ‘willful sins,’ are elevated. Thus, they
are elevated and turned into merits through the ‘covering of
blood with love’.
Back in 5777, when Rav Berland was giving this class about the
Tzaddik’s mitzvot in the category of a ‘limb from a live animal’,
and how the Tzaddik’s humiliation turns ‘deliberate sins’ into
merits, he added:
“And this is how the Tzaddik saves the world from

total destruction.”
Who knows, how far the holy vision of our true Tzaddikim really
extends, and who can guess how many harsh judgments were
sweetened by the tremendous self-sacrifice of our holy rabbis?
But this chapter is hopefully giving at least a little insight into how
much ‘sweetening’ the Rav engaged in, for the weeks, months and
even years before ‘Covid 19’ occurred.
57
Computer-generated images of what the ‘coronavirus’ is supposed

to look like show a number of protein spikes forming a ‘crown’
around a nucleus. When the pandemic was first thought to have
begun in Wuhan, in November 2019, Rav Berland asked the staff
of the Shuvu Banim English website33 to make sure at least 10
translated prayers in English went up on the site every week.
At that time, the Rav stated that he needed these prayers because
he was:
“Battling the 10 crowns of impurity.”
Once again, we can see how even the most casual conversations
from our true Tzaddikim contain hints to awesome secrets and
mysteries.
Ten days after the Rav was arrested during a dawn raid at his home
on Ido HaNavi, and ten days before the first case of coronavirus
showed up in Israel, a leading kabbalist in Israel, Rav Menashe
Amon, laid out the connections between the ongoing persecution
of the Tzaddik and ‘Covid 19’ even more bluntly.
33
www.RavBerland.com
58
This is an excerpt of what Rav Menashe Amon said then34:
Dear Jews, this is not a simple matter.
Am Yisrael is suffering a lot. It’s assur (forbidden) to

speak about any Jew, any member of Am Yisrael, so kal
v’homer35 it’s assur to speak against rabbis and talmi-
dei chachamim, and even more so, against Tzaddikim.
Anyone who disgraces a talmid chacham, a holy

Tzaddik, there is no remedy for his illness. He will
go to all the doctors, and they won’t find a cure. I
don’t need to tell you; you can see what’s going on in
the world.
Dear Jews, there is a great injustice happening here,

that people don’t know about. We can’t see it, off in
the distance, because we don’t have the spiritual eyes
34
You can see Rav Amon’s initial address in Hebrew HERE: https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=csMbiVNo9nY
35
An expression found in the Gemara, which means ‘even more so’.
59
required to understand. There is a Rav, and there is a

Tzaddik, there are the Lamed Vav Tzaddikim36…and
there is the leader of the Lamed Vav tzaddikim.
Do you know what a holy Jew Rabbi Eliezer Berland is?

He is kodesh kodeshim (holy of holies).
HaRav Eliezer Berland was given from shemayim

(heaven) a very hard, and even unbearable mission.
He was given the job of atoning for all of Israel, for every
single one of us. This Tzaddik is accepting upon him-
self shame and disgrace, he’s accepting humiliation,
to sweeten the harsh judgments – so that very hard
things shouldn’t come [to Israel], no epidemics, and
no diseases.
Rabotai (gentlemen), he is atoning for us. The Tzaddik

HaRav Berland is sitting in a prison cell, and this
doesn’t even bother us! Mori v’rabotai, this is disgracing
a talmid chacham! Do you know how serious this is?!
We hear about this Tzaddik, who is atoning for us, and

who is accepting such disgrace upon himself, the most
difficult things imaginable, and we sit here with folded
hands. Are we still believing what the media people
are telling us?! And then we fail and start writing that
he’s a thief and a crook, chas v’shalom.
36
The 36 righteous tzaddikim found in every generation, in whose merit
the world continues to exist.
60
We don’t know who we are talking about – this is the

kodesh kodeshim. This is a fiery angel of Hashem.
Chas v’shalom, anyone should even suspect him of

such a thing, that he would touch a girl.
He is greater than an angel.”37
Rav Amon continued:
Who gets sent to prison, just because he gave someone

some mentos?! If people really knew the truth, in a clear,
revealed way, they would have taken his Mentos with
emuna, and they would have been healed.
He stands praying for 16 hours about me, and about

you, and about them, that there shouldn’t be any harsh
judgements, and that there shouldn’t be plagues!
What happens [when we talk against Rav Berland]?

The coronavirus disease.
The things that we can now see happening in many

countries around the world, this is in order that we will
examine our own deeds. A talmid chacham, a Tzaddik,
who is being disgraced, and we aren’t protesting this?
Woe to us, and woe to our souls.
Rabotai, this is really not something simple.”
37
https://www.shuvubanimint.com/‫אמון‬-‫מנשה‬-‫הרב‬-‫ברלנד‬-‫מחלוקת‬-‫סרט‬/
61
How different the last three years might have been, if more peo-
ple had paid attention to the word of Rav Menashe Amon back
in February 2020, and taken them seriously... But it wasn’t to be.
And in the meantime, on February 21, 2020, two days after Rav
Amon gave this shiur, the first case of ‘coronavirus’ was officially
announced in Israel, and the first 14 day bidud, or ‘isolation’ rule,
was introduced in the Holy Land.
At the end of this chapter, there is a timeline that shows many

of the major milestones of the ‘corona pandemic’ as it unfolded
in Eretz Yisrael. But what’s important to remember, is that right
at the very beginning, Am Yisrael was given a warning that the
media had lied to them about what was really going on with Rabbi
Eliezer Berland....
And that over the course of the corona ‘pandemic’, the media
would be lying to them again and again and again, about the true
nature of Covid 19, and the so-called pandemic.
The short-cut to getting out of the ‘coronavirus’, right from the

start, was to understand that the media was not telling the truth
and was in fact manipulating the public on behalf of the people
who paid their salaries.
Sadly, it would take another three years of lockdown, forced mask-

ing and PCR tests before more people would start to wake up and
understand that the media is full of lies.
And especially when it comes to Rav Berland.
62
The day before Rabbi Berland was brutally arrested, he told his
attendants to get his prayer to be saved from the Coronavirus
translated into as many languages as possible, and to print 10,000
copies of it, to be distributed as far and wide as possible.
Pr ayer to be Saved from Coronavirus
Master of Universe, who can do anything!

Cure me and the whole world of the Coronavirus, because re-
demption is near.
And through this reveal to us the 50th gate of holiness, the se-
cret of the ibbur, and may we begin from this day onward to be
strong in keeping interpersonal commandments (i.e. being kind
to others).
And by virtue of this may we witness miracles and wonders the
likes of which haven’t been since the creation of the world. And
may there be sweetening of judgments for the entire world, to all
mankind, men, women, and children.
Please God! Please cure Coronavirus all over the world, as it says
about Miriam the prophetess, “Lord, please, cure her, please.”
Please God! Who can do anything! Send a complete healing to
the entire world! To all men, women, children, boys and girls, to
all humanity wherever they may be, and to all the animals, birds,
and creatures. All should be cured from this disease in the blink
of an eye, and no trace of the disease should remain.
And all will merit fear of Heaven and fear of God, O Merciful and
Compassionate Father.
Please God, please do with us miracles and wonders as you did
with our forefathers by the exodus from Egypt. And now, take us
and the entire world out from this disease, release us and save us
from the Coronavirus that wants to eliminate all mortals.
We now regret all the sins that we did, and we honestly ask for
forgiveness. And in the merit of our repentance, this cursed
63
disease, that does not miss men, women, boys, girls, and animals,
will be eliminated.
Please God, as quick as the illness came it will go away and dis-
appear immediately, in the blink of an eye, and by this the soul
of Messiah Ben David will be revealed.
Please God, grant us the merit to be included in the level of saints
and pure ones, and bless anew all the fruit and vegetation, that
all will be healed in the blink of an eye, and we will see Messiah
Ben David face to face.
Please God, who acts with greatness beyond comprehension, and
does wonders without number. Please now perform also with us
miracles and wonders beyond comprehension and let no trace of
this cursed disease remain. And may the entire world be cured
in the blink of an eye.
Because Hashem did all this for us to repent, it is all in order for
us to direct our hearts to our Father in Heaven, and by that He
will send blessings and success to all our handiwork. 38
The staff at Shuvu Banim wheeled into action to spread the Rav’s
prayer far and wide, and by the end of March, the Rav’s prayer
had been translated into 37 languages, including Arabic and Farsi.
As the panic and hysteria about Covid 19 continued to mount,

many of the Rav’s followers took an active part in encouraging
people to join their prayers with the Tzaddik. They continued to
print out the Rav’s prayer to be saved from the Coronavirus, and
to get it to as many people as they could.
38
To see the 37 languages this prayer was translated into, go here: https://
ravberland.com/breaking-prayer-to-be-saved-from-coronavirus/
64
There was a deep understanding that the Rav’s prayers were liter-
ally tipping the scales, and preventing a widespread epidemic that
could kill millions of people. Each person who joined in distrib-
uting and reciting the prayer was ‘partnering’ with the Tzaddik
to bring the geula the sweet way, and cancel the harsh judgments
that everyone could feel hovering above their heads.
But as the coronavirus ‘pandemic’ took

off, it quickly became obvious that
‘sweetening the judgements’ this time
around was going to be no easy feat,
and this was one problem that wasn’t
going to disappear in a day or two.
This picture was taken at the Kotel by

David E., at the end of February 2020.
It shows a tourist from Africa pray-
ing at the Western Wall with a copy
of Rabbi Berland’s prayer to be saved
from the Coronavirus in his right
hand.
COVID 19 TIMELINE IN ISRAEL - THE KEY EVENTS
• February 9, 2020: Rav Berland is arrested in a brutal

dawn raid.
• February 21, 2020: First case of COVID 19 diagnosed

in Israel, when a passenger from the Diamond Princess
Cruise Ship tests positive in Sheba Medical Center. First
14-day ‘self-isolation quarantine’ (bidud) introduced for
any travellers returning from Japan or South Korea.
65
• March 2, 2020: ‘COVID’ elections held in Israel. Netanyahu

fails to get a mandate to govern, starts pushing a ‘National
Unity Government’ with him as PM. Is quoted as saying:
“unlike the holocaust, this time – this time, we identi-
fied the danger in time,” saying that the National Unity
Government headed by him is needed: “like before the
Six-Day War,” to “save the country.”
• March 3, 2020: 12 more people ‘test positive’ for COVID

19. The first school in Israel - 1,150 students plus teachers -
are forced to stay home for a two week ‘quarantine’.
• March 9, 2020: PM Netanyahu announces a mandatory

14-day bidud for anyone entering Israel.
• March 10, 2020: Israel limits gatherings to 2,000 people.
• March 11, 2020: Israel limits gatherings to 100 people.
• March 14, 2020: The Health Ministry announces more

restrictions banning gatherings greater than 10 peo-
ple, closing all schools, day-care facilities, malls, restau-
rants, hotels, gyms, pools, attractions, zoos, mikvas,
hairdressers and wedding halls. Weddings are limited
to 10 participants. Only supermarkets, pharmacies, take-
out food and, of course ‘government’ is allowed to re-
main open. Public transportation is severely curtailed.
Netanyahu tells Israel’s citizens they need to “adopt a new
way of life.”
• March 15: Justice Minister Amir Ohana freezes all

‘non-urgent’ court activity, resulting in Netanyahu’s cor-
ruption trial being postponed.
66
• March 17: The Israeli government approves the

contact-tracing program, “making Israel the only country
in the world to use its internal security agency (Shin Bet)
to track citizens’ geolocation.”
• March 18: Israelis are encouraged to ‘clap for the nurses

and doctors’ at 6pm, from their balconies.
• March 19: Netanyahu declares a National State of

Emergency, making COVID 19 restrictions legally
enforceable by fining offenders. Israelis go into full
lockdown and are banned from leaving their homes un-
less absolutely necessary. Meanwhile, the contact trac-
ing program is challenged at the Supreme Court by the
Association for Civil Rights in Israel, leading to its be-
ing suspended on April 26, 2020. Hundreds of protesters
gather at the Knesset to demonstrate about government
over-reach and dictatorial Covid 19 restrictions. Police
make many arrests.
• March 22: Police violently close down the Carmel Market

in Tel Aviv, and the Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem.
Panic buying is rife, there are long queues for toilet roll
and eggs. Transport Ministry starts spying on citizens’
COVID 19 status via their RavKav.
• March 25,2020: The government imposes even more re-

strictions on Israeli citizens, including stopping people
from venturing further than 100 m from their homes,
limiting the number of people in a car to a maximum of
two, and setting up ‘temperature testing’ equipment all
over the country. Anyone violating the new restrictions
is fined 5,000 shekels.
67
• April 1, 2020: The government bans praying with a min-

yan, all public gatherings, and restricts people to walk-
ing outside with a maximum of just one other person
from their own household. They also outlaw the public
burning of chametz just ahead of Pesach.
• April 2, 2020: The whole of Bnei Brak is declared a ‘re-

stricted zone’ and the area is closed to incoming and out-
going traffic.
• April 8, 2020: The government imposes a three-day

total lockdown on the whole country to coincide with
Pesach, banning family members from spending Seder
together. Later, it’s discovered that several prominent
politicians, including Netanyahu, Reuben Rivlin and
Nir Birkat, still celebrated Seder with their own families,
sparking outrage.
• April 12, 2020: The government tells Israelis they have to

cover their mouth and nose whenever they leave home
and increases the propaganda around the necessity of ‘so-
cial distancing’. They also close the haredi neighborhoods
of Jerusalem, prompting concerns that they are using the
coronavirus to settle scores with the religious community.
• May 3, 2020: Schools reopen but only first to third grade,

and 11th to 12th grade. Class size is strictly limited, and the
schoolchildren are required to wear face masks all day.
• May 4, 2020: Some restrictions are eased, 100m limit is

removed, weddings of up to 50 people are allowed.
• May 19, 2020: All schools reopen, but with strict ‘social
distancing’ rules of 2 m, and requirements that children
68
need to be ‘temperature tested’ each day before they attend

school.
• July 1, 2020: Government re-imposes ‘contact tracing’,

orders 30,000 Israelis into bidud (isolation).
• July 6, 2020: Social distancing restrictions re-imposed.

Gathering restricted to 20 people, including on buses,
synagogues limited to 19 worshippers.
• July 24, 2020: ‘Weekend lockdowns’ begin from 5pm

Friday to 5am Sunday, beaches and gyms closed.
• August 31, 2020: Coronavirus cabinet approves the ‘traffic

light’ of Prof. Ronni Gamzu - who later successfully closes
down that year’s gathering in Uman.
• September 13, 2020, the government approves a 3-week

country-wide lockdown, timed to coincide with the
High Holy Days. People are forced to pray either in ‘rotas’
of 10 people at a time inside, or a maximum of 20 people
outside.
• September 26, 2020: Netanyahu announces the closure

of Ben Gurion Airport - and all synagogues for the High
Holiday prayers. The Lockdown is extended another week
to October 19, 2020.
• Nov 1 - 27, 2020: Restrictions eased.
• December 20, 2020: Government introduces ‘coronavirus

hotels’.
69
• December 27, 2020: Third national lockdown imposed,

to coincide with Chanuka. Government makes it illegal
to visit another person’s home.
• January 7, 2020: Lockdown restrictions are made even

harsher. All schools are closed, all non-essential travel is
banned, gatherings limited to just five people. During the
third lockdown, many Israeli citizens get the ‘Covid 19
vaccinations’, manufactured by Pfizer.
• February 7 - March 7, 2021: Restrictions are gradually

eased - for vaccinated individuals.
• February 21, 2021: Israel introduces ‘Green Pass’ apart-

heid. People without a ‘Green Pass’ are still banned from
synagogues, tourist attractions and restaurants, among
many other things.
• April 18, 2021: Israel lifts the requirement to wear face-

masks all the time when outside.
• April 20, 2021: Schools finally re-open in-person, but

students (and everyone else...) are still required to wear
facemasks inside.
• June 1, 2021: Green Pass requirements lifted, but PCR tests

still required to attend school or travel abroad.
• June 25, 2021: Masks are re-instated for inside, Green Pass
requirements re-instated for any events or weddings over
100 people.
• July 29, 2021: Third ‘booster’ shot approved, Israel starts

vaccinating 12+ year olds.
70
• August 8, 2021: More restrictions approved, including

showing ‘proof of vaccination’.
• October 10, 2021: Israel adopts the ‘Green Classroom’

policy, forcing all classmates of a corona-positive stu-
dent to also get tested. Parents and children routinely
spend hours a day queuing for PCR tests.
• November 10, 2021: Covid vaccinations for children 5-12

are approved in Israel.
• December 15, 2021: Rav Berland is finally released from

prison, albeit under a number of continuing restrictions.
• January 2, 2022: Israel approves 4th booster. Uptake is

very small, with most Israelis becoming increasingly wary
about the ‘safety and efficacy’ of the Covid shots.
• February 7, 2022: Green Pass or ‘negative PCR tests’ are

finally dropped in Israel, together with the requirement
to wear masks inside.
We went into ‘coronavirus prison’ a week after the Rav was ar-
rested, and we finally got out a few weeks after he was released.
71
The Tzaddik Returns
to Prison
“He was despised and isolated from men, a man of pains and ac-
customed to illness, and he was counted among the criminals. As
one from whom we would hide our faces; he was despised, and we
had no regard for him.
But in truth, it was our ills that he bore, and our pains that he
carried” - Isaiah 53:3-4.
E
arly Sunday morning on February 9, 2020, in the Jerusalem
neighborhood of Mea Shearim, residents woke up to a bru-
tal, violent, and shocking scene:
In the middle of Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s regular pre-dawn Daf

Yomi Gemara shiur, literally tens of heavily armed police in full
riot gear, with some holding big dogs, stormed into the shul,
stunning the large crowd of people who had gathered before the
vasikin early morning prayers.
The police rushed up to the Rav, who had recently celebrated his
83rd birthday, and publicly presented him with an arrest warrant,
72
before manhandling him out of the door. The Rav was not resist-
ing arrest.
Previously, the Rav had already gone in for questioning, and had
been fully cooperating with the authorities. His attendants had
made it clear to the police that if and when the police decided to
bring the Rav to court, they could be contacted in advance, and
the Rav would cooperate fully and respectfully without the need
for a public spectacle.
So, there was absolutely no reason for the police to treat the Rav
in such a brutal, violent, and disrespectful way. Rav Berland had
been giving the same shiur at the same time, and following the
same daily routine, for months. The police knew his schedule, and
they could easily have come a half hour earlier or an hour later
when the elderly Rav would have been quietly alone at his home.
Or they could have called in advance and arranged for the Rav
to come to them. But as the Rav’s lawyer later explained in court:
“The main goal of the police is to put on a media show

in order to present the Rabbi and his community in a
bad light, because really they have nothing tangible
against them.”
The Israeli Police had been trying for months to collect ‘evidence’
against Rabbi Berland without turning anything up. As ‘trial by
media’ had worked for them the first time they went after the Rav,
73
with nothing else to go on the police clearly decided to stick with

that winning formula.39
One of Rabbi Berland’s lawyers was Attorney Rotem Tubol, who

at this time was also representing other victims of police brutality
against members of the Shuvu Banim community.
Atttorney Tubol explained that the Police and their carefully-crafted

media display were trying to gain public support, because their
attempts to build a real case – with real witnesses, real testimony,
and real complaints – simply hadn’t succeeded. This way, they
could place maximum pressure on the Shuvu Banim community
and hope that someone would snap from the harassment and start
to play ball with them.
Attorney Rotem Tubol had the following scathing remarks to

make about the complaints the police filed against the Rav:
“We saw in the courtroom just how misleading the

Israeli Police’s statements to the media were [about the
charges they brought against the Rav], and how dif-
ferent from what they claimed in court. There was no
‘discovery of massive amounts of money’, as they said.
They haven’t opened ‘tens, or even hundreds, of cases’,
as the Police claimed to the media.
39
For a great example of how the so-called ‘frum news sites’ willingly
participated in Rav Berland’s ‘trial by media’, refer to this: https://www.
theyeshivaworld.com/news/featured/1830126/arrested-cult-leader-rab-
bi-berland-and-family-taken-into-custody-followers-lay-on-road-in-
front-of-police-car-videos.html
74
It pains me that they came to arrest the Rav armed to

the teeth, just to garner the media’s interest in the case.
At the end of the day, he was arrested, he cooperated
fully with the police, and then we found out that we’re
talking about a very small number of matters, pertain-
ing to small amounts of money.
They didn’t seize any money, and there are no bank

accounts (the Rav never had a bank account in his life),
as the police misleadingly stated to the media. And all
the complaints the police are trying to bring against the
Rav have been known to them for a long time, already,
and they chose not to investigate Rabbi Eliezer Berland.
We learn from this that ultimately, the investigation

is probably not going to lead to that ‘guilty’ verdict the
Israeli Police are trying to claim to the media.”
Sadly, Attorney Tubol appeared to underestimate just how corrupt

and politicized the whole judicial process had become in Israel,
when he made these remarks.
Outside the courtroom, journalists interviewed one of Rabbi

Berland’s great-grandsons, Nachman, who expressed full confi-
dence in the Rav’s innocence, and then had the following to say:
“The media and the police are trying to portray Rav

Berland in a very negative way, but I know many other
stories [about him], like the man from Kfar Saba who
brought the Rav a pidyon. He had three broken discs,
but he started walking again after the doctors gave him
no chance.
75
[One of the journalists than asked him why the Rav

was seen distributing a candy called ‘Mentos’ to sick
people.]
It’s a placebo – exactly as used to happen with the Baba

Sali, and many other great rabbis who give blessings. Just
like the Baba Sali used to bless the bottle of Arak – so this
time, it could be something else. So this time, it could be
a packet of Mentos, that my grandfather distributed.
“We believe that rabbis of this caliber can place their

salvations within these types of things.”
[One of the journalists then started aggressively shouting at

Nachman about the ‘200’ complaints that the Israeli Police appar-
ently claimed against the Rav and continued to rant until someone
else told him to be quiet, so Nachman could reply.]
Nachman then responded:
“Where are all these 200 people? I want to see the

200 people who apparently said this. I don’t believe it.
Maybe it’s the same ‘dozens of women’ they claimed
about last time but in reality, not even one showed up.
The Police like to tell a lot of stories.
First, it appears on the news, and there’s always the

people who believe that side of things. And of course,
the media always like to present the [negative] side, and
then of course it turns out that all the media’s ‘suspi-
cions’ end up being unfounded. But that part remains
relatively unreported.”
76
As news of the shocking arrest spread around the chareidi com-

munity in Israel, Rav Sriel Rosenberg, Av Beis Din of the Rav
Nissim Karelitz Beis Din in Bnei Brak, that had been ‘investigat-
ing’ the previous accusations against Rabbi Berland since June
2019 without issuing any further statements, Rabbi Yehuda Fisher
from the Badatz Eida Chareidis Beis Din, and Rabbi Shimon
Badani, the head of the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah, put out a
joint statement where they said:
Translated text of the Rabbis’ Letter:
“Everyone ought to be pained by the arrest of Rav

Berland. If there are allegations and complaints it
should be checked within the existing framework of
our community (i.e. the Beis Din), and no other parties
need to be involved. This is not the way. May Hashem
place peace on us and all of Israel.”
77
Rav Badani then added next to his signature, “I have always

said that when there are any legal matters, you have to go only to
Chareidi Jews to find out the law.”
With hindsight, we can understand that the arrest and persecu-

tion of Rabbi Eliezer Berland probably had nothing to do with
criminal offenses, or ‘misleading the public’ that following certain
treatments or protocols would save them from serious illnesses.
There was a pandemic and a ‘mandatory’ vaccination waiting in

the wings.... the Prime Minister’s own corruption trial was sched-
uled to begin in the Jerusalem District Court the next month....
there were deals to be done with Pfizer, and ‘gold’ to be mined
out of the Israeli public’s healthcare records....and lockdowns to
be meticulously planned and executed....
And the last thing the authorities in Israel wanted was an indepen-
dent, outspoken, and honest leader of the Torah world, encour-
aging people to only fear Hashem, and put their faith in prayer,
charity and teshuva for their salvation - instead of in facemasks
and vaccinations.
So, the decision was made from high up, to get the Rav out of the
picture ASAP, just a couple of weeks before the coronavirus pan-
demic was scheduled to really begin in Israel.
And as usual, the corrupt police, media, judiciary, and politicians

were only too pleased to help.
78
On February 9, 2020, the Rav, his elderly wife Tehilla, and five
of his attendants were all arrested with maximum fireworks and
publicity and taken into custody.
Almost immediately after the Rav was arrested, he was then taken
to the hospital for major surgery on his heart, kidney, and other
vital organs. The authorities gave the Rav no time to recover after
the surgery, and literally took him straight back to prison.
Even while he was in the hospital, the Rav was handcuffed to his
bed the entire time.
While Netanyahu’s corruption case was happily pushed off for

months and months as soon as the ‘coronavirus’ showed up, the
court moved much faster when it came to the Rav. On March
1, 2020, Rav Berland was indicted on charges of ‘fraud, malice,
solicitation and sabotage’, and the court insisted that the Tzaddik
should be returned to prison - despite his recent major surgeries -
instead of being held under house arrest.
No-one understood back then that very shortly, the rest of the
Jewish people, and the rest of the world, would be joining him.
79
A National State
of Emergency
“They want to have here a State that is more abominable than

even the countries of the goyim, and they are more poisonous than
even the goyim.
“And they want to destroy everything here, the whole Jewish re-
ligion, and to destroy Shabbat. They will force cars into chareidi
areas (on Shabbat) and they will not permit anyone to put up any
‘ fences’.40
“They have already announced everything, this is their platform
for the elections. This is a situation of pikuach nefesh (saving a life).
We need to know that this is like a war, now, and whoever doesn’t
go to vote simply doesn’t understand the severity of the situation.
“Gantz, Lapid and Yisrael Beitanu – Lieberman – want to anni-
hilate all of Judaism. Within two years, there won’t be a religious
Jew here, we will need to flee to Egypt, or to Jordan, or to move to
New York or Miami....
“And this will be known next week. Next week, we will find out if
Gantz will win, together with Lapid and Lieberman. They want to
do it together; they will even accept the Arabs in the Arab parties.
The ikker is that they will have 61 seats. Here, we talk about 61. 61
is the magic number.
40
‘Putting fences’ is also an expression in the Torah world for adopting
customs and measures to ensure that no Torah laws should be trans-
gressed, even accidentally.
80
“Whoever brings 61, he will be the king.”

From comments made by Rav Berland after the prayers, on
September 11th, 2019.
The day after the Rav was indicted, Israel had its third election
within a year - and again, there was a stalemate. Nobody had the
magic ‘61’ votes required to form a government, and so many of
the political leaders had campaigned on the promise that whatever
happened, they were not going to sit in a government that had
Benjamin Netanyahu at its head41.
Some cynics might say that Netanyahu was only too pleased to
have a ‘coronavirus pandemic’ appear at this point, to get him out
of his own personal and political issues...
On March 15th, 2020, President Reuven Rivlin gave Benny Gantz’s

Blue & White party the mandate to form a government.42 Just four
days later, on March 19th, Netanyahu declared a ‘National State of
Emergency’, and Israel went into full lockdown.
41
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/16/israel-netanyahu-gantz-
elections-115510
42
https://www.timesofisrael.com/with-libermans-nod-gantz-gets-61-
backers-to-form-coalition-topping-netanyahu/
81
Two days after that, ‘the wizard’ had worked his magic again, and
Netanyahu announced that Likud and Blue & White were now
in negotiations for a ‘national unity government’, because of the
coronavirus state of emergency. Netanyahu would be PM for 18
months, and then Gantz would take over as Prime Minister.
That deal was officially inked on April 20, 2020.43 While the rest
of the country was suffering tremendous torments under the dic-
tatorial restrictions imposed by Netanyahu’s government in the
name of the ‘coronavirus pandemic’, the PM himself had a lot to
thank the National State of Emergency for.
It kept him in his job, and also out of court.
In the meantime, as one country after another followed the State

of Israel into lockdown, many people started to notice that the
‘coronavirus pandemic’, such as it was, appeared to be hitting the
orthodox Jewish community, and especially the rabbinic leader-
ship, with particular force.
Amid the over-the-top media obsession with every single person

that could possibly be stated to have died from ‘coronavirus’, it was
still becoming obvious that orthodox rabbis were making the list
with alarming regularity.
By March 31, 2020, more than 44 rabbis - nearly all orthodox - had
officially died from coronavirus.44
43
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/2020-04-20/ty-article/.
premium/gantz-netanyahu-expected-to-sign-coalition-deal-on-mon-
day-evening/0000017f-f6a9-d460-afff-ffef8ba70000
44
https://w w w.jpost.com/diaspora/forty-four-rabbis-in-diaspo-
ra-have-passed-since-coronavirus-outbreak-623010
82
At this time, the Israeli Ministry of Health (MoH) was regularly

releasing fake statistics stating things like this:
“24% of all coronavirus infections in Israel with

known infection points (35% of all known cases) were
contracted in synagogues....”
With hindsight, it seems that the aim of these fake statistics was
to provide some sort of basis for the increasingly harsh lockdowns
that would see synagogues, schools and mikvahs closed for many
months. By the end of March, even the Israeli Chief Rabbis had
been maneuvered into position, to make a joint call that all syna-
gogues should be closed, and for people to only pray outside - with
masks and social distancing of 2m.45
Also, the Chevra Kadisha was told it had to perform the rit-
ual ‘tahara’ ceremony, or purification of the dead, wearing full
chazmat gear, with the ‘victims of Coronavirus’ wrapped in an
additional layer of plastic, on top of the shrouds. The government
also banned sitting shiva for the dead.
As the evil decrees mounted, Rabbi Berland managed to give over

an urgent message about the situation from his prison cell, on
March 27, 2020. This is part of what he said:46
“The Rav said that everyone should do teshuva now,

and then the Coronavirus will stop.
“The Rav requested in very strong terms that each per-

son should say the Tikkun HaKlali 12 times a day, and
on erev Shabbat also Shir HaShirim.”
45
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/synagogues-to-close-under-new-
coronavirus-regulations-1.8708347
46
https://ravberland.com/an-urgent-message-from-rabbi-berland/
83
It was clear that shemayim was sending the scourge of the ‘coro-
navirus’, in all its many different manifestations, disproportion-
ately against the orthodox Jewish community, both in Israel and
abroad.
The question was, why?
On March 26, 2020, a day after the decree to close all the syna-
gogues was made in the Holy Land, the son of R’ Chaim Dovid
Stern, the famous kabbalist from Bnei Brak, went public with the
following statement:
R’ Stern, Covid 19 is because we stayed quiet.
“Moray v’rabotai (my teachers and friends), how very

difficult is this day for Am Yisrael. It’s like the day when
the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed.
On this day, whole communities were forced to leave

thousands of synagogues across the whole of Eretz
Israel and the world, and with tremendous weeping,
they were forced to go out and pray in the street....
These events need to shock every one of us, and to

cause us to make a cheshbon hanefesh (spiritual ac-
counting), as to why Hashem is doing this to us....
When they came and took Rav Berland and put him
in jail – this was like the cry that ascended to the
Heavens [and sealed the decree].
84
All this big commotion is happening because this

Tzaddik (Rabbi Eliezer Berland) is languishing in
prison – in ‘bidud’. Hashem is angry.... Rav Berland
is stuck in prison and Am Yisrael is stuck with this
Coronavirus.
We need to go out, and to cry out, until they free Rabbi

Berland from the prison. If you have any brains in
your head, if anyone wants to really save this [Jewish]
people…. Perhaps, it was decreed that the Coronavirus
was meant to be in the rest of the world, but in Eretz
Yisrael, there was not supposed to be any Coronavirus.
Everything is happening only because Rabbi Berland is

languishing in prison!”
Rav Stern then continued:
“If there is someone out there who is capable of freeing

Rabbi Berland from prison, that person can save the
whole of this people.
Because they have kicked us out of our inheritance.

They have kicked us out of our synagogues. This is the
churban Beit HaMikdash (destruction of the Temple).
They threw us into the streets! HaKadosh Baruch Hu
said, I don’t want you!! I don’t want your prayers!! I
don’t want your avodat Hashem!!
There is a Tzaddik who is sitting and groaning in

prison – and everyone is silent! No-one is opening
their mouth! Suddenly, everyone is struck dumb. No-
one is saying anything.
85
Everyone has been silenced by a roaring silence – but

HaKadosh Baruch Hu is not silent!! HaKadosh Baruch
Hu is demanding that the insult to his Tzaddik is rec-
ompensed, and then who knows, perhaps [Hashem]
will be merciful.
We need to cry out to Hashem, and then maybe he

will take away from us this terrible gezeira. But we
also need to act! We need action!
If we don’t get Rabbi Berland out of prison, then Am

Yisrael will be in a huge problem! Chas v’shalom, this
can continue to worsen and spread. I don’t want to
describe it so as not to chas v’shalom open the mouth
of the Satan, but this thing depends on us.
We can save Am Yisrael, RIGHT NOW. Even though

these words may sound strange, you should know that
I am telling you the truth. And He is merciful to forgive
our sins.”47
Once again, we see that at the beginning of the pandemic, our

true Tzaddikim were clearly telling us what could avert the harsh
decree, and then stop it in its tracks. But once again - their words
sadly fell on mostly deaf ears.
On March 31, 2020, R’ Yoshiyahu Pinto also put out a video, where
he said the following:
47
https://ravberland.com/read-rav-sterns-words-and-help-save-am-yisra-
el-from-the-coronavirus/
86
“[T]his whole pandemic could have come about just be-

cause of one single person who is suffering, one person
who is suffering tremendous pain.
Sometimes, the pain of a single person can bring on

the destruction of the world.
Each of us needs to think about what’s going on around

them. We’ve had enough arguments, enough quarrels,
enough tension, enough machloket (strife and evil
speech), enough things that aren’t good – lashon hara
should be erased from the world.
We will pass through this plague, and people will die,

there will be difficult things, but this plague will finish.
But you should know that this world is not going to
remain the same world it was.”
R’ Pinto continued:
“Anyone who thinks that this situation is going to

pass, and then he can go back to doing things that ar-
en’t good – this just isn’t going to happen. HaKadosh
Baruch Hu is going to change His world completely.
Just as after the mabul, and the generation of the flood,

when the world was totally changed. Just like occurred
after all those other times when there were such big
shocks across the whole world, at this sort of level, and
the world changed – so the same will happen here...
Whoever harms the Torah scholars, should be con-

sidered as though they are muktzeh (i.e., forbidden to
touch or come near) because of defilement.
87
In the old days, could someone say something [bad]

about the tzaddikim?! The walls would tremble! But
today, attacking the tzaddikim has become some-
thing ‘beautiful’, people really enjoy beating up the
tzaddikim.
And even rabbis are attacking other rabbis. But a rav

who speaks lashon hara about another Rav – we need
to tell him that you are passul, passul, passul! (I.e., dis-
qualified). There is nothing more ‘passul’ than you! Why
are you speaking lashon hara about a Tzaddik?! It’s
forbidden to speak lashon hara about the Tzaddikim!...
When a person says someone else is passul (disquali-

fied), he himself is passul – “each person who disqual-
ifies another person, he disqualifies them with his own
flaw.” Whoever says to you so-and-so is not good –
know that he himself is not good! Because whoever is
not good, he speaks badly about others. Whoever is
really good doesn’t see bad in others...”
R’ Pinto continued:
“Hashem gave us a blow, a spiritual shock, because we

need to look at our inner selves.
To straighten out our lives, and to straighten out our

behavior, and to straighten out our deeds, and to know
why this evil came to the world. For as long as we don’t
know how to really destroy this plague, in a way that
gets straight to the [spiritual] point, and how to really
kill it, nothing else that we try to do will help us. Not
vaccines, and not quarantine – nothing!...
88
If we don’t know how to kill-off this plague, it will not

die! HaKadosh Baruch Hu sent something invisible
that destroyed the world. How can we beat it? How
can we find a cure for the illness? Only if there will be a
miracle that is clothed in ‘natural means’.
This miracle clothed in natural means will come when

we strengthen ourselves, and seek out the bad thing,
what is the thing that caused Hashem to do this. We
need to find this thing and kill it. And then, they will
find the cure to kill this virus.
Until we find out why Hashem did this, why Hashem

created it, and why Hashem placed it in into this world,
there will never be a cure. But when we find the true
cause… And it could happen in a single second – some-
one who hurt someone else could ask for forgiveness,
and that person could forgive him – and in one second,
they find the cure. This is in our hands....”
R’ Pinto concluded his message by saying:
“Each person needs to make very big teshuva about

their lashon hara – very, very, very big teshuva…
Teshuva that comes from the depth of the heart, and
then he will destroy from his heart the lashon hara
until it’s erased from the hearts of people. And then,
HaKadosh Baruch Hu will bring the cure, and all this
evil will be erased from the world.”
Meanwhile, the nations of the world were also noticing that the
Jewish communities seemed to be very prominent in the ‘spread’
89
of coronavirus around the planet, and already by the end of March

2020, the anti-Semites were blaming the Jews for the pandemic.48
The Ynet news site explained that:
“An internal Foreign Ministry report warns of a sharp

rise in anti-Semitic posts around the world as a result
of the coronavirus pandemic.
“In a document prepared by the ministry, malicious

conspiracy theories, some contradictory, are being
spread blaming Israel and Jews for the spread of the
virus, in order to thin out the world population and
profit from vaccination.”
Spiritually speaking, the Jews were to blame for the coronavirus

pandemic taking hold on the world.... but not in the way that the
antisemites believed. Our Tzaddikim were screaming about the
connection between what happened to the Tzaddik HaDor, Rav
Berland, and the lashon hara, persecution and disgrace of the
Torah.
But still, most people couldn’t hear it or make the connection,

even as the evil decrees continued and the parallels became in-
creasingly obvious. For example, during the first week of April,
the chareidi city of Bnei Brak was made a ‘restricted zone’ with
limited entry and exit, and the roads policed by guards and the
army, for a week.
Then the country was forced to celebrate Seder night under harsh
lockdown, forbidden from even burning their chametz.
48
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/B1xuHBePU
90
Then on April 12, 2020, the Ministry of Health released yet more
false statistics, claiming that “75% of Jerusalem’s coronavirus
cases can be traced to Chareidi neighborhoods.” A number of
those neighborhoods also got closed down as a result, including
Meah Shearim, Geula, the Bukharim Quarter, Romema, Mekor
Baruch, Sanhedria, Neve Yaakov, Ramot Shlomo and Har Nof.
All places where the lashon hara and slander against Rav Berland
had taken hold, over recent years. Even the mayor of Jerusalem,
Moshe Lion, couldn’t understand why the government was pur-
suing such harsh measures in these communities. He is reported
to have said to the Coronavirus Cabinet:
“Take the Ramot neighborhood for example — 60,000

residents and 140 of them sick. Why do we need to close
off the whole neighborhood?”49
But as R’ Avraham Stern, and many other tzaddikim before him

explained: “If we don’t get Rabbi Berland out of prison, then Am
Yisrael will be in a huge problem!”
For as long as the Tzaddik was being tormented and abused in

prison - Am Yisrael, and particularly the more orthodox segments
of it, would be suffering and tormented along with him.
Unbelievably, just as the fear and hype over the pandemic was
starting to wane, and many of the restrictions and face masking
and social distancing were starting to be removed, and there was
some hope that the worst was over, the Beis Din investigating
49
https://www.timesofisrael.com/jerusalem-ultra-orthodox-neighbor-
hoods-to-be-locked-down-starting-sunday/
91
Rabbi Berland in Bnei Brak announced that they had all of a sud-
den come to a decision in his case.
After months of saying nothing, and doing very little, the Beis
Din in Bnei Brak suddenly decided that they were going to make a
statement about the Rav and his community after all. And shortly
after they publicized their decision, on May 22, 2020, the State of
Israel plunged back into ‘the second wave’, with more lockdowns,
restrictions, and persecution.
92
The Sufferings of Moshiach
The geula has to come with rachamim, mercy, and it can’t be

brought forward by even a single moment or second.
Because if we press the issue, the issue will ‘press back’. The geula
could indeed come at this time (i.e., an earlier time), but it would
come with harsh dinim (judgments) and cruel deaths, and rivers
of blood that will flow all over the world.
For the war of Gog and Magog will be in the month of Cheshvan,
the mazal of Scorpio. And so this is why Rehoboam told his people,
that if you want to be redeemed in the month of Cheshvan, whose
mazal is Scorpio… that hinted to the nation of Israel that if you
are going to try to force the issue, the geula will come by way of
scorpions.
And so, the Tzaddik is delaying the geula, so that everything will
be accompanied with mercy, as it’s said: “With great mercy I will
gather you in.” Isaiah 54:7 50
A
couple of weeks after the Beis Din in Bnei Brak put out
its ruling against Rav Berland and his community, Rabbi
Shimon Badani, ztzl, came out with a strong statement
supporting the Rav and Shuvu Banim.
50
https://ravberland.com/why-the-tzaddik-is-delaying-the-geula/
93
Throughout the long years of persecution, Rav Badani had con-

tinually and publicly shown his support of the Rav and his com-
munity, and in his comments of June 10, 2020, he dropped some
broad hints about the real motivations of the people persecuting
Rav Berland from within the Breslov community.
Rav Badani began:
“I want to start with a mussar shiur (class on ethics),

to explain what’s gone on here. The Mishnah says that
‘ jealousy, lust and seeking honor drive a person out of
the world’. A person who is caught up in these types of
middot (character traits) – he’s lost!
And the seeking of honor is the worst.
They bring an example: Korach. Rashi asks, Korach

was a brilliant man, what made him act with such stu-
pidity, what was this madness he had, to oppose Moshe
Rabbenu?” Rashi then replies: This is his error; he saw
with ruach hakodesh that his descendants would be of
high [spiritual] standing. So, he said to himself: I also
deserve this! And so, he began to oppose.
What sort of explanation is this?
That a brilliant man would do such stupid things? And

he was even someone who had ruach hakodesh (the
spirit of prophecy)! What is this madness?! This is now
even harder [to understand]. If he was also someone
who had intelligence, and was also someone who had
94
ruach hakodesh, how could he have done such a stupid

thing, to oppose Moshe Rabbenu?
The sages of mussar tell us a simple principle: This

person is infected by the disease of seeking honor! So,
he loses his intelligence, he’s left with no brain, he’s
crazy! He loses his marbles, and so he falls.
This is an example that shows just how much the trait

of vengeance can cause a person to fall. A wise person,
someone with ruach hakodesh – and still none of this
helped him at all!”
Rav Badani continued:
Let’s give another example: Yeroboam ben Nevat ar-

gued with King Shlomo, and then ran away. Afterwards,
King Shlomo didn’t find favor in the eyes of Hashem
and He took 10 tribes and gave them to Yeroboam.
Shlomo had just one tribe in Jerusalem, this is what
Hashem did.
When Yeroboam came back to Israel, the prophet told

him that he was chosen to be the King over Israel, and
his happiness knew no bounds. He was a big talmid
chacham, and almost had ruach hakodesh. It’s written:
And all the great ones of the world were, as compared to
him, and as compared to Isaiah, as the grass of the field.
They were so huge…And yet this same Yeroboam went

and made two golden calves, to prevent Am Yisrael
from going to Jerusalem. Instead, they could prostrate
themselves to the golden calves.
95
HaKadosh Boruch Hu asked him: How can it be,

that a big talmid chacham, who almost has ruach
hakodesh, could do something like this?!....”
The pursuit of honor kills a person. It kills him! It

kills him! It murders him.
Another example, forgive me that I’m extending this

discussion, but it’s hard to understand this. The Gemara
says that in the Second Temple times, there were 300
High Priests. How can this be? During the time of the
First Temple, 400 years, there were just 10 High Priests.
Each one lasted for 40 years.
The Gemara says about the Second Temple that there

were a few High Priests who lasted for a few years, and
then afterwards, for the next 300 years, a different High
Priest would die every year! Each year, he’d die. He’d
enter [the Holy of Holies] and die. Dead, dead, dead,
dead.
Why? Rashi says, because they bought the office of the

High Priest for money. Even though they taught them
all the halachot of being a High Priest, and they were
expert in halacha, nevertheless, they bought the High
Priesthood for money.
What, all these 300 High Priests were crazy? If there

had been just one, it’s possible to say they made a mis-
take, ‘Corona, Corona...’ But after one died, then the
second, then the third, then the fifth, and then another
96
one – all of them died! Another one and another one

and another one, until 300 Kohens…
No-one would do something like this, to buy the Angel

of Death for money! Who would do something like this?
Only someone who was totally insane. Why? Why [did
they do it]?
The Gemara says – honor! The Mishnah says: And great

honor was given to the Kohen HaGadol when he came
out of the Holy in Holies in peace, as it was said that
he came out of there miraculously, he was supposed to
have died in the Holy of Holies.
But the point is that he’d merit great honor! I’m going
to miss out on this honor?! He’s ready to die, for this
honor. I’m saying all this, so we can understand the
point that a person will do all sorts of crazy things,
for honor.”
Having explained the background to what happened with the

psak from Bnei Brak, Rav Badani got down to brass tacks. He
continued:
I saw the matter of the judgement, and I wanted to talk

about it. That in Breslov, many people arose to fight for
this thing – to fight that there should be a judgment [of
the Beis Din] against the Rav. What happened?
Once, I asked: Who is the most honored person in

Breslov? They told me: Don’t ask. Rav Berland is the
head – and they are going crazy about this....
97
Rabotai, this is what’s happening here. All these un-

fortunate people made an accounting, Rav Berland
was not a Breslover. I’m talking about when he was a
young man. Both he and I were in Hadera; there were
no chassidim there, only a few.
He and his wife were madrichim (youth leaders) in Bnei

Akiva. They left the place and went to be chareidim in
Bnei Brak. In Bnei Brak, they became chareidim. His
wife worked in Or HaChaim, and he sat and learned.
In Bnei Brak, Rav Berland opened up Shuvu Banim,

that’s where he promoted and became acquainted with
Breslov Torah. He was one of the only ones who became
acquainted with Breslov Torah. Who else knew about
it, then? What was there, then?
Rav Berland started to organize a yeshiva, and a kollel,

and Talmud Torahs. He made many baalei teshuva.
Rav Berland brought hundreds of thousands of people
back in teshuva – who made Breslov what it is?
This was good, this was wonderful – but the honor

that he received, this drove everyone crazy. How is it
possible that this guy was nothing, and now he’s like
this?! This is how the opposition to him began, to our
great sorrow.
I was davka the opposite. I loved Rav Berland, I said:

This man is strengthening Torah.
98
I saw that he was learning Ketzot HaHoshen with young

men, he’s a Talmid Chacham who is full of Torah, he’s
bringing people closer to Hashem. Master of the world,
Rav Berland brought back hundreds of thousands,
hundreds of thousands, back to teshuva. Everyone was
honoring him, also in Meron and also in Uman.
I was in Uman, because Rebbe Nachman said that

whoever comes to him, and recites the Tikkun HaKlali,
and gives a pruta (coin) to charity….so I travelled to
Uman....
What pains those Breslovers that oppose Rav Berland

is this: How can Rav Berland be at the head, like the
king of kings, in all these places?! They started gossip-
ing: What was he? He’s not even a Breslover, he doesn’t
belong with us – from here ignited all the jealousy,
and the desire to do all the bad things to him, Hashem
should have mercy.
And now, they saw that they succeeded in pulling him

off the top. I believe that he will come out from this
judgment, because it’s not possible that they can touch
a person who brought so many people closer to Hashem.
Who else brought hundreds of thousands to the

Torah?
Rav Berland wandered around the whole of Israel, from

house to house, and brought people closer and returned
them in teshuva. Even when he was ill, he left the hos-
pital straight out to bring people back in teshuva. He
sacrificed himself to bring Jews closer to their Abba in
heaven.
99
Why did this thing happen to him? If I had known

this before, I would have told him: My friend, don’t let
them give you any honor! You are killing them with
jealousy. They are saying ‘I’m old-school Breslov, and I
have nothing, and you [i.e., Rav Berland] – you’re like
a ger toshav (resident alien) – and everyone is running
after you and calling you an ‘Angel of God’!”
Next, Rav Badani addressed the fall-out from the psak of the Beis
Din in Bnei Brak. He said:
I don’t want to speak [specifically] about what the Beis

Din did, we will take care of this. I hope we will succeed.
I was all the time crying out, what are you saying about
Rav Berland?! Telling all these stories about him, and
causing him so much suffering, take him to a din Torah!
One day, three Breslov avreichim came to see me, young

people, and they told me that they set up a Beis Din.
I was astonished, this is how we set up a Beis Din?! I
asked, what have you done? They answered, we brought
witnesses, and they testified.
I asked: What about Rav Berland, was he at the Beis

Din? No! I said, how can you judge him in absentia?
How is this possible? This is against the Torah! They
said, no, he’s known to be a gavra alma51.
51
A ‘gavra alma’ is a violent and dangerous person that according to hala-
cha, it’s possible to judge a person like this in absentia because of the risk
that he might try to physically kill the people who are judging him.
100
I said, what are you talking about, gavra alma?! He

can barely walk! Gavra alma?! He’s ill, in the hospital!
This is a ‘gavra alma’?! What is he going to do, punch
the policemen? Who decided that he is a ‘gavra alma’?
They said, we did!!
I said to them, you decided that he’s the angel of death,

you are also the witnesses, you are also the dayanim,
you are the prosecutors, you are also the judges, and
you’re also the poskim (halachic decisors) who decided
that he’s ‘gavra alma’. You’re behind everything! And
this is a ‘psak din’????
So, I told them to go to the Eida Chareidis.
I don’t want to talk against the Beis Din, but I don’t

understand why they aren’t concerned about the ye-
shiva. I wrote about this, and we will take care of it.
Do you remember that once in the past, the Rav was

outside of Israel, and I came to strengthen the yeshiva?
I said be careful not to weaken! Do the opposite! You
love your Rav, so learn even better! And in the merit of
this, he will be rescued.
I say to them: If you’re going to destroy a Rosh Yeshiva,

first worry about the yeshiva. I asked them, what will
be, with the yeshiva, what will be, with the kollel? They
said: That it should disintegrate, what do we care?! They
don’t care, nothing else interests them.
101
Hundreds of thousands of baalei teshuva, who is going

to guide them? That it should disintegrate, that they
should go back to being non-religious?
So, I was in favor of the Beis Din of the Eida

HaCharedis because the elders have more life expe-
rience, how to judge, and how to rectify judgments.
But they did this….and I wasn’t able go against it.
To nullify a judgment, okay, we are talking about this,

I only say – why didn’t you worry about the yeshiva?
Why didn’t you worry about the baalei teshuva? There
are thousands, what’s going to be with them? Are they
going to be lost?
This pains me, this thing, and I’ve spoken to the Shuvu
Banim rabbis about this. Don’t despair! Concern your-
selves with the yeshiva, and with the kollels, worry
about the baalei teshuva – don’t let all this fall! Those
people who are seeking honor, they don’t care that there
will a churban (terrible destruction).”
Their main purpose is just to attain their goal. I don’t

know why the Beis Din didn’t pay attention to this, I
thought that they would speak to them.
In my haskama, I asked why they didn’t worry about

the students – before the verdict, you need to worry
about the Torah. So now, to all this holy kehilla –
Hashem will help! I don’t want to talk against the Beis
102
Din. The Beis Din – whatever it does, Hashem knows

how to manage things so they turn out for the best.
You need to worry about the kehilla. And I said that all
your Talmud Torahs will be accepted into our frame-
work, the Ma’ayan HaHinuch Chareidi network. I hope
that Hashem will help, as He helped Rav Berland and
yourselves.
The Rambam said, Israel will only be redeemed via te-

shuva. Hashem appointed Rav Berland to bring people
closer in teshuva – now the Satan showed up, to our
great sorrow. I hope that you will find a way [to stand
firm against this].
In the meantime, don’t neglect things. Do as much as

possible – go and visit all the places that Rav Berland
used to visit, and strengthen others in teshuva, just like
Rav Berland did.
Strengthen the yeshiva, and Hashem will help! The ik-

ker is to strengthen yourselves, for the Torah is our life,
this is our geula...
Rav Berland has the ability to change a pera adam,

a wild man, into a human being.
I have a relative, who was a ‘wild man’, robberies,

court judgments, police… What could we do? They
were going to take the child to jail. Until he met Rav
Berland – and he became a human being and now is
really a tzaddik.
103
Hashem should have mercy on Israel, and should

nullify everything, so Rav Berland can continue to
save Am Yisrael. Rav Berland has the special power
to do this.
Rav Badani concluded by saying:
The Torah promises that by learning the torah, baalei

teshuva will come, and then the geula will come, Amen.
Very soon, very soon! Hashem will help. I hope that the
suffering of Rav Berland will end, and that he will be
healthy.
All this suffering is not for nothing. rather, the

Gemara says that the Moshiach is a man of suffering.
[Moshiach] atones in his heart, and he atones in his
legs – this is the suffering. Rav Berland suffers a lot
from his legs…
And the geula will occur soon, amen v’amen.52”
By the following day, June 11, 2020, Rav Badani had a change of
heart about not directly challenging the ruling of the Beis Dinl.
That’s when a story appeared on the BHOL53 and Rotter54 news site
about a letter Rav Badani and R Nissim ben Shimon, a former Av
Beis Din of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, had written about the psak din.
52
Watch Rav Badani making these comments in the original Hebrew here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6tmmwnfzu8&feature=youtu.be
53
https://www.bhol.co.il/news/1108212
54
https://rotter.net/forum/scoops1/634158.shtml
104
In the letter, both men publicly questioned how the Beis Din in
Bnei Brak could come to their conclusions about Rav Berland
based on the testimony of a sole witness, among many other con-
traventions of halacha.
The three main halachic problems with the ruling were:
• There was only the testimony of ONE witness to go on,

the same false witness that told the Israeli police exactly
what they wanted to hear.
• Rav Berland himself was never called upon to testify.
• The verdict was delivered when the Rav was in prison and
couldn’t appear before the Beis Din.
Any one of these was enough to invalidate the Beis Din’s judge-
ment against the Rav and his community.
How did this information come to light?
It turns out that the Rav’s persecutors, not content with the psak
din they’d already managed to finagle out of the Beis Din in Bnei
Brak now wanted many other rabbis to sign against Rabbi Berland
and Shuvu Banim.
Somehow, they managed to get another two senior Beis Dins to

sign on the perversion of justice from Bnei Brak. But then, things
started to come unstuck. Some of the dayanim and rabbanim the
persecutors asked to sign against Rav Berland actually did their
homework and asked for details of the judgment first-hand.
105
When these more sincere rabbanim started probing the judgment

against Rav Berland, and asking for the information and facts it
was based on, it became clear to them that the initial Beis Din had
not operated according to even basic halacha.
Some of these rabbanim and dayanim felt so upset by what had

occurred, they asked the original Beis Din to retract their rul-
ing against Rabbi Berland, or at least put out a letter clarifying
how their Beis Din arrived at their conclusions. Otherwise, they
would put out their own letter, to inform the public of what really
happened.
Below, we bring a translation of the story that appeared on the

BHOL news site, in connection with this letter:
“Over the last two weeks, the psak din written about the
matter concerning the leader of the Shuvu Banim com-
munity, Rabbi Eliezer Berland, has been publicized.
“It was put out by a special Beit Din established on

behalf of the central beit din undersigned by gedolei
hadayanim in Israel. It told the community to distance
themselves and to guard themselves from him [i.e., Rav
Berland]. This was after a year and a half of examining
witnesses and complainants….
“Now, one of the previous Ravads (Rosh Av Beit Din)

of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, and Ravad of the Badatz ‘Netzer
Aharon’, haGaon Rabbi Nissim ben Shimon, has writ-
ten a letter raising a number of questions about the
published ruling.
106
“In that letter…the dayan and gaon Rabbi Nissim ben

Shimon writes that one of the askanim55 turned to him,
to ask him to add his signature to the psak din, and
because of this, [Rav ben Shimon] decided to delve into
the details of the ruling, to clarify and check the truth
of the matter. He said that it’s not his way to add his
signature to a psak din that he hadn’t clarified himself.
“Rav ben Shimon recounts that he turned to two of the

dayanim who signed on the psak din and asked to hear
from them on what grounds they’d decided to put out
the psak din, and they avoided telling him anything
at all about the testimony and the proceedings that
occurred at the Beis Din.
“One of these two dayanim referred him to the third

dayan, the gaon Rabbi Sriel Rosenberg, and in con-
versation with him, told him [i.e. Rabbi ben Shimon]
that the psak was written on the back of “testimony
from the mouth of one man, who testified what he
testified.”
“In response to this, Rabbi ben Shimon told him that

he couldn’t add his signature to this psak, that recounts
that it was based on ‘testimonies’ [in the plural.] In re-
sponse to this, the gaon Rabbi Sriel Rosenberg replied
that: “I didn’t ask you to sign it.”
The BHOL piece then went on to describe how Rav Shimon Badani
also originally appended his signature to the psak din – but then
55
I.e. one of the people involved with the case, probably one of the Rav’s
persecutors.
107
changed his mind, after hearing from Rabbi ben Shimon, what
had really happened. It continues:
“After the clarification done by the gaon Rabbi Nissim

ben Shimon, [Rabbi Badani] added his signature to his
[i.e. Rabbi ben Shimon’s] letter. And then added in his
own handwriting: “I see the letter of the famous gaon
and rabbi, and I’m flabbergasted. And according to
this, I signed on the psak din, [against Rav Berland]
which really pained me, and now I take back what I
wrote. It’s fitting [for me] to worry about the yeshiva
and the kollel, that it shouldn’t collapse, chas v’shalom.”
The last 9 months of the Chevlei Moshiach56
Around the same time that all this was going on, a close student
of the Milkman and long-time supporter of Rav Berland, the kab-
balist Rav Yehuda Sheinfeld, also made some comments on the
psak of the beis din, when he came to a gathering to strengthen
the Shuvu Banim community.
“We are in the last stages of the chevlei Moshiach

(birthpangs of the Moshiach). All that’s left is the final
few months of the chevlei Moshiach.”
Rav Sheinfeld explained:
The Midrash says that Hashem is on the side of the

persecuted. And not only when an evildoer is chasing
56
https://ravberland.com/we-are-in-the-last-9-months-of-the-chevlei-
moshiach/
108
after a Tzaddik – but even when a tzaddik is persecut-

ing an evildoer!
Elokim wants the persecuted one! So much so, that this

is the true power of the one being persecuted. The perse-
cuted one has power; he can be a kapparah (atonement/
sacrifice) for Am Yisrael.
People tell many miraculous stories about Rav Berland.

I once heard from Rav Chaim (Perachia HaKohen – the
Milkman) that if a person brings a big pidyon (sum of
money for a redemption of the soul) and is healed af-
terwards, this is not such a big miracle. To give such a
big sum to tzedaka, and to not be healed afterwards?!
But what is called a miraculous wonder? If a person

prays that he should be totally shamed and humiliated,
and a Beis Din should come along, and for absolutely
no reason, they put out a letter against him. Without
any justification! Without any halachic reasoning!
Without any moral justification – with nothing! This
is the greatest wonder!
This is the power of prayer, that Rav Berland could

bring about a situation that with such simpleness, an-
other one should sign something against him, and an-
other, and another – as though we are dealing here with
halacha brought down by Moshe at Sinai.
There is simply no natural explanation for this. This

is just the biggest wonder. Rav Berland wants to be
‘persecuted’. A person wants to be ‘persecuted’, and
requests to be persecuted – Elokim wants something
that is persecuted’!
109
Rav Sheinfeld then spoke about the birthpangs of Moshiach:
It’s accepted among the tzaddikim that we are now in

the period known as the chevlei Moshiach (birthpangs
of Moshiach) – in the final stages. We are in the nine
last months of the chevlei Moshiach.
Rav Berland once said that there are three types of

atonement: There is the atonement of previous gener-
ations by fasting, but the person’s strength would fail
from the suffering. Who could endure suffering from
the fasts that the ancient tzaddikim undertook?
A second rectification was arranged by the later tzad-

dikim, who said it was impossible for their genera-
tion to fast, so they arranged [a tikkun] by a pidyon
(redemption).57
But also this – people don’t have enough money that

would be required to pay for the equivalent of all the
many fasts prescribed by the earlier sages. So Rav
Berland said that there was a third rectification that
didn’t cost money: a tikkun of humiliation.
And being shamed and disgraced, a person can

remain healthy and whole, and he can retain his
money.
Bisyonot (shame and disgrace) is an atonement like

fasting, so when someone hears his own disgrace – this
is a kapparah. This atones for him and atones for the
chevlei Moshiach.
57
I.e. by giving a financial pidyon, that would reduce a person’s cash flow,
in a similar way that fasting reduces a person’s physical nourishment.
110
It’s written: What can a person do, to be saved from the

birthpangs of Moshiach? He can stay busy with Torah
and gemilut chasadim – but who can say about himself
that he’s busy with Torah the way he really needs to be?
Or that he’s engaged in gemilut chasadim the way he
really should be?
But bisyonot – everyone can accept this as they should,

and then escape the spiritual ‘debt’ they owe as part of
the chevlei Moshiach.
Hashem should help us, that every humiliation and

disgrace we experience should be considered an atone-
ment, and that we can easily pass through the birth
pangs of Moshiach, and that the geula should come
soon.”58
Rav Sheinfeld’s comments were made in June 2020 - but the pan-
demic was destined to stretch on, and on, and on, long past another
nine months. And in the meantime, the ‘birthpangs’ were about to
ratchet way back up again to a whole other level of painful.
58
You can watch R’ Sheinfeld give over these words in the original Hebrew
here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pIQlyewsHQ&embeds_eu-
ri=https%3A%2F%2Fravberland.com%2F&feature=emb_imp_woyt
111
Back into Lockdown
“Every day, man dies - because the day that has passed will never
come back, and each day he draws closer to the day of his death.
How can he waste his time on arguments? Anyone who has any
sense should understand this, and win long life for himself.
“Let him not waste his life on quarrels, big or small! He should
control himself, hold his anger in check and live peacefully with
everybody.”
– Rabbi Nachman’s Wisdom, no. 77
I
n the middle of July 2020 (Tammuz 17, 5780), one of the
leading Breslov bright lights, R’ Avraham Yitzhak Karmel,
collapsed at his home, apparently from Covid 19, and the
Hatzalah ambulance crew couldn’t revive him.
As well as authoring several seforim and giving over 18 separate

Torah classes a week, R’ Karmel was also the Baal Tefillah (prayer
leader) in Uman, on Rosh Hashana. He was survived by his wife
and 10 children - and his untimely death rocked the Breslov com-
munity to its foundations.
Shortly after this happened, another leading Breslov personality,

Rabbi Moshe Beninstock, issued an emotional public plea that
112
all the terrible machloket within Breslov should be stopped, once

and for all.
R’ Beninstock said:
“I’m shocked about the enormous loss we’ve just expe-

rienced – HaRav Avraham Yitzhak Karmel, who was a
very dear friend of mine. We would meet, and he would
see me from a long way away in the hall, and he would
[approach] with such humility, and self-nullification,
even though he knew how to learn way better than I did.
He ruled over all the [Torah] sources, his seforim are

stuffed full of material, and he mamash sanctified
Rabbenu’s name. His prayers…Without screaming out,
he could still bring the whole beis knesset (synagogue)
to the point of pouring out their souls. He was truly a
magnificent ‘vessel’. We’ve lost a beautiful ‘vessel.’...”
Rav Beninstock continued:
I was boiling on the night before this one. I was so angry

about what is happening59.
I spoke with a great many people about the grandchild

of Rabbi Shmuel Shapira, z’tl, HaRav Pesach Shapira,
z’tl, a sweet boy who was also my chavruta (study
partner). He died in 5732, and after him Rav Yankele
Tepilansky, o’h.
59
From his later comments, it seems that Rav Berland’s persecutors had
just destroyed 700 books, because Rav Berland was named in them.
113
This happened very shortly after Rabbi Levi Yitzchak

Bender re-started his shiurim60, after there had been a
break of a couple of years because Rabbi Levi Yitzchak
said to vote in the elections. They kicked him out of the
Shul61 and so, his shiurim stopped. At that point, we
were only a few people left in the group that came to
hear R’ Levi Yitzchak.
When Yankele died, it was a terrible blow to everyone.

He was the ‘splendor’ of Breslov, the heart of Breslov....
When he died, it was a terrible blow for Breslov, and
Rabbi Levi Yitzhak, for week after week, didn’t stop
speaking about it.
There had been a machloket between two of the Breslov

elders about how the Shul was being managed. There
were some on this side, some on that side, and Yankele
Tepilansky tried to make peace [between them].
That same day, Yankele still had the towel in his

hand, from when he’d gone to the mikva at chatzot.
Ultimately, he collapsed on Zephania Street. Rabbi Levi
Yitzhak wept awfully, even though he was a tough man.
And of course, there was the levaya (funeral). I remem-
ber the elders going up to the Mount of Olives on foot.
60
There were ‘extremists’ in Breslov Meah Shearim even in the time of
R’ Levi Yitzhak Bender, ztl. When R Bender began giving over Torah
classes in Hebrew instead of Yiddish to the new baalei teshuva that R’
Berland was bussing in to see him every week from Bnei Brak, these
extremists barricaded the door to the Breslov shul in Meah Shearim and
refused him entry. See One in a Generation I and II, for more details
about this and other stories.
61
This is the main Breslov shul in Meah Shearim, that R Levi Yitzhak co-
founded and helped to build.
114
Rabbi Levi Yitzhak Bender didn’t stop speaking about

the same single subject, namely that the Rebbe is pre-
pared to overlook everything, except machloket.”
R’ Beninstock continued:
“Rabbi Levi Yitzhak said then: ‘Everything is because of

the machloket. The Rebbe will waive everything, except
for [participating in] machloket.’”
Have mercy, rabotai! Stop looking for other people’s

faults! Read prayer #38 and see what Rav Natan is
saying. Stop persecuting other people, this is creating
destruction! I wanted to say this last night, but I held
myself back. It’s good that I held myself back, because
otherwise people would say that this happened [i.e., R’
Karmel’s death] because of me, chas v’halila....
Rabbenu says in Lesson 9, part 2, to pursue peace and

to seek out the good in others, [to create an] atmosphere
of calm and chizzuk (strengthening). While we’re surely
talking about a very small group, they are still very de-
structive – to destroy 700 sets of Siach Sarfey Kodesh,
the holy books of Breslov chassidut – the Rebbe couldn’t
stay quiet about this. This is appalling! Just because you
didn’t like that the name of ‘ploni’62 was written there?!
Things like this have never happened before. This is the

example that we want to give to the next generation of
62
I.e. Rav Berland was mentioned in a positive way in these books. Siach
Sarfei Kodesh contains the recorded lessons of R’ Levi Yitzhak Bender,
that were transcribed by his students in the year before he died. The first
two volumes were published in the lifetime of R Bender, but subsequent
volumes were added.
115
Breslov?! Did Rav Natan do this? Did Rabbi Avraham

ben Rabbi Nachman? Or Rabbi Nachman of Tultchin?
I don’t want to give more of the shocking details…. but

we must make a change! Don’t forget, that [the rabbis]
told King Agrippas ‘You are our brother’ – and at that
same second, destruction was decreed upon Israel.
The flattery, and the fear of opening our mouths [to

silence those who are encouraging machloket] is de-
stroying us! God forbid, that this should continue!”
Rav Beninstock concluded his words with a hearfelt plea:
“Moshe Golsbaski passed away suddenly, and Rabbi

Natan Shapira died suddenly, and now, Rabbi Yitzhak
Karmel – suddenly. I’m not even talking about the oth-
ers who have fallen, those who suffered from serious
illnesses.
In the last two years, we have lost the best people in

Breslov chassidut. Moishele Anshin, Motta Toritz,
Chaim Burshtein, and people like this, one after an-
other. I’m not focused enough to recount all the names.
But make an accounting! … The splendor of the

Breslov elders, who were supposed to be the elders of
the generation – they’re gone! Rabbi Yisrael Nirsch –
everyone! This is appalling! We must put an end to
this business....
116
66 people from Breslov chassidut have suddenly

passed away in the last year and a half.63
This is truly a harsh judgment to grasp. We don’t know

the cheshbonot of Heaven, but everyone was stirred-up
by, and aware of the terrible machloket that has taken
place in the Breslov camp.”
As the corona pandemic - and its restrictions and privations -

continued, many others within Breslov started to take this mes-
sage to heart. While the hard core of the Rav’s persecutors contin-
ued, even to this day, to wage war against the Rav, many other peo-
ple within Breslov decided to no longer get involved in machloket
against the Rav.
In any case, each day brought more issues, problems, and suffer-
ing, as the media headlines again started banging the drum for
the ‘second wave of covid’, and the politicians and officials at the
Ministry of Health laid more plans to shut down normal life, mask
people up and scare them to death.
On July 1, 2020, the Israeli government reintroduced contact trac-

ing via mobile phone. Within a couple of days, more than 30,000
Israelis were ordered back into quarantine. Social distancing
roared back, shuls and gatherings were limited to 20 people or
less, gyms and wedding halls were once again closed.
The timing of all this was uncanny, literally within a couple of

weeks of the ‘psak din’ issued against the Rav. But worse was still
to come. As the lockdowns and restrictive measures continued to
63
You can see a video clip listing the 66 here: https://youtu.be/
H5tvDGxMc1Q
117
multiply throughout July and August, the Israeli government sent

out clear signals in a million different ways that they were taking
the kibbutz in Uman - and the High Holidays generally - firmly
off the table.
And this seemed to be one decree that not even heartfelt prayers,
and not even mesirut nefesh could overturn.
118
Rosh Hashana 5781 -
The Kibbutz is ‘Cancelled’
“Today, the day of malchut she be’hod, today is the counting of hod,
today, we are counting the 35th day, and concluding the sefira of
Hod, regline d’regline,64 katnut d’katnut (smallness of smallness).
[This ‘smallness’ is expressed inasmuch as] a person can’t study
and can’t pray.
He should say tehillim, he should travel to Meron, he should travel
to Hevron, he should travel to the grave of the Prophet Yitro. I was
there. Is it possible to travel there, or is it now locked with padlocks?
You don’t have any zchut that permits you to close kivrei Tzaddikim!
This is against the law! This is against the Geneva Accords, and the
Oslo Agreement!
Today, we completed the counting of hod, regline d’regline, katnut
d’katnut. Now, it’s a long bein hazmanim.65
It’s said that it will be like this until Tisha B’Av. Tisha B’Av is on
Thursday, the 30th of July. Until July, the Corona won’t be finished.
Until then, there is harsh ‘isolation’ in England, and in Britain.
Queen Elizabeth has entered a bunker, to hide herself from people.
64
Lit: the legs of the legs – a kabbalistic reference to where the sefira of hod
is located in the supernal man.
65
The time when there is typically no formal Torah learning in yeshivas
– but in these comments, also referring to the fact that all the yeshivas
had been closed, because of Covid-19.
119
And it’s said that this is going to continue until after Tishrei. But –
we are obligated to travel to Uman!! There is no excuse! Shuvu
Banim is obligated to be in Uman, there’s nothing else to say.”
– Part of a shiur given by Rav Berland from
Tzalmon prison, in May 2020.66
“Uman is not one of the Tishrei Chagim and is not a devar kodesh,”
Gamzu said. “It’s a hillulah or party and it’s not necessary to do it.
It can bring us closer to a lockdown. The whole government needs
to be firm in order to earn the public’s trust and say to the chassi-
dim – don’t travel during this time to Uman, it will endanger lives
in Israel. I’m announcing – there are no flights to Uman – period.”67
– Comments made to Channel 12 News by Israel’s
coronavirus ‘tzar’, Prof. Ronnie Gamzu, August 22, 2020.
I
srael’s newest ‘coronavirus tzar’, Professor Ronnie Gamzu,
had a plan.
His ‘Traffic Light Plan’, approved by the Knesset on August 31,

2020, was going to color-code the most problematic coronavirus
areas red, and severely restrict them; then give areas to watch an
orange color code, with mild-to-moderate restrictions; and then
give areas with no ‘coronavirus’ issues the green light to continue
life as normal.
Maybe it was just another coincidence, but nearly all the ‘red’ com-
munities that had their schools closed, night curfews introduced,
66
https://ravberland.com/we-are-obligated-to-travel-to-uman-rav-ber-
land/
67
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-sto-
ries/1894574/israel-covid-czar-no-flights-to-uman-for-rosh-hashanah-
period.html
120
and people forbidden from going more than 500 m from their
homes happened to be either in chareidi or Arab neighborhoods.
At this stage in the coronavirus pandemic, most people were still

believing in the ‘scientific methodology’ being used by govern-
ments around the world to justify the lockdowns, facemasks,
and other crazy restrictions. Nevertheless, when Israel’s MoH
announced that it had just become the “country with the highest
rate of COVID-19 infections per capita” a few short days before
Rosh Hashana 5781, more than a few eyebrows were raised in
the chareidi community about the convenient timing of all this -
convenient, that is, if you were intent on wrecking yet more Jewish
holidays.
As the hot and humid days of Elul 5780 began, Prof. Gamzu and
Israel’s Ministry of Health began a huge propaganda campaign
specifically designed to close the gates of Uman, and to cancel the
Rosh Hashana kibbutz.
A month before Rosh Hashana, all the usual government-sponsored

propaganda sites masquerading as ‘news’ began running one in-
terview after another with Ronnie Gamzu, and others, all warn-
ing that death and destruction would occur on a massive scale,
if Breslovers were allowed to gather in Uman for Rosh Hashana
that year.
Many thousands of Breslovers ignored all the fearmongering

and went ahead and booked their flights to the Ukraine any-
way. So then, Prof. Gamzu, undoubtedly with the full backing
of Netanyahu and other members of the ‘Coronavirus Cabinet’
decided that he was done asking the pilgrims politely to stay away.
121
Gamzu wrote a letter to the newly elected President of the Ukraine,

a man no-one much had heard of back in August 2020, Volodymr
Zelensky, warning him that if he let the pilgrimage to Uman go
ahead that year, all those Jews in one place were going to spread
dangerous viruses to the local Ukrainians....
Gamzu wrote to Zelensky that:
“A gathering of this sort, at such a fraught time can

lead to a mass infection of tourists and local Ukrainian
residents, causing a heavy burden on local medical sys-
tems, while thousands more are expected to come back
to Israel and further spread the virus.”
He continued: “I urge you to enforce a ban on these

celebrations this year, as part of the entire global com-
munity’s effort to stop this horrific pandemic.”
Before Gamzu and the State of Israel’s intervention, Zelensky’s

Ukraine had planned to allow the traditional pilgrimage to Rebbe
Nachman’s tomb to go ahead, albeit with some strict rules about
maintaining social distancing, Ukraine style.
Unlike Israel, Ukraine had not gone big on mandating facemasks,

not even for inside buildings and shops, and life in Ukraine had
generally been much less affected by the sort of draconian, OTT
restrictions that Netanyahu’s government kept on reimposing on
the population in Israel.
To the casual observer, it seemed as though the worst of the

Covid-19 ‘pandemic’ had passed, already. But Israel, in tandem
with other governments and WHO-sponsored ‘Ministries of
122
Health’ across the world, was not about to let the population out
of their coronavirus cages that easily.
So while the Breslov community tried to play down the fear-

mongering and continue with business as usual for Uman Rosh
Hashana, Gamzu et al decided to ramp up the rhetoric and the
propaganda.
The headline on the Arutz Sheva site on August 23, 2020, said it all.
Gamzu was quoted as saying:
“I have no intention of changing my mind, and I am

certain that government ministers will accept my posi-
tion and prevent Israelis from flying to Uman.”
“The Torah obligates all of us to ‘protect your lives very

much’ and a gathering of tens of thousands of peo-
ple will undoubtedly make Israel a ‘red country’ and
lead to a lockdown that will harm all Israeli citizens.
I feel very much for Breslover chassidim, but despite
their great desire to reach the holy site in Uman, the
protection of the health of Israeli citizens is more im-
portant.” 68
68
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/285748
123
At this stage, no-one yet knew that Gamzu and the Israeli govern-
ment had written directly to Zelensky, to put heavy pressure on
him to cancel the gathering. So it came as a shock when Ukraine
suddenly announced that as of 12 midnight, on Friday August 28,
2020, no-one coming for Uman would be allowed entrance into
the country, sparking a last-minute rush by many hundreds and
thousands of people to beat the deadline.
When the Israeli authorities realized that thousands of Breslovers

were now headed to Uman a full three weeks in advance of Rosh
Hashana, to get in before the gates closed, they put more pressure
on Zelensky to move the date forward by a day - while hundreds
of pilgrims to Uman were still in transit.
As footage of crowds of religious Jews being penned in small areas

policed by grim-faced soldiers in Ukrainian airports filtered back
to Israel and across social media, the Israeli government started
to feel some heat.
Then, when videos of Ukrainian soldiers literally beating up

Breslov chassidim on planes started to flood social media, that’s
when Ukraine’s PM, Vladimir Zelensky gave an interview to the
Jerusalem Post formally stating that the Ukrainians had acted at
the request of the State of Israel, and specifically Netanyahu.
Zelensky also said the same thing when he met the rabbis of
Ukraine, to explain why he was closing the borders for Rosh
124
Hashana, and the same statement was also posted up69 on the
Ukrainian President’s official site.70
At that stage, someone in the government decided to leak the

story to the press that it was Gamzu, and not Netanyahu, who had
written directly to Zelensky to ask him to close the borders to Jews
on their way to Uman.71
“(August 27, 2020 / JNS) Israel’s national coronavi-

rus project coordinator Ronni Gamzu apologized on
Thursday for bypassing the country’s political echelon
and directly contacting Ukraine’s President Volodymyr
69
https://www.president.gov.ua/news/prezident-zaklikav-rabiniv-
ukrayini-dopomogti-uniknuti-masov-63013
70
You can see a Ukrainian language news story here, that says: “Benjamin
Netanyahu asked to close Uman for pilgrims from Israel. Ukraine has
limited the possibility of Hasidim coming to Uman to celebrate Rosh
Hashanah (Jewish New Year) at the request of Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu. The decision was made as part of the fight against
coronavirus. This was stated by President Volodymyr Zelensky at a
meeting with the rabbis of Ukraine, the President’s website reports.” -
https://www.rbc.ua/rus/news/zelenskiy-obyasnil-reshenie-zakryt-uma
n-hasidov-1598369561.html
71
https://hamodia.com/2020/08/25/netanyahu-denies-requested-ukraine-
limit-uman-visitors/
125
Zelenskyy to ask that he bar Chassidic pilgrims from

visiting the city of Uman in September.”72
Whoever really wrote the letter, it had the desired aim, with the
public broadcaster Kan stating that the letter was believed to have
‘played a major role’ in convincing Kiev to cancel Uman Rosh
Hashana. That same week, the Ukrainian PM Denys Shmyhal said
that his country would ban the entry of foreigners until the end
of September, and that “mass events like the Uman pilgrimage”
would be prohibited.
As the political storm in Israel continued to rage, with Minister

Yaakov Litzman taking Gamzu to task for daring to contact the
leader of a foreign country in his role as civil servant, Netanyahu
put out a statement strongly supporting his hand-picked
‘Coronavirus Tzar’. Nobody was shocked.
Then at the beginning of September, barely 10 days before Rosh

Hashana 5781, Likud Miki Zohar tweeted that Gamzu’s letter to
the Ukraine - blaming Jews for spreading disease - had led to a
massive uptick in antisemitism across the world.
Zohar tweeted:
“Antisemitism has been increasing since Prof. Gamzu

sent his letter to the president of Ukraine, which in
fact states that corona-stricken Israelis endanger the
72
https://www.jns.org/israels-covid-19-task-force-director-apologizes-for-
asking-ukraine-to-ban-uman-pilgrimage/
126
Ukrainians...Needless to say, the delay in creating a

plan for Uman continues to endanger many Jews.””73
But worse was still to come. And the biggest fight to get across the
border into Ukraine was only just beginning.
73
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/coalition-chair-accuses-
covid-19-czar-of-causing-antisemitism-in-ukraine-640850
127
Remember, and Don’t Forget
“The Rebbe was extremely insistent that we should come to him

for Rosh Hashana. He said that on Rosh Hashana he wanted all
his followers to be with him as one man. No one was to be absent.
The strength of his insistence that we should be with him for Rosh
Hashana is impossible to imagine.”
– Chayei Moharan, no.126
E
ven though Ukraine officially closed its borders to pilgrims
coming to Uman on August 28, 2020, and even though the
Israeli government continued to play hard-ball over travel-
ling to Uman, thousands of people still believed that somehow, at
the last minute, the gates to Uman would be re-opened.
So as the hospitality guys in Uman continued to put up their tents,

and Uman’s hotels and caterers continued to prepare for an in-
flux of tens of thousands of pilgrims ahead of the High Holidays,
thousands of Breslovers massed at the border of Ukraine, waiting
for things to change.
Back in Israel, Netanyahu announced on September 13, 2020, that

the government was imposing yet another three-week lockdown
128
on the country, to begin the day before Rosh Hashana - effectively

cancelling the High Holidays.
With Rosh Hashana less than a week away, a lot of the optimism
started to fade, and the mood in Uman itself became increasingly
somber and subdued for the 2,000 people who’d already made
it over the border. Following Gamzu’s highly-publicized warn-
ing about ‘disease-causing Jews’ from Israel, big signs appeared
in Uman’s local shops, telling customers they had to mask up /
social distance / wash their hands - all things that no-one else in
Ukraine was doing.
Rebbe Nachman’s Tziyon was taken over by a black metal,

fast-moving ‘snake’ path, the only way the authorities would agree
to let more people in for Rosh Hashana. The snake meant that
pilgrims could spend less than a minute at the tomb itself, before
being moved along.
Meanwhile, the same pernicious ‘face masking mandatory’ signs

popped up all over the Tzyion, another import from the State of
Israel.
The word in Uman was that the State of Israel had paid the
Ukrainians a massive sum to bar the gathering in Uman, and the
Breslov leaders were desperately seeking to raise enough cash to
outbid the Israeli bribe and get the gates re-opened.
129
While those in Uman worried about the unfriendly locals, the

masses of Ukrainian soldiers and policeman hanging out on the
main Pushkina Street, and the prospect of mandatory ‘coronavi-
rus hotels’ when they finally got back to Israel, conditions for Jews
stuck on the borders were infinitely worse.
Many people had spent a ton of cash, bought tickets, and flew to
complicated destinations - only to be refused entry into Ukraine.
Wherever you happened to be, the run-up to Rosh Hashana was
hard that year. And nowhere more so than the borders of Ukraine
and Belarus.
By September 15, 2020, thousands of pilgrims congregated

in Belarussian border towns, including Brest, Pinsk, Radin
and Minsk, with another 2,500 Breslovers standing by in the
Belarussian town of Gomel. Most of them had been in Belarus
for two weeks already but got stuck there when Israel pressured
the Ukrainians to close their border.
They were still hanging on, still hoping to make it to Uman for
Rosh Hashana. Conditions were cramped, expensive and difficult
130
for all the travellers - but then a ‘message’ circulated around the
Jews in Gomel that some last-minute deal had been struck, and
buses were waiting on the Ukrainian side of the border to take
them to Uman.
A thousand Jews grabbed their bags and started walking across

the no-man’s land toward the Ukrainian border. They were met
by soldiers, tanks, and steel shields. No deal had been done. And
now, they were stuck in no man’s land with no drinking water,
no food, no shelter, and no toilets, as the government of Belarus
refused to let them return to Gomel.
(There were unconfirmed rumors that a few people did manage

to cross the border, but only if they were prepared to pay a bribe
of $3,000 a person.)
By September 15, they had been stuck in no-man’s land for two
days already, waiting to see if Aryeh Deri’s letter to Zelensky,
asking the Ukrainian President to let the pilgrims in for human-
itarian reasons, would be answered.
It was: the answer was a resounding ‘no’.
Heart-wrenching pictures and videos started circulating showing

of thousands of Jews who had been stuck outdoors for two days,
including small children, with hardly any food or drink, and
having to sleep in their clothes on the ground.
But there was also a lot of Rabbenu’s light, amid the darkness.
Videos showed the tired and hungry chassidim continuing to
dance, sing, and pray - for hours at a time. It was a stunning tes-
timony to the power of Rabbenu and real emuna to keep a person
going even in the hardest situations.
131
Eventually, Belarus’s President Alexander Lukashenko ordered

that humanitarian aid be given to the pilgrims stuck on the border
and permitted those in no-man’s land to re-enter the country.74
Jewish children sleeping on the highway blocked by armored soldiers

after hundreds of people were told to come quickly to the Belarus-
Ukrainian where buses were waiting to bring them to Uman. In
reality, only a handful of people were allowed on the buses (those
who paid a bribe of thousands of dollars). Those who weren’t al-
lowed had no way to get back to a place of lodging before nightfall
and were forced to spend the night sleeping on the street like dogs.
74
You can watch a video of the conditions many of the Jews stuck on
the border in Belarus were facing here: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=v_2VY2DT_KU
132
Jews across the world were shocked by the scenes unfolding in

Belarus75, and thousands of people were loudly asking how come
the Red Cross had to step in to help the pilgrims with basic food,
water, and blankets? Where was the State of Israel?!
A few months earlier, Netanyahu himself had flown out to India

to ‘rescue’ a young woman imprisoned for smuggling drugs. But
now, here were four-year-olds sleeping out on the pavement in
cold Belarus with no food - and the State of Israel didn’t give a
hoot.
Rubbing even more salt into the wound, at exactly the same time
that the Israeli government was closing ‘Red Uman’, it worked
hard to open hundreds of flights to ‘Green Greece’.
According to the State of Israel’s own travel advisory website,

countries like Canada - population 38 million, COVID deaths:
9,179 - were ‘Green’ and Israelis could travel to these places. Even
the UK - population 66.6 million, COVID deaths: 41,637 - was
‘Green’.
But for some reason, the Ministry of Health decided that Ukraine -
population 42 million, COVID deaths: 3,264 - should be marked
‘Red’ ahead of Rosh Hashana 5780 - even though their per capita
deaths from COVID were way less than Canada’s or the UK’s...
It was hard for regular people to understand how Prof. Gamzu was
so worried about infected religious Jews spreading Covid to ‘Red
75
You can see some of that coverage here: https://umanshalom.co.il/
news-pa ge/%d7%91%d7%a6%d7%9c-%d7%94%d7%9e%d7%
a 9 % d7%91% d7% a 8 -% d7%9 4% d7%9 4% d7%95% d7%9e% d7%
a0%d7%99%d7%98%d7%a8%d7%99-%d7%9e%d7%9 0%
d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%9e%d7%90%d7%a0%d7%a9-%d7%a0%d7%
a9%d7%90%d7%a8%d7%95-%d7%94/
133
Ukraine’, but unconcerned that infected secular Israelis could be

doing the same thing in ‘Green Greece’. It looked like a double
standard being applied, and that once again, the State of Israel
was demonizing and persecuting religious Jews.
Here’s how the website ‘Uman Shalom’ reported the humanitarian

disaster at the border with Belarus:
“By morning, hundreds more Breslov devotees from

Belarus had arrived at the border, where they’d been
waiting for days, waiting for permission to leave the
country. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian border guard be-
gan pouring in additional troops of army and police.
The Ukrainian border commander personally came to
the scene to monitor that no one would enter, and the
situation there became very tense.
The National Secretariat [of Breslov] said: “The State

of Israel caused this chaos. The full responsibility for
the crisis we see rests with the government of Israel,
its ministers and officials, who persecute Breslov’s fol-
lowers and force them to stand at the borders, rejected
as refugees on the way to fulfilling their religious faith
under the instruction of their rabbi.”
Rabbi Shimon Rubinstein was an eyewitness to events on the

Belarus-Ukrainian border at Homel, in the days leading up to
Rosh Hashana 2020. Here’s how he described what was unfolding
there, as a few thousand Breslov chassidim waited for word that
the way to Uman had been opened by the Ukrainian authorities.
134
“What’s going on here now is that every Breslov chassid

in the whole of Belarus is now gathered here. It started
yesterday in the morning, and by afternoon, masses
of people were arriving. We got here yesterday around
nightfall. They loaded us on to coaches, making out
that we were about to cross the border to Uman. So
then, another few hundred chassidim also came to the
border, under their own steam.
And then we saw opposite us Ukrainian guards, who

were blocking the border crossing. And that’s when
we understood that there was no agreement here.
Everything they told us, it was all nonsense, that they’d
made an agreement [with the Ukrainians] to let a few
groups of Breslovers enter. Practically, in the evening
yesterday, there weren’t even basic, minimal conditions
here, for the people who were being prevented from
crossing the border.
We worked the whole day to try to open the border via

all sorts of different people, and all different ways. As
everyone knows, the minister Aryeh Deri published a
letter, where he asked the Ukrainian President Zelensky
to agree to let the chassidim in.
We thought that something would open up here,

but after that, the Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine,
Mister Yoel Lyon, showed up here. He stood on the
Ukrainian side of the border and tried to speak.
He began by telling us that it was possible to go back

to Eretz Yisrael, without having to go into bidud
135
(isolation) for 14 days. There was an uproar here, and

people started to ridicule him, and to say things like
‘Bibi go home’, and ‘Deri go home’. They simply didn’t
let him continue to speak.
This is a real question, if he’s saying that here, where

there are around 1,000 people together [stuck in no-
man’s land between Belarus and Ukraine], no-one
has to go into bidud when they get back to Israel....
So then the question is, is there really ‘Corona’? Or
there isn’t really ‘Corona’? This is a very interesting
question.
How can a person take the responsibility to say some-

thing like this? But the point is, that people just shouldn’t
be allowed to get to Uman. There, that’s where there is
a problem with ‘Corona’, but apparently back in Israel,
there is not the same problem.”
Rav Rubinstein went on to quote what another leading Breslov

mashpia, Rav Yaakov Moshe Salmanovitch, was saying about the
terrible situation on the Belarus border of Homel. He said:
“Rav Yaakov Moshe Salmanovitch is staying here, in

Belarus, and all the time he’s saying this, all the time,
that as long as they aren’t freeing Rav Berland, the
border won’t be opened. He is saying this to anyone
who speaks to him. Yesterday, he was here at the border,
but didn’t want to cross over [into no man’s land].
136
I understand he said publicly that he first wanted to

check what was happening with Rav Berland.76 It’s like
we’ve seen all along, that as long as the Rav is under
lock and key, so too the whole of Breslov... [suffers along
with him].”
But in the midst of the awful suffering and privation,

including a lack of food, facilities and shelter, that saw
even small children sleeping in exhaustion on the tar-
mac, in the cold, there was also some good that sprouted
there in Homel.”
Rav Rubinstein continues:
“A lot of interesting things are happening here. People

who already a few years weren’t speaking to me, even
just to say hello, even though we’d been good friends in
the past - here, Rabbenu is bringing us together in this
situation, even on the same bus.
Here, we are in each other’s dalet amot, and all of a

sudden, they need some help, so we end up talking to
each other again. People who didn’t want to be together,
Rabbenu brought us to a situation where we have no
choice except to be together. Because one person is
helping the other, and so now, there is no separation
between us.
76
Rav Berland was at a court hearing in Jerusalem that same day, delib-
erating on whether to free him, at least to house arrest. The judges even
refused to release the Rav to house arrest.
137
Something else important to stress is this: Rav Berland

said last week that there was no longer any point
travelling [to Uman], because the Ukrainians would
stand against us like a ‘wall of steel’.
And truly, we are seeing here armored vehicles, like

a ‘wall of steel’. Maybe, they are worrying we are go-
ing to attack them, or something. These vehicles can
absorb the impact from rocket propelled missiles...
There are rows and rows of soldiers standing here,
with steel shields. It’s simply a ‘wall of steel’.”77
While R’ Rubinstein and the thousands of Breslovers in Belarus

and at other borders around the Ukraine, continued to hope that
the way to Uman would open before Rosh Hashana, the hoped-for
miracle didn’t appear.
77
Read the original Hebrew here: https://www.shuvubanimint.com/
rabbi-salmanovich-and-rabbi-rubinstein-how-to-open-the-border-of-
ukraine/
138
Rav Berland continued to sit in jail. And in the meantime, life

continued to be challenging for the 2,000 Breslovers who got to
Uman shortly before the ‘steel wall’ marched into place.
The first day of Rosh Hashana in Uman, 4-5 different pamphlets

suddenly appeared on the ground of Pushkina, where they’d been
dumped, ‘mailshot’ style.
This a free translation of what they said:
*Voted for Shas or Gimmel (United Torah Judaism)?

You got Bibi and Gamzu, who chased after, with
anti-semitism and cruelty, the Rosh Hashana of
Rabbenu in Uman. Breslov chassid: remember, and
don’t forget!
139
*On the way to Uman for Rosh Hashana 5781:

Thousands of Breslov chassidim experienced 20 days of
exile and suffering in Belarus. And the ‘chareidi’ lead-
ers in the Knesset, Deri, Litzman and Porush, stayed si-
lent. The chareidi newspapers, HaDerech, HaMevasar,
HaModia, totally and utterly ignored the antisemitic
persecution of Breslov Chassidut. Until when?? Breslov
chassid: remember, and don’t forget!
* Myriads of Breslov Chassidim are pointing an accusing

finger against the Chareidi parties who abandoned us
and our request to fulfill the will of Rabbenu, our teacher,
his merit should protect us, amen, to come to him on
Rosh Hashana. And even, [they] joined with the wicked,
cruel, antisemitic persecution, without parallel, at the
hands of Bibi Netanyahu and the members of his gov-
ernment. It won’t be forgotten, and it won’t be forgiven!
* Deri, Litzman and Porush! Myriads of Breslov

Chassidim have a pained, broken, and ripped heart,
from the decrees of Netanyahu and Gamzu. How could
you totally ignore what was going on? Breslov chassid:
Remember, and don’t forget!
But a few months earlier, R’ Avraham Stern had clearly told us: “If
we don’t get Rabbi Berland out of prison, then Am Yisrael will
be in a huge problem!”
And R’ Menashe Amon had clearly told us:
“We hear about this Tzaddik, who is atoning for us,

and accepting such disgrace upon himself, the most
140
difficult things imaginable, and we sit here with folded

hands. Do we still believe what the media people are
telling us?!”
For as long as the government, and the government-sponsored

media, had only been demonizing and persecuting Rav Berland
and his community, nobody cared. But now, more and more peo-
ple are starting to understand that the State of Israel doesn’t like
religious Jews...and it will pull any number of dirty tricks, and run
any number of slanderous stories, to keep people away from the
path of teshuva and Torah observance.
When some of the dust settled after ‘the Rosh Hashana that
got cancelled’, another well-known Breslov mashpia, R Mota
Frank Shlit”a, publicized a sharp message on behalf of the
Admor of Toldos Avraham Yitzchak, together with Rabbi Moshe
Brandsdorfer, Av Beis Din of Heichel Hora’a Yerushalayim, ex-
plaining why Israel was struck with ‘coronavirus’, and why the
road to Uman was closed that year.78
R’ Mota Frank said:
“Barriers to Uman started happening two years ago,

then already problems at the borders started. Everyone
who came to the borders would get sent back, but they
didn’t realize it was a hint from shemayim; “Guys! We
are trying to wake you up!”
78
You can read a full translation of his words here: https://ravberland.
com/why-the-road-to-uman-is-closed-the-rebbe-of-toldos-avraham-
yitzchak-and-rabbi-moshe-brandsdorfer-in-a-message-to-breslov-chas-
sidim/
141
Then, problems began happening at the Tzyion of

Rebbe Nachman during the middle of the year, people
were concerned about what will be by Rosh Hashana,
and they made all kinds of preparations so the road
would remain open.
Last year they gave us another year, but all the contro-
versy and talk continued – I was not in heaven, I’m not
going to say clear things, but Breslov is facing a difficult
reality today, everything must be taken with a chesh-
bon nefesh. I am not coming to give mussar to anyone....
You told an 83-year-old Jew to be in prison, to be

locked up – so you are also locked up. You locked him
up, you caused that to happen to Rabbi Berland, a
man who did a lot for the Tziyon of Rebbe Nachman.
Those ungrateful ones will answer me now: ‘What? Rav

Berland didn’t do anything’. There are those who say
that. They are like the deniers of the holocaust. They
say, ‘The opposite, he just messed things up’. But from
shemayim they are saying, ‘What, you don’t want to be
grateful? The person did so much for so many years!’
You have arguments against him, you have com-

plaints with him, that’s your business, but even in
dispute there is a way to disagree.”
R’ Frank continues:
I met Rabbi Moshe Bransdorfer on Friday. He asked

me, what is happening to you Breslovers? Are you all so
142
blind? There was a mess with Corona. They said: ‘It has
nothing to do with us, it is a mess all over the world’.
But Corona came exactly when you caused R’ Laizer
Berland to go to jail. ‘It has nothing to do with us!’
Hashem comes and tells you: ‘Now I will show it to
you even closer’.
Not only did He take some souls from you. Some im-
portant people, Rabbi Karmel and other Breslov mash-
piim passed away suddenly … He tried to arouse you.
‘You do not understand? Okay, so I will close Uman.
Now do you understand?! Now do you realize that it is
all happening for you?!’
He asked me, “What do they not understand??”
“[Rav Bransdorfer] told me that he spoke with the

Rebbe of Toldos Avraham Yitzchak. He asked the Rebbe
what was going on in the world? The Rebbe of Avraham
Yitzchak replied: “The time of redemption is awaken-
ing, and just as exile was due to sinas chinam, the Sitra
Achra now arouses sinas chinam in order to spoil the
geula.”
Rabbi Brandsdorfer asked the Rebbe, is there more si-

nas chinam today than ever before?
The Rebbe from Toldos Avraham Yitzchak answered:

Yes, and I will give you two examples: the story of
Rabbi Steinman, and the story of Rabbi Berland’.
143
There was controversy in all of Israel, but there is a

way to make a machlokes. “You are allowed to go your
own way, and strengthen the one who goes your way,
but to make machlokes against the other in the most
severe language that can be, and humiliate him at the
most severe level, this does not strengthen your path.”
‘You humiliate the other, it is sinas chinam’, says Rabbi

Brandsdorfer. He’s a well-respected Rabbi and posek.
But in fact, there is a good hint here from our holy
Rebbe Reb Nachman.
Rabbenu... brings the Gemara about Rabbi Eliezer, who

was asked if he likes the suffering.... Hashem says to
him: ‘If you find that the suffering is not agreeable to
you then I will take it away from you.’
The first thing the Rebbe is implying here is: do not

speak any words against anyone. If you already failed?
They already closed Uman on you? You cannot go out
now? Accept on yourself a thought of teshuva, regret,
each person about his own affairs. ‘Why did I think
badly about the other person? Why did I speak badly
about the other person? Why did I do bad things to the
other person?’...
We need ahavas chinam instead of sinas chinam, espe-

cially when it comes to Kibbutz in Uman. Learn Lesson
1379, “The Kibbutz of Rosh Hashanah” ...
79
Likutey Moharan I:13.
144
The matter of Rosh Hashanah is inclusion and coming

together in union, love, affection, peace and harmony.
Through these ingredients the Tzaddik has the power
to raise us up and perform tikkunim.
“But, if, God forbid, you do not want to be included,

and vice versa - you even make machlokes, and you
cause separations.... This is the most serious crime!
That is why there is a tradition that whoever makes
machlokes in Breslov passes away, rachmana
litzlan.”80
The message was crystal clear: remember what had been done to
Rav Berland by the Israeli authorities; remember the enormous
cost and danger of promoting strife between Jews and spreading
slanders about real Tzaddikim, and ignoring the huge disgrace
done to the Tzaddik - and make the necessary teshuva!
Because otherwise, Rebbe Nachman was going to make sure that

no-one would be able to forget.
80
You can listen to R Mota Frank in the original Hebrew, here: https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNVVM3Xd0rI
145
Orders from High Places
A physician may use many hazardous treatments and still be to-

tally ignorant of their effect. It is not surprising that they often do
more damage than good. Why depend on a cure when it is most
likely to cause harm?... “Doctors are agents of death and do little
more. Happy is the man who avoids them and depends on God
alone.”
– Rebbe Nachman’s Wisdom
B
ack in Israel, Rosh Hashana 5781 was also very challenging,
as the government instituted more rules and restrictions
to make it all but impossible to pray with a minyan, inside
a shul.
But with Uman Rosh Hashana off the table, hundreds of the Rav’s
followers decided that they would put their energies into spending
Rosh Hashana with their Rebbe, Rav Berland, in the shadow of
Tzalmon Prison, between Tiberius and Tzfat.81
Apart from the logistics required to arrange outdoor services and

accommodations in tents that met Health Ministry legalities--a
81
https://ravberland.com/rosh-hashana-in-the-shadow-of-tzalmon/
146
formidable task, all by itself--there was another complication: the

prison authority tricks...
Even though the Rav was 83 years old and in extremely frail
health, over the course of Elul the prison authorities kept moving
the Rav around, requiring him to spend long hours travelling in
very harsh conditions.
At the beginning of the month of Elul 5780, the Rav was in Tzalmon
Prison, near the Kinneret. Then, the prison service moved the Rav
down to Ramle prison, in the center of the country, for two weeks.
And then, just three days before Rosh Hashana, they moved the
Rav back up to Tzalmon again.
The man trying to organize Rosh Hashana close to the Rav, Aaron
Shwartz, explained that he’d spent many weeks working out the
logistics ahead of Rosh Hashana 5781, that would enable hundreds
of the Rav’s followers to spend the holiday close to Ayalon Prison,
while respecting all the legalities.
Then, when the authorities unexpectedly moved the Rav down

to Ramle Prison at the last moment, R’ Shwartz had to rearrange
everything for the new location in Ramle.
Then, when the Rav was unexpectedly moved back to Tzalmon

with just three days to go before Rosh Hashana, this nearly broke
R’ Shwartz. But he pulled himself together, and with enormous
mesirut nefesh (self-sacrifice), he managed to arrange for most
of the amenities to be moved back up to Tzalmon, in time for
the chag.
There were trailers for those who wanted them, tents for oth-
ers, air-conditioning, and even synthetic grass to try and make
a more comfortable atmosphere for the hundreds of people who
147
spent Rosh Hashana with the Tzaddik, in the shadow of Tzalmon

Prison.
Despite the organizers’ best efforts, it was still hot, it was still lack-
ing the amenities of home – yet the atmosphere was electric, and it
was a powerful spiritual experience for everyone who came. Many
of the participants said afterwards that they could feel the Rav’s
presence praying with them. 82 This gave people a lot of chizzuk
to face the ongoing challenges the new year was going to bring.
But while everyone was hoping to just put the ‘coronavirus pan-
demic’ behind them, already, the Government and the Ministry
of Health had a very different plan in mind.
82
You can watch the clip here: https://youtu.be/6hdHle-q-88
148
As the year progressed, more and more people got sick and tired
of being fined hundreds of shekels for not masking up outside,
or thousands of shekels for going to a beach or trying to hold a
small wedding. Social media filled up with videos that showed
police violently assaulting people who refused to wear a mask, or
arresting women in the local supermarket, or violently beating a
bridegroom on the day of his wedding.
After Bnei Brak was closed down for two weeks, followed by ex-
clusively chareidi neighborhoods in Jerusalem and other cha-
reidi cities, there was a growing sense of anger on the street
that the ‘anti-corona’ restrictions were quickly morphing into
‘anti-chareidi’ and ‘anti-Torah’ restrictions.
The anger was starting to reach boiling point, when Netanyahu’s

government extended the three-week lockdown over Rosh
Hashana another week, until October 20, 2020 - effectively ruin-
ing the festival of Sukkot.
At this point, a strange ‘fractured reality’ appeared in the State

of Israel. In places and communities where people believed the
news and were scared of ‘catching corona’, everyone dutifully
masked up, social distanced, and did whatever the Ministry of
Health decreed.
But in many chareidi neighborhoods all over Israel and around the
world, the Jewish belief that Ein Od Milvado, and the only thing
to fear was Hashem, and not some virus, meant that many people
were ignoring instructions to ‘social distance’ and stop getting
married and using mikvas and praying with minyans.
149
And for a government bent on micro-managing every detail of its

citizens’ lives, this was a real problem.
Beginning November, the media was full of more horror stories

about the ‘Alpha’ and ‘Beta’ super-infectious variants of Covid.
Then by December 2020, international travel was banned once
again by Israel, while on December 19, 2020 - just three short
days before he dissolved the Knesset again to call another round
of elections - PM Netanyahu appeared on Israeli TV, apparently
the first person in the country to be vaccinated with the totally
experimental ‘mRNA’ Covid shots from Pfizer.
Many in the religious world - and in other communities, too - had

some valid concerns about this new, untried, experimental mRNA
technology in the Covid shots, that had been ‘rushed through’ the
regulatory process by its makers, with a wink and a nod from their
buddies in the FDA.
Rav Berland was in prison, and out of reach from his community.
Many other rabbis actively pushed the Covid shots. Some had
obvious links with the government, and didn’t have the necessary
gravitas or reputation to persuade large swathes of the chareidi
world that these experimental vaccines were really okay.
There was so much uncertainty, so much fear and anxiety, so

much confusion....
Starting December, the government and the Ministry of Health

decided they needed to help the religious community out of its
distrust and confusion about the mRNA shots. And they knew
just exactly how to do that.
150
On December 21, 2020, a video went viral on Youtube of the Degel

HaTorah MK Yitzhak Pindrus, arriving at Shaarei Tzedek hospi-
tal in Jerusalem to get his Covid-19 vaccine. The description box
underneath the video says the following:
“[P]rior to getting vaccinated, Pindrus spoke with

Hagaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky about the vaccine,
and whether a person should take it.
Pindrus asked HaRav Kanievsky whether it is ‘per-

missible’ to take the vaccine or if a person is ‘obligated’
to take the vaccine? HaRav Chaim answered that it’s
a Chiyuv of “Hishtadlus” to take the vaccine, and not
“an option”.
Pindrus then asked HaRav Chaim about the fear some

people have regarding what unknown damage it can
cause in the future. To which Rav Chaim responded,
“tell them not to be afraid.”83
And just like that, a huge chunk of the government’s problem with
getting the chareidi public to trust them, and to buy into their
Covid 19 vaccination campaign, disappeared.
On December 22, 2020, PM Netanyahu used the budget loophole

in the rotation agreement he’d made with Benny Gantz to dissolve
the Knesset and call new elections before Gantz could take over
as Prime Minister.
83
Watch this video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGtrBvj3wOU
151
Meanwhile, just to make sure that any ‘vaccine hesitancy’ would

disappear, the State of Israel announced a third national lockdown
would begin on December 27, 2020 -this time, ruining the holiday
of Chanuka.
Schools were shuttered again, people were banned from visit-

ing their friends or ‘another person’s home’; nasal swabbing for
‘Covid-19’ was required, while weddings, brits and funerals were
again limited to 10 people or less.
Meanwhile, more voices arose, questioning why Israelis were

being used as the world’s guinea pigs for these experimental,
never-before-tested mRNA shots. And there were also some sug-
gestions - quickly squashed - that maybe, just maybe, Rav Chaim
hadn’t made such a clear psak din about the Covid shots after all?
84
From the comments:
84
https://hefkervelt.blogspot.com/2020/12/video-rav-chaim-kanievsky-
reiterates.html
152
The back and forth about what Rav Chaim really said would con-
tinue throughout all of 2021.
This headline is from August 2021:85
And this headline is from November 2021, when Israel had begun
offering Covid 19 shots to children:86
85
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/rabbi-kanievsky-on-covid-vac-
cine-target-populations-must-get-booster-shot-675662
86
https://vinnews.com/2021/11/25/rav-chaim-we-must-vaccinate-
children/
153
The article informed readers that:
BNEI BRAK (VINnews) — On Thursday, HaGaon

HaRav Chaim Kanievsky instructed parents to vacci-
nate children, aged five and above, against COVID-19.
Rav Chaim came to that conclusion after meeting with

top health officials at his home, amid a growing con-
cern in Israel about a potential new wave.
The meeting was attended by Professor Ran Balicer,

Chair of Israel’s National Experts Panel on COVID-19;
Coronavirus Czar Professor Salman Zarka; and the
Rav’s personal physician, Dr. Meshulam Hart.
The experts presented the latest data, including a recent

increase in cases, as well the approval by the U.S. FDA to
administer the Pfizer vaccine to kids aged five and over.
Rav Kanievsky examined the data with a specific fo-

cus on safety. He questioned whether the benefits and
effectiveness of vaccinating children outweigh the risks
associated with the vaccine, before arriving at the con-
clusion that children should be vaccinated.
154
In a video of the meeting, the Rav was asked by his

grandson if people “are able to” give the vaccine to chil-
dren, or if “they must”. He replied, “They must.”
We will leave others to decide whether Rav Chaim, ztzl, was really
giving this psak din, the way the chareidi media, and other propa-
ganda sites that receive a lot of money from the government and
pharmaceutical companies, claimed.
But the following comment that appeared on a different news

site clearly captured just how confused and sensitive matters had
become, regarding what Rav Chaim’s psak din really was:
155
These same arguments, discussions and questions were playing

out across the Jewish world - and across the world generally.
In the meantime, the Rav remained behind bars, and unable to

render any public psak about the benefits and the risks of the
Covid shots. It’s hard to believe that was just a coincidence.
Then, in August 2021, an article appeared on the ‘emes.news’ site

called ‘Orders from High Places’.87 The article described a meeting
between a group of women, including one who’d suffered terrible
medical injuries since being injected with the Covid shots five
months’ earlier, and Rebbetzin Kolodetsky, the daughter of the
late Rav Kanievsky.
The author explains that:
“We introduced the woman injured by the vaccine –

she cannot function today for more than ten minutes
without having to lie down after wards. This woman
only took the vaccine after a friend sent her the video
of Rav Chaim saying to vaccinate. We showed the
Rebbetzin the reports from VAERS of the injured and
dead amongst only the 12-17 age group. She seemed
genuinely shocked by what we were telling her.
The Rebbetzin asked us, “How can this be? Why can’t
you tell this to the Ministry of Health? Do they know
this information?” She told us that she has no knowl-
edge and was only doing what she was told to do – to
tell people to vaccinate.” We asked her. “Who told you?”
She replied that her personal family doctor, Dr. Hardt,
told her and that she goes after her father, Rav Chaim.
87
Readers are encouraged to view the full article here: https://www.emes.
news/news/orders-from-high-places/
156
We asked her if she could pass on this information to

her father and she answered, “No, I can’t, because my
father is ‘out of it.’ He barely recognizes me, and barely
says anything.” We were left wondering how it was
possible that serious and far-reaching psakim were
being said in his name…”
157
The Winter of Discontent
THE SECRET OF THE PRAYER FOR MASHIACH

“There is a secret among the hidden tzaddikim, but because we are
close to his coming and Mashiach needs the strength of the Jewish
people, it’s therefore possible to reveal the secret. We’re talking
about an order of chapters of Tehillim which King David said about
all the wars which he went through. He went through endless wars
all his life spiritually and physically.
“There are chapters the Tzaddikim know that David put into them
awesome intentions, that he intended with this the wars Mashiach
would wage in the world until the revelation of redemption. When
saying them in a particular order, it gives to Mashiach awesome
power to work what he needs to do in the world.
“The chapters that the hidden tzaddikim say for the success of
Mashiach are: 31, 35, 36, 60, 68, 80, 83, 88, 89, 109. If we intend
in prayer to give strength to Mashiach, he receives from this
awesome strength. Because the power of Mashiach is the spiritual
power that he needs to receive from us, as is written in chapter 2
of Likutey Moharan, that the main weapon of Mashiach is prayer.
“At the end of that chapter it’s written that the Jewish people pray
so much and don’t see salvation. Therefore, they err in thinking that
the prayers don’t help. But this isn’t so. The tzaddikim take another
prayer… until through an overwhelming number of prayers [God’s]
mercy is aroused, and until the time of the redemption, what the
prayers worked will be unseen.
158
“It’s written in Kochvey Or that the simple people who say Tehilim
will place the crown on Mashiach. The person who prays for
Mashiach gains a lot more than one who prays for himself, be-
cause the role of Mashiach is to rectify all the souls, but he needs
to find a good point in the person. He needs to find an ‘excuse’ to
help the person. With the prayers of each individual he can say,
‘Here, Ploni prayed for me; I owe him and have to help him.”
“Mashiach needs our prayers in order to help each person. In
Heaven, they expect each Jew and Jewess to join the prayers for
Mashiach. We all need Mashiach and if no one prays for him it
could arouse an accuser — where are the Jewish people? Why don’t
they pray for Mashiach?
“If we pray for Mashiach, he prays for us; and every Jew who
prays for Mashiach, Mashiach prays for him. This itself prevents
decrees.
“The moment we pray for Mashiach, he doesn’t need to pray for
himself, and he’s free to pray for the Jewish people… It’s impossible
to describe how important this is in Heaven every time that Jews
gather together to pray for Mashiach — this is part of the process
of redemption. It’s written in Pirkey Hechalot Rabati that when
the time of redemption arrives, [people] gather together — men,
women, children — and request great mercy… This is part of the
process of redemption, the wheels on which Mashiach rides...
“Only the hidden tzaddikim know the level of Rav Berland.”
– From an interview given on the Breslov Line,
shortly after Lag BaOmer, 5781
I
t was hard to stay optimistic, as 2020 turned into 2021. So
many Jewish holidays ruined by lockdowns, so many mitzvot
‘banned’, Uman cancelled, schools closed, whole communi-
ties under siege - and amidst it all, the Rav continued to sit in jail.
159
In January 2021, Rav Berland’s lawyers had been working hard

on putting together another plea bargain that appeared to be the
only way of getting the elderly Tzaddik out of prison, and properly
cared for.
Like his last arrest, the prosecution was just holding the Rav in
prison, indefinitely, without going to trial - because they had no
real evidence against him that would stand up in court.
So it was, that the Rav’s lawyers were trying to get a ‘plea bargain’
agreed, as they knew that was the Rav’s only route out of indefi-
nite detention. The deal was very close to being inked when the
misnamed Ministry of Justice, under Likud MK Amir Ohana, put
the kibosh on it.
One of the people close to the Rav explained:
“The Ministry of Justice just cancelled the plea bargain

of the Rav due to media pressure.
“It’s an unheard-of thing, that lawyers from both sides

agree to a plea bargain but the Justice Ministry itself
gets involved saying outright that it’s because of media
pressure.”
At the same time, the Israeli police were continuing their war
against the Tzaddik’s family, this time opening another investi-
gation into one of the Rav’s daughters, for the ‘crime’ of acting as
a go-between for doing a pidyon nefesh with the Rav.
But Hashem always puts the ‘balm’ into the world before the
‘blow’, so at the same time as restrictions were ratcheting up again,
160
and it seemed that the Rav would never get out of prison, and that
the ‘coronavirus pandemic’ would never go away, the Rav revealed
a new set of 10 specific tehillim, called the Pirchei Nivrachim, or
‘Chosen Chapters’.
The person who publicized the Pirchei Nivrachim to the Rav’s

English-speaking followers explained:
...[T]he only thing that will keep us sane is holding on

to the Tzaddik by reading daily:
The Tikkun HaKlali (preferably, seven times a day, but

even if we have no kavana at all, just reading it does
the job,
And the new series of Tehillim he just revealed (31, 35,

36, 60, 68, 80, 83, 88, 89, 109)
And by reading the Rav’s prayers.”
In the back of the Pirchei Nivrachim booklet put out by Shuvu

Banim, there is more explanation about what these special 10
chapters really are, and how they came to be revealed in the world.
There it’s written that:
“More than 20 years ago (in the year 5759), Morenu

HaRav, shlit’a, revealed the true spiritual level of
these 10 chapters of tehillim to a few of his individual
students.
A year and a half ago, (in the year 5779 [June 2019]),
the Rav asked us to print them and distribute them all
over the place. And when we asked the Rav ‘how should
we call these chapters?’, he replied: Pirchei Nivrachim.
161
Immersing in a mikvah and reciting the Tikkun

HaKlali is the rectification that Rebbe Nachman of
Breslov revealed, to rectify the sin of of pgam mikreh
lilah (nocturnal emissions). On the other hand, the
Pirchei Nivrachim save a person from sin... by puri-
fying his thoughts and removing all the garbage and
tumah (spiritual impurity) and the poison and ‘rust’
from his mind....
The words pgam habrit have the same gematria as

Pirchei Nivrachim, which take a person out of the pgam
and save him from it.
“Rebbe Nachman of Breslov also revealed the Pirchei

Nivrachim to Morenu HaRav. This is what we were told
by the kabbalist Rabbi David HaKohen of Jerusalem,
who said that this is what the Rav told him. (The words
Pirchei Nivrachim also have the same gematria as
Rabbenu Nachman Mi’Breslov.)
“The 10 chapters of the Tikkun HaKlali are equated to

the 10 fingers of the Sixth Beggar88, who is called the
beggar ‘who has no hands’. He heals the princess from
[spiritual] weakness via the holy niggunim he plays
with his hands.
“And these 10 chapters of the Pirchei Nivrachim are

equated to the 10 toes of the Seventh Begger, who is
88
See Sipurey Ma’asiot, Rebbe Nachman’s Stories, the tale of the Seven
Beggars.
162
called the beggar ‘who has no feet’. He heals the prince

from fallen Emunah, via dancing and jumping with
his holy legs.89
“The Pirchei Nivrachim are very beneficial for helping

a person make teshuva over his very difficult sins, and
help a person rediscover his emuna, and to renew his
joy and enthusiasm for serving Hashem.
“The Pirchei Nivrachim help a person to rectify all

his gilgulim (previous lives), back to the sin of Adam
HaRishon.
“Moranu HaRav told us that each person should say

these chapters at least once a week, and on another
occasion, he said ‘on Shabbat’.
“On another occasion, the Rav told us that we need

to recite these chapters [because] ‘Chapters of tehillim
[fight] against machloket.’ It seems so, because they
talk about the battles that the Tzaddik fought with his
enemies and persecutors, both spiritual and physical.
“And so, reading them protects a person, saves him from

opposing the True Tzaddikim, and gives the Tzaddik
strength to win all his battles...
89
See Kochavei Or, ‘Truth and Emuna’, Number 15.
163
“Many thousands of people across the country

and around the whole world received these Pirchei
Nivrachim and are reading them regularly. Many told
us that they experienced tremendous rejuvenation
from reading these chapters.
Again, it’s interesting to notice the timing. The Pirchei Nivrachim

were first revealed two decades ago, but the Rav didn’t want them
publicized - until June 2019, a few short months before ‘Covid 19’
would explode across the world and leave people in dire need of
spiritual healing.
This was another ‘spiritual remedy’ that the Rav had prepared
and set aside for the coming ‘corona pandemic’, many months
and years in advance. In the meantime, governments all over the
world were aggressively pushing what they claimed was the only
way back to a normal life: shots, shots, and more shots.
By January 13, 2021, 10% of Israelis had lined up for their first
shots in the first week of the ‘Give a Shoulder’ Covid vaccine cam-
paign, sponsored in every sense of the word, by Pfizer.
But the ‘Winter of Discontent’ continued to roil, particularly

on the Chareidi Street. On January 25, 2021, a riot broke out
between the police and yeshiva students in Bnei Brak, over the
never-ending Covid restrictions.
164
According to the Washington Post:
“The unrest has been growing in recent weeks as po-

lice have stepped up enforcement within insular
ultra-Orthodox communities, which traditionally resist
government authority. On Friday, protesters attacked
a police vehicle patrolling Bnei Brak.”90
For months, the ‘anti-chareidi’ media and Ministry of Health

had been running slanted stories based on faked data claiming
that the religious community in Israel were most to blame for the
spread of Covid.
For months, the government had been forcing large families of

religious Jews to stay cooped up in small apartments, unable to
leave, unable to learn Torah, on the back of yet more faked data
and scaremongering reports in the media.91
Now, as the vaccine campaign kicked off in Israel, the Government,

Ministry of Health, and media understood they were going to
have a real issue getting the chareidi public to play ball, because
these communities, understandably, ‘traditionally resist govern-
ment authority.’
And what the government couldn’t achieve by fear-mongering

and fake news, it was only too happy to try and achieve by force.
90
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/ultra-orthodox-
israel-police-covid/2021/01/25/2438e840-5ee3-11eb-a177-7765f29a9524_
story.html
91
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/as-virus-spikes-
among-ultra-orthodox-israel-deploys-security-forces-to-make-them-
stay-home/2020/03/31/94245adc-71f3-11ea-ad9b-254ec99993bc_story.
html
165
As the religious leaders and civil authorities worked hard to re-

store order in Bnei Brak, Avraham Rubinstein, the Mayor, had
this to say:
“It’s with a sad pain that we say out loud that the Israeli
police and its leaders are to blame for the catastrophe
that has been taking place in our city for several days.”
First, the police had come for Rav Berland at dawn, dragging him
out of his shul with maximum cruelty and brutality, in the middle
of a Torah lesson. And now.... religious communities all over the
country were getting the same treatment.
By February 2021, the anti-lockdown unrest had spread more

widely across the country - and again, the flash points were oc-
curring in predominantly chareidi locations.
According to a report on the Times of Israel site:
“Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox men gathered in the capi-

tal’s Shabbat Square in the Mea Shearim neighborhood
to protest the lockdown rules aimed at curbing a high
rate of coronavirus infections, especially restrictions
against opening schools... The demonstrators packed
together tightly and almost none wore face masks.”92
When this same Meah Shearim community shunned the Rav’s

followers and expelled their children from schools and supported
the very flawed ‘psak from Bnei Brak’ against Rav Berland and
Shuvu Banim, they probably had no idea that less than six months
92
https://www.timesofisrael.com/hundreds-of-ultra-orthodox-lock-
down-protesters-clash-with-police-in-jerusalem/
166
later, they would be the ones fighting to keep their schools and
institutions open. It was yet another stunning example of midda
kneged midda.
By March 22, 2020, things came to a head, and the chareidi media
was full of images of chareidim and chassidim roughed up by po-
lice on the streets of Meah Shearim, as garbage bins burned, and
tempers frayed and flared on both sides.93
As the demonstrations continued, the police wheeled out their wa-

ter cannons to disburse the angry crowds. But the people pushing
the vaccines understood a clear lesson, that the chareidi public
was not just going to roll over and do everything the Ministry of
Health wanted.
Not unless something very dramatic occurred, that would crush

opposition from the Chareidi street.
In the meantime, on February 21, 2021, Rav Berland was released

to house arrest, on grounds of his increasingly fragile health.
The court ordered the Rav to constantly wear electronic handcuffs,

and also post the astronomical sum of 1.2 million NIS as bail.
Shuvu Banim organized a campaign asking all the Rav’s followers
to contribute at least 10 shekels, and within three days the amount
was raised.
But the court wasn’t done with its special conditions for releasing
the Rav to house arrest. They also ordered that he should stay in a
secret location with two supervisors (not part of the Shuvu Banim
93
https://vinnews.com/2020/03/22/police-attacked-as-they-enforce-
health-ministry-directives-in-meah-shearim/
167
community, who hadn’t had any prior contact with the Rav) and
a security company that he had to pay for himself.
And last but certainly not least, the court banned the Rav from
having any direct or indirect contact with his followers - including
forbidding him from giving any shiurim via the telephone, as he’d
been doing until this point.
On February 21, 2021, the Ministry of Health introduced the

‘Green Passport’ proof of vaccination status - and overnight, Israel
turned into a country that was practising ‘vaccine apartheid’. But
even while it was claiming ‘victory over corona’, the Government
was still mandating masks for everyone, and swabs and PCR tests
in schools and airports.
To the careful observer, there were many clues that ‘the pandemic’
and its restrictions were not over yet, not by a long way. Just the
restrictions had gone from tyrannical, full throttle ‘lockdowns’
(mirroring the Rav’s imprisonment in jail), to less invasive, but
still horrible and restrictive measures (mirroring the Rav’s slightly
improved condition under house arrest).
Israel went into lockdown a fortnight after Rav Berland was ar-
rested. And the country was only going to come out of the restric-
tions and ‘coronavirus’ madness when the Rav was well and truly
free. What happened next really underlined this.
At the beginning of April, 2021, some of Rabbi Berland’s follow-

ers discovered that he was staying at the home of a distant fam-
ily member in Zichron Yaakov, and from a sense of tremendous
168
yearning to be close to their Rebbe, they started to come to the

house where he was staying.
Even though the crowds of people were small, and even though a
great effort was made to keep the gatherings as quiet and low-key
as possible, as soon as the Rav’s persecutors understood what was
happening, they went around the street inciting the neighbors to
make a formal complaint.
And so, on April 11, 2021, the 83-year-old Rav - with multiple,
serious health issues - was sent back to Nitzan prison in Ramla.
But he didn’t stay there long. As soon as some of his followers set
up their tents next to Nitzan, the prison authorities moved the Rav
again, on April 16, 2021 - this time to a secret location.
Before he was spirited away by the authorities, the Rav managed

to give over one more shiur, that hinted in a very clear way for
anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear, that much worse was
still to come.
169
They Wanted to Kill
100,000 Jews in 5 Minutes
O
n April 11, 2021, the day the Rav was taken back to
Nitzan prison, one of the Rav’s grandsons publicized a
message from a ‘hidden Tzaddik’, asking people to go
and pray at Meron all night until the dawn minyan.
The message stated there was a terrible decree of destruction, that

needed to be ‘sweetened’. A couple hundred of the Rav’s followers
immediately dropped everything and went to pray all night at
Meron, as per the instructions of this ‘hidden Tzaddik’. You can
still see some of the footage of that prayer gathering on Youtube.94
There were rumors that the instructions came from Rav Berland
himself, who was still under a court order to have no contact with
anyone from his community, nor to give any Torah classes over
the phone, as part of the agreement for him to be moved to house
arrest.
94
Watch part of that gathering here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
qakUHv4O9rQ
170
Once the Rav was moved back to Nitzan prison and was once
again free to give over classes by phone, the Rav immediately put
out the following recording.
This was still three weeks before the tragedy in Meron that saw 45
holy Jews crushed and asphyxiated to death on Lag BaOmer, 5781,
but you will find many hints and illusions to what was going to
happen that fateful night.
What follows is a slightly abridged version.
[The Rav is telling the famous story of the Baal Shem

Tov’s trip to Eretz Yisrael with his daughter Odel and
his sofer, R’ Hirsh. On the way they were captured by
cannibals…]
This was about Odel’le, the daughter of the Baal

Shem Tov, [the grandmother] of Rabbenu haKadosh,
because they wanted to eat Odel’le. They wanted
‘shwarma’. This was Seder night, and they wanted
‘shwarma’, melaveh malka.
The cannibals came on the way to Eretz Yisrael and

wanted to eat her. They said there is no other meat as
tasty as this in the world. They were already prepar-
ing the fire. They were rolling up their sleeves, they
were sharpening their knives.
They tied her on the fire – Odel-le, the holy and pure
one, the daughter of the Baal Shem Tov.
171
The Baal Shem Tov said about her…. [text in Yiddish]

“All day she goes around with tremendous desire to-
wards Hashem Yisborach, and she asks herself ‘what
else can I do to fulfill the Will of Hashem’.”
From the day she was born, she was a pillar of flame,
a pillar of flame. They saw a pillar of flame upon
Odel’le. Now, they want to eat her, the bandits. They
said to make ‘melave malka’ from Odel’le, the holy
and pure one.
They were sharpening their knives, they tied her on

the fire. The Baal Shem Tov… They said after this,
[they also wanted] to eat the Baal Shem Tov, with
Rabbi Hirsh. And R’ Hirsh said to the Baal Shem Tov:
Why are you silent? Start to sing a little, ‘Who alone

performs great miracles, for His kindness is forever’!95
Because on that day, they decided to slaughter all
the Jews. 100,000 Jews in five minutes.
How long does it take to kill 100,000 Jews?
Each one takes an axe, he can cut off 10 heads, 20

heads. Every household has 20 babies. They can take
off their heads in 20 seconds.
All the police will go on the microphone at 6 in the

morning, on the megaphone – they still didn’t have
a microphone, so they used a megaphone. And they
95
From Tehillim 137.
172
will make an announcement to wipe out all the Jews,

all the Jewish nation.
“To be prepared for that day.”96 To be prepared. The

goyim are always prepared, they are always ready, they
are always in a state of preparedness, ready to ‘leap’…
The goyim are waiting all year to start chopping… To
decapitate, to [separate] the Jews from their heads.
Only [waiting] for permission from the king.
They are just waiting for the announcement, the

megaphone, and then within 10 seconds there will
not remain any Jews in all of ‘Istanbul’…
Each neighbor will cut off 10 heads, and then go-

marnu, we’re finished. And each one has several axes,
an axe for each Jew.
And so at 6 in the morning, no memory [of the

Jews] will remain. Judenrein, Judenrein, Judenrein.
Everything will be cleansed of Jews. And Jews
will not live in ‘Istanbul’, until the end of their
lifetimes....
And so, we will have a city cleansed of Jews, and then

we’ll have fun! And what a good life we will have!
96
Megillat Esther, 3:14.
173
This is what they thought in their hearts – and it’s

forbidden to reveal it. Whoever reveals it, oy va voy.
The electric chair in the city square.
They would always say that there was one like this
who used to tell things to the Jews, always!
And the Jews would then nullify the gezeira within

five minutes. They would bring a few coins; they would
collect at the wall (Kotel) a few agarot (pennies) and
sweeten it all. What’s the problem? A Jew knows how
to sweeten everything. In a thousandth of a second,
he can sweeten all the gezeirot in the world – so [the
Turks decided] don’t reveal it, and that’s it!
There was a minister who couldn’t accept this decree

under any circumstances, and he was a lover of Israel.
I’m not sleeping, and I’m not eating. I can’t fall asleep.
He was tossing from side to side.
It’s already 1 in the morning, and he can’t fall asleep.

He cries out, hatzilu! Save us! Save us! Save us! Save
us! They are going to destroy all the Jews, and they
don’t know anything about it!
So he ran to the head of the community. At 1 o’clock

in the morning, everyone is already asleep.
In Istanbul, they finished the Seder at 11. They don’t

finish the seder at 4 in the morning. 11 o’clock, already
174
everyone is finished, without niggunim, without sing-

ing, without anything.
They’ve already eaten their kezayit of matzah, the

kezayit of maror, the kezayit of Korech – and sud-
denly, BOOM! CRASH! What an incredible banging
on the door! CRASH! BOOM! They are breaking
down the door.
And the head of the community doesn’t understand

what’s going on. The FBI has arrived, the KGB has
arrived – only the KGB would make such banging.
He ran in a panic to open the door in his pajamas. He

sees the most important minister, the most import-
ant minister.
He says to him, Listen, in another five minutes

no memory will remain from all Am Yisrael. Run
quickly to the King! I’m fleeing from here. Oy va voy,
maybe they will come after me! Today everything is
recorded!
If they record me, I’m finished! I’m lost! The electric

chair!
He called out to the minister, where are you running to?
The minister with kol od nafsho bo (all the soul that

was left in him) jumped all the stairs in one jump.
175
The head of the community did not know what to do.

He did not know where to run. Where can we go? In
another five minutes, there will be no trace left of all
the Jews.
Six in the morning, 9.30 – there won’t remain the trace

of even a single Jew.
Run quickly! Run quickly and save all the Jews! Just
run, they need to run!
How the head of the community ran! Wow! Not even

the best athlete could catch up with him. He woke up
all the heads of the community. It’s already 3 in the
morning. Everyone is running.
They don’t know their right from their left, north or

south, east, or west. They don’t know where to run
to, in which direction, where to run, where to flee
to, where to go...
The heads of the community saw Shuvu Banim sing

one verse for three hours, ‘Who performs wonders
alone, because His kindnesses are forever’.
Everybody sing! Shimon is singing with us! [the

Rav is singing with them] ‘Who performs wonders
alone, because his kindnesses are forever’. There are
176
still another 20 minutes before 7am, ‘to perform

wonders alone, because His kindnesses are forever.’97
This is how they sang. They began to sing with him

because they didn’t know what to do, or where to go
to. North, South, East. Maybe we’ll go to Mars? There,
we’ll sweeten the decree.
They didn’t know where to go, or in which direction.

It’s forbidden to speak of it.
Oy va voy, to anyone who will reveal what I told you.

I will hang you in the middle of the square in Kikar
Zion! Be warned not to tell anyone what they are do-
ing! Where can we go? In another half hour, they
will kill all the Jews. ‘Who performs wonders alone,
because His kindnesses are forever.’
Balfour sweetened the decrees.
He said to the Jews, the time has come for you to re-
turn to Eretz Yisrael. They wanted to kill him on the
spot. He wrote this to Rothschild. He wanted to be a
member of the English parliament, so today the most
important road is Balfour.
97
This is a clear reference to the two coachloads of people from Shuvu
Banim who went up to pray all night at Meron on April 11, 2021, on the
instructions of the ‘hidden Tzaddik’.
177
There, they do all the demonstrations, there they

destroy sifrei Torah. They use the luchot (i.e., Ten
Commandments) and the sifrei Torah as armor.
Come, let’s run to Balfour! Maybe there, Bibi will

sweeten something.
B’kitzur, one said yallah, everyone go, everyone to the

mother of the king! Everyone to the mother of the sul-
tan! Everyone, yallah, run, run! How they ran! Wow!
I remember it, they ran, they stampeded over 10 cats

and 5 dogs. There are indictments, to crush a cat is
worse than murdering a human being, today.
B’kitzur, they bang to the gatekeeper, four in the

morning. By six – they say there will already be no
trace remaining of the Jews.
They didn’t talk about the decree because they

couldn’t make the announcement five minutes be-
fore. They didn’t make the announcement – because
people would cancel it. Only at that moment.
And then, they would all come, and gomarnu. He will

decapitate 10 people, and slaughter, and within five
seconds there will not remain one Jew in ‘Istanbul’.
They knock for the gatekeeper.
178
The gatekeeper is at his post, asleep. He drank five

bottles of champagne and 10 of whiskey and cocktails,
and all types of wine in the world, he drank. And now,
in the morning, this is the deepest sleep that there is
in the world.
You should know that four in the morning, if you

want to wake up a person, it’s impossible. Even kick-
ing them doesn’t help. It’s a sleep like nothing in this
world. At four in the morning, a person goes into a
deep sleep.
Until he falls asleep, he begins to sleep at 10. After six

hours, the body is finally relaxed, and he’s able to enter
a deep, deep sleep. And they kicked the gate. They
destroyed the gate. Wow.
The guard wakes up. What’s going on here? Why are

you breaking down the gate?! I’m going to bring the
police on everyone!!
They said, no, no! There is a terrible decree here! Some

decree on the Jews! We are messengers of the Jews!
There is a decree to wipe out all of us!
Yes, I heard it. I heard something about this. They said

it’s forbidden to reveal it. Yes.
So, what do you want to do?
Run to Ima! Wake up the Ima of the King! The Sultan!

We will come after you! Yallah – he ran.
179
He jumped 10 stairs in one jump.
He banged on the door. She came out in her pajamas,

wearing her night robe.
What’s going on? Guests? I heard that the head of the

community arrived.
Don’t ask! They are going to kill all the Jews!
What?! Bring them into the lobby. I’m coming

down. She slid down all the 10 steps. She jumped it
in one jump.
What’s going on?
They said there’s a decree!! They are killing the Jews!
They said it’s forbidden for us to reveal it. If we re-

veal it, they will hang us all in the city square.
His mother said don’t worry. Yallah, sit, drink. Here,

I’ve prepared some whiskey for you. Yallah, drink! It
will be okay! Drink, relax, relax already!
Yallah, I’m already going with my chariot and my

four horses, they travel at 200 km an hour. Wow.
They crushed 20 cats. 100 dogs, on the way. She has
100 indictments until today. To run over dogs is
worse than killing a human today.
180
She wakes up the king, and shouts at him. She says,

wake him up.
What, I’m going to wake him up? Don’t you know how
much he drank? 10 champagnes and 20 whiskeys, that
night. He’s sleeping the sleep of Taramita. A sleep of
half a year. You can kick him, hit him, kick him… In
the end, they gave him such kicks until he woke up.
Yallah! Get up! Wake up the King! Here’s mother,

mother has arrived! The Ima woke him up, with such
kicks.
She went up 10 floors, she ran 10 floors in 10 seconds.
Wake up the King! The Sultan came down 10 floors.
Ima, what’s going on?! Ima’leh, so sweet, my dear

mother, what happened? What happened?
Do you want to kill the entire family?! What did you

do! Tell me! What sin? I saw your father in a dream.
Your father – in a dream I saw him. [Your father] said
that there will not remain a memory, by six in the
morning, there will not remain a trace of the whole
family!
Ima! I fast on Ramadan!
181
B’kitzur, she told him she dreamed that no trace

would be left from the whole family. Immediately, he
went and tore up the decree against the Jews.
He said, Ima, I can sweeten the awful gezeira. I made

an awful decree against the Jews.
Did you go mad!? Look what happened to Pharoah!

What happened to Sisera! This one drowned in the
Kishon, that one drowned in the Sea of Reeds. What?!
Did you go crazy?! You start up with the Jews?!
Look, Stalin started up with the Jews, and he had a

stroke…
182
The Message from the
Hidden Tzaddik at Meron
S
hortly after the terrible tragedy at Meron on L’ag B’omer
5781, someone named Yisrael Meir came forward to tell the
Breslov Kav how he’d met a hidden tzaddik in the Meron
forest, who foresaw the Meron tragedy shortly before it happened -
and who also revealed how to be saved from evil decrees in the
future.
These are the words of Yisrael Meir:
“I got to Meron for Lag BaOmer. As we know, this isn’t

a simple time. This is one of the exalted moments, the
revelation of the true Tzaddik. So I needed to go to the
field to do hisbodedus, to prepare… In the field I saw
a Jew holding the Tikkun Klali and saying it word for
word and his eyes were spilling forth tears like a faucet.
I’ve never seen such a saying of Tehilim.
I continued to do hisbodedus on the mountain. After

a half hour, I saw him still saying the Tikkun Klali
and crying, apparently saying it several times. After an
hour, he was still saying the Tikkun Klali and crying.
You don’t see things like that.
183
I did more hisbodedus and asked Hashem to merit

me to speak to this tzaddik.... Suddenly after about 15
minutes, the man approached me and called me by my
name, Yisrael Meir.”
Yisrael Meir continues:
“I asked him how he knows my name. He answered

that he knows, it’s okay. ‘You prayed that you wanted
to speak to me. In Heaven, they accepted your prayer.’ I
got excited and asked him, what does a person need to
pray for now in Meron? He answered: We need to pray
that Rav Berland makes it to Meron.”
At this point, the interviewer on the Breslov line asked Yisrael

Meir if this mystery man knew beforehand that he was a follower
of Rav Berland.
Yisrael Meir replied:
“I didn’t tell him anything; he said by himself! I asked

him from where he knows Rav Berland? He said that he
doesn’t know him personally, but they have a spiritual
connection. Then, I asked him how one can merit to say
the Tikkun Klali like him, with all those tears?
That’s when he told me: ‘If you knew what’s going to

happen here in a few more hours, you would also cry
like that.’ I asked him what is going to happen, but he
didn’t answer. He only said that if you knew what was
going to happen here you would also cry like that.’
So I asked him: ‘What can be done?’ And told me: ‘If Rav
Berland will come here, everything will be okay.’ After the
184
fact, it was revealed that when he was saying the Tikkun

Klali, it was in the field opposite the place of the tragedy.”
But the conversation with this hidden Tzaddik didn’t end there.
He continued to talk with Yisrael Meir, and told him that he was
praying for Rav Berland, and all the other hidden tzaddikim were
also praying for him, every day.
Yisrael Meir continued:
“He told me that every day in Heaven, they announce

that he is the Tzaddik of the generation. Every genera-
tion has a tzaddik who is an aspect of Moshe, and then
there are the other tzaddikim.
He told me that the hidden tzaddikim recite the Tikkun

Haklali several times a day, for the success of Rav
Berland. If all the Jewish people would join the prayers,
they could sweeten all the decrees that there are, and
prevent endless tears from the Jewish people, since Rav
Berland fights above in Heaven with all his strength for
the Jewish people.”
Yisrael Meir continued:
“[The hidden tzaddik] also explained the importance of

saying the Tikkun HaKlali for Rav Berland at least once
every day. And whoever can, should say as many as
possible. In Heaven, when people pray for Rav Berland,
this is one of the most exalted things....
185
If everyone gathers to pray, then everyone multiples

everyone else, as Rebbe Nachman revealed in the secret
of the joining of the houses98 — the prayer is something
else completely. When a person prays with other people,
this multiplies its power by billions.
He said that Mashiach is already found among us in

this world, and is working awesome things. This is hid-
den until the time of his revelation arrives. The tzad-
dikim know who this is and know that Mashiach is
making things happen....”
The interviewer on the Breslov Line then repeated what Yisrael

Meir had said, to make sure he’d heard it correctly:
Interviewer: “The same tzaddik who foresaw the Meron tragedy

pinned the salvation on Rav Berland arriving?”
98
In Chayei Moharan 205 (translated into English as ‘Tzaddik’, by the
Breslov Research Institute), Rebbe Nachman explains:
“The Jews are called ‘hallowed stones’…. We find in the Sefer Yetzirah:
‘Two stones build four houses, three stones build six houses, four build
24 houses, etc.’ What are the houses? ‘My house is a house of prayer.’
(Isaiah 56:7)”
“In every place where there is a gathering of Jews, each time one
stone – one Jewish soul – is added, a completely different structure is
formed: the entire structure is totally renewed, and completely new
houses come into being….
“Six letters build hundreds upon hundreds of houses, and so it goes
on, until the mouth cannot utter it, or the heart conceive it.
“Think of this, and realize the great joys, the new structures and new
creations, the precious, awesome, wondrous prayers that are constantly
coming into being through the souls of Israel, as the true Tzaddik works
to gather them together, to bring them under the wings of holiness and
draw them to God.”
186
Yisrael Meir replied: “Yes. He said: If Rav Berland arrives every-

thing will be fine. To our grief, we didn’t merit. He also told me that
the more people who pray for Rav Berland, the more he can sweeten
the decrees threatening the Jewish people…
“A day has 24 hours. We’re talking about saying a few Tikkun

Klali’s. How long does this really take? … We need to grab this. This
is the greatest treasure that we have now.”99
99
https://ravberland.com/hidden-tzaddik-who-foresaw-meron-tragedy-
reveals-how-to-be-saved-in-future/
187
Tr agedy in Meron
“On Wednesday night, Chief Rabbi of Tzfat Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu

banned Rabbi Eliezer Berland, the founder of Shavu Banim yeshi-
vah in Jerusalem and a leader of the Breslov Chassidic movement,
from attending Lag BaOmer festivities in Meron and being hon-
ored as one of the many lighters of the Meron bonfire.” 100
- Headline before Lag BaOmer, 5778 (2018)
“It’s almost Lag BaOmer and people are traveling to Meron.”

“We’re not noheig like that. We received our hashpa’ah [influence]
from the Brisker Rav, the Chazon Ish, the Ponevezher Rav – and
they didn’t travel to Meron. Therefore we don’t go, we sit and learn.
Talmud Torah K’neged Kulam....We receive the fruits [of learning
Torah] in this world and the keren is in Olam Haba. Nu, so is it
kadai to lose this revach? Do we want to lose the revach of the fruits
in this world and the keren in Olam Haba?”101
- Comments made by R’ Gershon Edelstein, April 28, 2021.
“Israel’s Health Ministry is concerned that the Lag BaOmer gath-

erings will cause a renewed coronavirus outbreak.
100
https://sephardic.org/news/hundreds-of-thousands-make-lag-b-omer-
pilgrimage-to-rebbe-shimon-s-gravesite
101
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/general/1968926/hagaon-har-
av-edelstein-we-dont-go-to-meron-we-sit-and-learn.html
188
“A senior official involved in preparing the plan for Lag BaOmer

on Thursday told Kan News that Anyone going to Meron needs to
know that his blood is on his own head...”102
- Israel National News story before Lag BaOmer, 5781 (2021)
T
hat terrible year, 5781, Lag BaOmer fell out on the secular
date of Thursday night, the 29th April. In this chapter, we
are just going to set out whatever facts are known and let
readers come to their own conclusions about what really happened
that night.
The story begins a few weeks earlier, on April 19th, 2021. That’s
when Israel’s Fire and Rescue Services publisheD a report on what
needs to happen for Lag BaOmer 5781 to pass safely.103
Point #7 in the section on ‘SUGGESTIONS’ said the following

(translated from the original Hebrew):
102
103
You can see the PDF of that report, in Hebrew, here: https://ynetimages1.
yit.co.il/picserver5/wcm_upload_files/2021/05/03/HknkGEpwd/33.pdf
189
The enclosed area outside the building [i.e., RASHBI’s

Tomb]:
In the enclosed area outside the building, which is

not covered [i.e., the Toldos Aharon plaza], there
should be at least two totally separate ways out…
If the gathering exceeds 6,000 people, there should
be at least three exits. If the gathering exceeds 9,000
people, there should be at least four exits.”
On the night of Lag BaOmer 5781, there was just one exit open
from the Toldos Aharon plaza. Three of the four regular exits
in and out of the Toldos Aharon Complex had been blocked by
‘Coronavirus’ checkpoints and fences, mandated by the Health
Ministry – in direct contravention to the above report.
These exits were:
EXIT 1:
Via the back of the Tzion, down the stairs - blocked with two sets
of fences.
EXIT 2:
From the top floor of the Tzion, via a ‘balcony passage’ that nor-
mally leads to a large central exit that opens out towards the
Boyaner complex in Meron, and from there down some stairs to
the Toldos Aharon complex. Blocked with fences.
190
EXIT 3:
From the Boyaner Complex itself, another wide staircase located

in the women’s section (but also used by men), which leads down
to the Toldos Aharon complex. Blocked with fences.
That left just one exit open on the night of Lag BaOmer – the in-
famous ‘Reb Dov Shvil’ stairs.
And this exit was already known to create a dangerous, potentially

fatal bottle neck, even on regular years where there were no addi-
tional fences, checkpoints, or overcrowding because of Shabbat.
What’s more, for the first time ever, the authorities decided that
year to enclose the normally ‘open air’ Reb Dov Shvil with pre-
fabricated walls. This is even more perplexing to understand, as
during Covid people were being told to pray outside and to avoid
‘enclosed areas’ due to fear of ‘spreading Covid’.
And so in one fell swoop, an open area was turned into an en-
closed and claustrophobic ‘tunnel of death’.
One investigative journalist who interviewed hundreds of wit-

nesses before coming to his conclusions stated104:
It turns out that what caused the seemingly terrible

disaster, is the placement of many barriers between all
the lighting complexes and the Zion complex....In all the
years that passed, before the Corona era, except for the
main entrances and exits, no checkpoints had been set
up inside the compound, and the events passed safely,
104
See the report in the original Hebrew here: https://hm-news.co.il/153013/
191
although apparently even then the safety situation in

terms of congestion was very bad.
As stated, this year, due to the requirement of the

Ministry of Health, a number of checkpoints were set
up, which caused a huge load in the stairwell where the
disaster occurred.”
On April 25, 2021, two safety engineers surveying the site trans-
ferred a ‘safety pitfalls’ report to the police where they stated that
they had demanded as early as January that lighting all the bon-
fires at Meron be carried out at the same time, to prevent large
numbers of people from moving around place to place.
“We warned about crowding not because of COVID but

because of Shabbat,” the engineers said. “We estimated
that masses of people would arrive all at once and that’s
what happened.”
That same week, the Israeli government (police, MDA and Fire &
Rescue services) also conducted an unusual series of ‘war games’
in Meron. This comes from Ha’aretz105:
“Earlier in the week the police conducted war games

simulating the Meron celebrations, with results that
were similar to what actually transpired a few days
later. The worst thing is that it shouldn’t have been a
surprise.”
105
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-israeli-
officials-evade-responsibility-for-the-mount-meron-disaster-1.9763073
192
Then, on April 28, 2021, the police removed all non-police-controlled

cameras from the site. Many different people reported that the
police went through the Rashbi compound removing all the cam-
eras – including from private institutions, including those be-
longing to Rabbi Shraga Schnitzer and ‘Hilula DeRashbi’, those
belonging to Rabbi Kuperstock, and others.
That same day, the ‘RelaxingWalker’ tour guide took a detailed

video of his ‘walking tour’ around the Meron Complex. You can
clearly see how many fences and barriers were being erected on
instructions from the Ministry of Health, and just how ‘penned
in’ and blocked the whole compound became, as a result.106
The morning leading into Lag BaOmer, April 29th, 2021, the
government put out its ‘official’ coronavirus guidelines for Lag
BaOmer 5781. The following is a translated story that appeared
on the ‘Bhol Chareidi’ news site107:
Just hours before opening i celebrations for the hiloula

of the RASHBI in Meron, Corona Tzar Nachman Ash
publicized the full outline for celebrating Lag BaOmer
in Meron, 5781.
A document obtained by Behadrei Haredim states that

in a discussion held last night with the participation of
Health Minister Edelstein, Interior Minister Deri and
Internal Security Minister Amir Ohana, the outline
of the celebration on Mount Meron was agreed upon,
based on the work done among the relevant parties in
recent weeks.
106
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ELMolfiksc&feature=youtu.be
107
193
At the meeting, it was agreed that the National Center

for Management of Holy Places and the Israel Police
will do everything possible to implement the Ministry
of Health’s recommendations, as follows:
1. Transport only by shuttles from the parking lots.

There will be no restriction on getting to the moun-
tain area – anyone who wants to get there can do so.
2. Across the mountain, the existing crowd restrictions

will apply – 20 people in a closed space and 100
people in an open area.
3. It was agreed that the lighting area would be con-

ducted according to a special layout for the “tav
yarok” (‘green passports’):
A. The organized ascent to the fires will be made

by buses, which can only be used by those with
a “green passport”, i.e., those who will be vacci-
nated and recovered, or with negative PCR tests
up to 72 hours before the event, as coordinated
by the Holy Places Administration and the Israel
Police.
B. There will be no more than 3,000 people next to

each lighting.
C. There will be three lightings in parallel – for a

total of up to 9000 people at one go.
D. There will be up to 4 rounds of lighting.
194
E. It was agreed and clarified that the “green pass-

port” will not be checked at the entrance to the
event.
Those ‘health’ guidelines were agreed upon by the following

ministers:
Yuli Edelstein, Minister of Health
Aryeh Deri, Minister of the Interior
Amir Ohana, Minister of Internal Security,
Nachman Ash, the ‘Coronavirus Tzar’.
And of course, the whole thing then went to Netanyahu for his
agreement.
These politicians then tasked the police, and the National Center
for the Management of Holy Places, with implementing the dan-
gerous ‘health’ guidelines – with deadly results.
Although only 100,000 people made it to Meron before it closed

following the disaster, an official press release put out by Israel’s
Ministry of Religious Affairs on April 29th, 2021, shows that the
government was apparently expecting half a million people to
attend festivities in Meron - five times as many people.
195
That ‘official press release’ explained:108
Seven government ministries are partners in preparing

the celebration. This year, the Ministry of Religious
Affairs will budget the celebration with about NIS 15.5
million. The Ministry of Internal Security took care of
the influx of about 5,000 police officers to secure the
many arrivals. The police are equipped with modern
technology.
The Ministry of Transportation, which allocates about

4,000 buses, will make about 7,000 round trips…. The
Ministries of Health and Justice were also partners in
discussions concerning the revelry.
If we return to the ‘‘guidelines’ for Meron that were put out by

Nachman Ash on April 29th, 2021, we find some difficult contra-
dictions. At the same time they said:
“There will be no restriction on getting to the moun-

tain area – anyone who wants to get there can do so,”
they also said that: “[E]xisting crowd restrictions will
apply – 20 people in a closed space and 100 people in
an open area.”
Next, they said that people would only be allowed to board the
buses to come to Meron, and to attend a bonfire, if they could
show a ‘green passport’. But then they contradicted themselves
again by saying: “The green passport will not be checked at the
entrance to the event.”
108
https://www.gov.il/he/departments/news/eronispreparingtoabsorb
thousandsof
196
Also, even having just 3,000 people per bonfire clearly contra-
vened the Health Ministry’s own guidelines that there shouldn’t
be more than “100 people in an open area.”
These are just a few of the glaring issues in the guidelines, but they
clearly demonstrate that the pilgrims to Meron were being told to
follow a set of ‘rules’ that were totally unrealistic, and impossible
to follow. So when things went ‘wrong’ it would be easy to point a
finger at the pilgrims for ‘not following the rules.
Now, let’s set out the known facts about what happened on the
night itself.
Even before dusk fell, social media was exploding with videos and
images showing extreme police violence against the pilgrims to
Meron. 109Video after video showed groups of feral policemen vio-
lently kicking and beating chareidim – for no obvious reason – all
over the RASHBI complex, in the hours leading up to the tragedy.
Around 6pm on April 29th, one of Rav Berland’s close students,

Rav Nachman Horowitz, left a message on the Breslov Line, warn-
ing about the police brutality that was going on. Here’s a little of
what he said:
“Rabotai, [this is] literally a war. They [the police] re-

moved all the women, now they are by the men. Wars!
They are not allowing entry, people are sacrificing their
lives, we need to pray.
109
For example: https://rumble.com/vgjb8l-gestapo-roughing-up-ran-
dom-jews-at-meron.html and http://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.
com/2021/05/why-are-they-suddenly-calling-it.html
197
Someone said ‘if there will be Meron Lag BaOmer there

will be Uman Rosh Hashana’.
Cry to Hashem, pray, people are sacrificing their lives,

literally! They don’t understand what’s happening here,
what’s going on? What do they want? I said to someone
‘that they are standing outside with their loud sirens.
That is okay? This is healthy?’ What’s the inyan? Why
are they not letting people in? Hashem should help.
Not for nothing would my grandfather (R Shmuel

Horowitz ztz’l) say: ‘Meron, Meron Rosh Hashana’.
Now I’m approaching the entrance and they are not

letting me in, they are not allowing entrance, they are
not allowing entrance, this is terrible and frightening.
They are pulling people out forcefully, Hashem should
help, they are standing and not allowing people to en-
ter... Hashem should help (not clear) we will win, amen
v’amen”.
Less than an hour later, Rav Horowitz collapsed and had a massive
heart-attack in the Kever. There were rumors that this occurred
just after he’d been ‘pepper-sprayed’ by the police for daring to
argue with them.
Two hours before the disaster occurred, the Director General of

the Center for the Development of Holy Places, Josef Schwinger,
gave a strange live interview where he said:110
110
https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/BkNxCrAvu
198
“The one who is responsible for operations in the field

is the Israel Police, and it’s forbidden to let them run
away from this matter.”
In a quote that appeared on the Ynet site, Schwinger was reported

as also telling the interviewer before the disaster occurred that:
“I’m already waiting to get to the next day...Children are almost
being crushed, it’s a very unpleasant spectacle.”
Earlier that day, Yossi Daitsh, one of the deputy mayors of

Jerusalem, had also appeared on television live, to warn about the
dangerous overcrowding and police brutality occurring at the site.
Daitsh said111:
“We are standing at the entrance to the compound

while thousands of people behind us were pushing to
get in. There were barriers and a small and narrow
passageway. A policeman told us to go back and threat-
ened to spray us with pepper spray if we did not do as
he said. I asked him if he was insane. I said there were
people there, children, they would be crushed, and peo-
ple would die. I asked him to let some of them through
and relieve some of the pressure on the crowd. But he
would not listen.”
According to Daitsh, the same fatal crush that occurred that night
could have been repeated in another five or six different locations
on Mount Meron. Daitsh said: “It is a miracle that no other such
tragedies occurred….”
111
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/B1ot11aYPO
199
Shortly before the fatal crush, many eyewitnesses stated that they
had been trying to leave the dangerously overcrowded Toldos
Aharon complex, but the police kept blocking them, and forcing
them back into the crowd.
If all this ‘blocking’ was being done in the name of ‘COVID 19’
regulations, how can we explain that the Ministry of Health be-
lieved that penning large crowds of people behind fences and gates
for long stretches of time was meant to help ‘prevent the spread
of COVID’?
So, if all this deliberate overcrowding wasn’t being done to ‘prevent

the spread of COVID 19’, and if it wasn’t being done to ‘crowd
control’ and help people move around safely – then why was it
being done?
Now that we’ve got the context in place, let’s examine the awful
events that led up to the deaths of 45 martrys in Meron that night.
The Toldos Aharon bonfire was due to be lit at 12.30am. The only
exit the police left open from the Toldos Aharon plaza was the ‘Reb
200
Dov Shvil’ exit, which they’d covered on all sides with prefabri-
cated walls, and which led down a ramp, that ended in a sharp 90
degree turn down a flight of stairs.
Directly at the bottom of those stairs, there was the wooden build-
ing that housed the Hatzalah Headquarters on Mount Meron.
Pedestrians could either go left from the stairs and walk back
along the newly covered and enclosed walkway that was marked
‘AREA 41’; or they could turn right and head down a very long
flight of stairs that was marked ‘AREA 42’.
Right next to the Hatzalah HQ on Mount Meron, at the bottom of

those stairs leading to ‘AREA 41 and AREA 42’, is where 45 people
were crushed to death.
In the days following the tragedy, a number of people shared their

first-hand stories of what they’d experienced down there on the
‘Reb Dov Shvil’ stairs. One of them was Elad Macharish, who
shared on the Breslov Line how he was miraculously saved from
the jaws of death. Breslov112
Elad begins:
“We were four, five friends who traveled to Meron to-

gether. In Meron, we branched out and each person
did his own thing… Around 12:20 am, I met one of the
friends, relatively close to the area where the incident
happened, in the passageway. We spoke of strengthen-
ing ourselves with stories about Tzaddikim, and faith
in Tzaddikim.
112
You can dial the Breslov Line in Israel on: *9148.
201
While we were talking, we started to hear the Toldos

Aharon song — “V’Amartem Ko L’Chai” - on the loud-
speaker of, and the dancing began.
I said to my friend, let’s go and dance. This is an im-

portant part of the Hilulah — to dance and rejoice.
And he said to me that there are masses of people [in
the Toldos Aharon plaza] and he was afraid to go there.
I didn’t understand. I said to him that every year there
are lots of people, and every year everything is okay.
I said to him, ‘Don’t worry. Ever year there are masses

of people, and it’s possible to dance — everything is
fine.’ I didn’t understand that we were talking about a
completely different number of people.”
Elad continues:
“So my friend was persuaded, and we began to progress

towards Toldos Aharon, to that plaza. We were a bit
further above… When we reached that passageway [the
Reb Dov Shvil] …we were stuck to the wall. We saw a
large number of people trying to go up to the plaza. At
the moment we arrived, there were still some trying to
ascend and some trying to descend — this was two-way.
Mamash, in a matter of a few seconds, while we were

trying to progress through the crowd, suddenly a group
arrived that was returning and saying they weren’t al-
lowing [people] to enter [the Toldos Aharon Plaza].”
The path forward was blocked and already, people were

unable to go back.”
202
Elad describes the terrible lead-up to the tragedy:
“A bit of pushing began. People still had where to push.

I said to my friend, ‘They say that it’s impossible to pass,
let’s go back.’ We were trying to go back, but then we
saw there was already immense crowding. Everything
mamash happened so fast. In the meantime, more and
more people were being pressed [into the Reb Dov Shvil]
from the direction of the plaza, and the path up from
where we entered was closed.
The public was not allowed to exit from there, some-

thing was blocked there. So the public wasn’t exiting
[at the bottom of the Reb Dov Shvil stairs], and more
people continued to enter the same passageway [from
the Toldos Aharon Plaza].
There was tremendous congestion in a matter of a few

seconds. I felt that something not good was about to
happen. People were shouting, ‘Don’t push!’ You could
feel it in the air - there was great pressure. And it still
hadn’t really begun… People were mamash being
pressed until it was impossible to move even a centi-
meter, but they were still standing.
But then, it reached a situation there was so much over-

crowding because people didn’t stop entering [from the
Toldos Aharon Plaza], but there was nowhere to exit.”
203
Crowded in the passageway of death
Elad continues:
“It became a bottleneck of enormous pressure. People

simply began to collapse, to fall from the weight they
were under, because [the Reb Dov Shvil] was also a bit
of a descent. People began to fall in a slow manner, be-
cause there was nowhere to escape, there was nowhere
to move. People collapsed in the place where they stood.
They fell on the floor, one fell on top of the other, one
trampled the other. This also is what happened to us.
One person was falling on top of another. And then we

started to hear shouts of: ‘I’m dying.’
I was next to my friend. He first fell on the person in

front of him. My friend fell on him, and then I fell on
my friend, mamash, we completely collapsed forward
on our stomachs. Then, more people fell on me; I don’t
know exactly how many, but I felt a great weight on my
body. I felt great pressure.
204
My leg was twisted with a lot of pressure, but I was still

okay. My head more or less still had a place to breathe.
We were more or less closer to the exit, so somehow my
head was more in an outward direction.”
Elad continues:
“Then lots of screaming and shouting began. People be-

gan to be buried, one underneath the next — children
and adults mamash shouting. People began to panic,
mamash. There was a feeling of very harsh din, that
something very bad was happening here. We still didn’t
understand to what extent, but there was that feeling
in the air. People entered [a state of] panic and stress.
[People] started shouting, ‘I’m dying! I have no air!

People are suffocating! — Save me! Save me!’ Lots of
screams like that. At that stage, I couldn’t see so much
what was happening around me, because I was on the
floor with my face pressed into the ground. I didn’t see
much, I only heard.
I could only see that ahead of me, people were try-

ing to break through. There was something like a sheet
metal wall which covered some depression that had
been blocked. People tried to break through it to allow
people to crawl into that passageway and release a bit
of the pressure.
For some reason, people didn’t manage to exit. At some

stage, they opened it, and some of the people who were
on the outside border managed to escape by way of
that passage. People escaped a bit, but the giant mass
205
remained stuck, and everyone was on top of one an-

other, stuck in a way that was impossible to move.
Other people had to come and extricate [them] because

everyone was entangled with the other. In the mean-
time, the rescue forces arrived and tried to pull people
out. I also stretched my hand out in front of me.”
Elad continues:
“Before we began to fall, I had a feeling like I was being

led off to the gas chambers — a feeling of helplessness.
A feeling that the evil inclination had come to take
a number of souls here, and there was nothing to do
about it — it was simply out of our control. That was
the feeling I had.”
The whole time, I was murmuring ‘Shema Yisrael.’

Even before I fell and we understood that the situation
was very grave, I started asking Hashem to save me in
the merit of Rav Berland...
My leg was twisted. At some point, I felt sharp pains

because the blood flow was stopped. The blood wasn’t
flowing well in the leg — this caused me very sharp
pains in my leg. After they opened the wall [the pre-
fabricated wall put all along the passageway by the
authorities], a small passageway was formed for people
to come to the rescue.
I stretched out my hand to one of them. He tried to pull

me, but he said to me that it was impossible — ‘You’re
too much inside and have a lot of weight on you.’ Really,
I felt that it was impossible to pull me out.
206
That’s when I promised a pidyon to Rav Berland.”
Elad continues:
“In the meantime, the pains in my leg became very

strong. At this stage, I started to scream out loud several
times — ‘I am going to give a pidyon in the merit of Rav
Berland!!!” ... I had done this many times before, when
I had minor incidents that happened to me at home —
when my children were sick, or my wife.
I always promised to give a pidyon for all types of things

that Rav Berland needed, and, really, I always saw sal-
vation — and also, this time. The second that I started
screaming, ‘I’m giving a pidyon, giving a pidyon’ — they
managed to pull people off me and pull me out.”
Elad now explains what happened to his friend, in the ‘Reb Dov
Shvil’:
“My friend had already reconciled himself with death,

but he heard me saying I would give a pidyon to Rav
Berland… [and at that moment the rescuer] pulled
me out, and also my friend, who was underneath me.
Afterwards, I spoke to my friend. He told me something
very beautiful. He was in much greater panic than I
was. He began to cry and was screaming ‘Save me!’
At some stage, he stopped crying and was very quiet. He

told me that, after the fact, he entered a sort of despair.
He could only breathe and left it at that. He understood
that this was something uncontrollable and there was
nothing to do — one must accept the decree. But when
he heard me say I’m giving a pidyon, he said that this
207
gave him vitality, like new life — and he said, ‘I’m also
giving!’. Baruch Hashem, in those seconds that we both
shouted this together, they pulled us out, and baruch
Hashem we were saved from this disaster.113
We can only grieve for those who weren’t as fortunate.
In the hours leading up to the atrocity, eeyewitnesses testified that

they’d seen the police repeatedly pulling double gates across the
bottom of the ‘Reb Dov Shvil’ stairs. There are pictures that show
this was the case. There are also pictures that show that the stairs
leading down to AREA 42 were also blocked with gates, at various
times before the fatal crush occurred.
Immediately after the disaster occurred, social media was flooded

with videos and footage from the time of the crush in Meron, as
Am Yisrael struggled to make sense of what had just happened -
and who was responsible for it.
Strangely, several media sites had identical headlines immediately

after the disaster, all blaming a ‘collapse of the bleachers’ in the
Toldot Aharon plaza. Many of these strangely ‘prescient’ stories
have subsequently been scrubbed off the web or amended, but
here’s an example of one that was captured before it was changed.
Here’s the original slug:
www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/mass-casualty-event-in-
meron-as-stage-collapses/2021/04/30/
113
https://ravberland.com/miracle-in-meron-buried-underneath-a-mass-
of-people-and-saved-in-the-merit-of-rav-berland-shlita/
208
And here’s an excerpt of what it said:
“United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Yosef Chaim Ben

Tzion who was one of the first responders at the scene
and participated in the CPR relayed:
“A number of the injured are in critical condition and a

large number of people were moderately injured after a
grandstand collapsed with dozens of people on it.
“Doctors, paramedics, and EMTs from United Hatzalah

who were providing medical security for the event
rushed to respond and initiated CPR on a number of
individuals while treating the others for their injuries.”
But this was quickly disproven as fake news. Then the next mis-
leading headlines being run across nearly every media site in tan-
dem was that the disaster had happened because ‘the chareidim
had stampeded’.
When that was also disproved as fake news, that’s when more and
more people started to take notice of the voices yelling that the
police had somehow blocked the exit leading out of AREA 41 and
AREA 42 - and that what had happened in Meron had not been
an accident. It was murder.
Slowly, more amateur footage started to surface that contradicted

the official version of events in myriad ways. The authorities ini-
tially claimed there were no police at the scene yelling at people
to ‘go back’ up the Dov Shvil stairs at the time of the crush, even
though eyewitnesses described the scene like this, live on TV:
“[Q]uite a few dozen seconds after we passed the en-

trance to the path, a lot of policemen and at least one
209
policewoman came to the entrance to the path and

blocked the exit.
“Anyone who knows this area at the time of L’ag B’Omer,

this year and every year knows that police officers do
not walk around in the mehadrin area at all [i.e. the
area cordoned off for just men] … And certainly, there
are no policewomen in the whole area.
“Suddenly at least 10 policemen appeared in one shot?!?!
“They were at the ‘disaster’ long before the first re-

sponders and Magen Dovid Adam!! And after the di-
saster – most of them (not all!) did not reach out at
all… they were not determined and urgent to help, to
say the least.”
Then, videos turned up that showed there had been at least nine
police, including a policewoman, doing just that at the time the
witness had been describing, very shortly before the fatalities
occurred.114
Next, there was the mind-boggling claim that Hatzalah wasn’t

aware of the fatal crush for 10 minutes - even though the crush was
literally occurring by the wall of the main Hatzalah Headquarters
in Meron - and that’s why it took the first responders so long to
show up.
But the biggest controversy of all, was whether the police had
deliberately blocked the exits out from AREA 41 and AREA 42
114
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_vM0doj7ns&t=69s
210
with gates, as they’d been doing all day, leading to the deaths of
45 people, while another 150 were injured.
As the police had removed all security cameras from the com-
pound the day before, for many days there was no video to prove
things either way.
Over the next few days and weeks, the terrible grief began to turn
into a building sense of anger against the authorities.
More videos turned up, showing that many of the structures,

bleachers, stages, and stairs in the Toldos Aharon plaza had been
constructed in a way that can only be described as criminally
negligent.115
For example, there was a three-story stage held up by just one

screw and two canvas straps attached to a couple of jumbo metal
hooks embedded in the rock. There were handrails also secured
by just a single screw (instead of four...) half hanging off the bases.
There were hundreds of people standing on that structure the
night of Lag BaOmer. It was simply an open miracle that this stage
didn’t collapse.
In another video, someone walked through the Meron com-

pound the day after the atrocity, pointing out a number of strange
things.116
115
https://rumble.com/vgjbef-ramp-of-death-at-meron-built-by-the-po-
lice.html
116
https://rumble.com/vgjc4t-detailed-account-of-terrorist-attack-at-
meron.html
211
He found coarse salt scattered all over the bottom of the ‘Dov
Shvil’ ramp - the type that is often used to absorb oil. He showed
how many of the planks on the bleachers in the Toldos Aharon
Complex hadn’t actually been nailed down: Even worse, many
of the bleachers in the Toldos Aharon complex had just been
stuck together with silver tape, instead of held together with the
required metal bolts.
Another three-story walkway connecting the different bleachers

in the Toldos Aharon complex had been constructed with the
back left ‘leg’ of the base on a step, making the whole structure
unstable and liable to topple over when people walked on it. It had
been ‘stabilized’ by being propped up on a chunk of very easily
dislodged wood.
The list of ‘engineering errors’ occurring within the Toldos

Aharon complex, and across Meron generally, stretched on and
on. So many structures with serious problems that could have
led to an imminent collapse of almost every terrace, stage and
walkway in the Toldos Aharon complex, if there hadn’t have been
a huge number of open miracles going on.
As anger against the government and the police started to swell, a

few more strange things occurred. First, several actors turned up
at Meron, who started telling tales about the ‘heroic police’ who’d
pulled them from out of the crush - and saying very forcefully that
there were no gates. It was all just a terrible accident.
Then, several hundred protesters gathered at Netanyahu’s res-

idence to demand a proper probe into what had happened.
These calls for an inquiry by a state commission also came from
212
high-profile officials, including ex -Police chief Moshe Karadi and

then Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
Every one of the ministers responsible for signing-off on the

‘Meron Agreement’ that year, including Aryeh Deri, Yaakov
Litzman and Rafi Peretz, opposed establishing an official enquiry.
But as the pressure continued to mount, on May 3rd, 2021, the
government announced it would ask Netanyahu appointee, State
Comptroller Matanyahu Engelman, to conduct a ‘special state
audit’ of the atrocity in Meron.
Here’s a little of what Engelman said at the time:
In 2008, the State Comptroller’s Office published a re-

port on the condition of the tomb of Rabbi Shimon
bar Yohai at Meron and the preparations for the
Lag BaOmer events. In 2011, the Office carried out a
follow-up audit on the matter. These audits indicated a
series of defects that, had they been fixed, the disaster
might have been prevented.
The audit pointed out deficiencies relating to, among

other things, the absence of a government agency re-
sponsible for dealing with the tomb of Rabbi Shimon
bar Yohai in general and for the organization of the
event, a low standard of maintenance, the failure to
complete the takeover of the site by a government
agency, illegal construction, inadequate roads and
paths, and access roads not adapted for rescue vehicles
at mass participation events.”117
117
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-state-comptroller-announces-inqui-
ry-into-meron-disaster-1001369613
213
The religious public was aghast. Instead of focussing on the ac-

tions of the police, it seemed the government was intent on cov-
ering up what had really happened and using the disaster to exert
control over other religious events, too.
On May 10, 2021, the two safety engineers responsible for Meron
were taken in for questioning by the Lahav 443 Israeli police unit -
and they put the blame for the atrocity solely on the police.
In interviews they later gave to the media, they said:
“The disaster happened only because the police chose

to ignore the professionals, despite the fact that the
police themselves required the organizers to hire safety
professionals.”
The safety engineers also said that they’d sent a letter on April
26, 2021, to the police officer at the Northern Police District re-
sponsible for licensing and security, specifically telling him that
the ‘Coronavirus Corridor’ the Ministry of Health had erected on
site had “narrowed the entrance of the emergency exit leading to
the Toldos Aharon [stairs]. In an emergency, this obstacle poses a
danger and can lead to a bottleneck.”
All year, the State of Israel had been actively targeting the chareidi
community in Israel as being ‘disease spreaders’ and ‘vectors of
infection’, openly demonizing them in the press118, and treating
118
https://www.timesofisrael.com/police-say-they-were-helpless-to-stop-
funeral-of-rabbi-that-drew-10000/
214
Chareidim as second-class citizens – all in the name of ‘fighting

Coronavirus’.119
After months of closing down every venue, every gathering, ev-

ery religious place, the State of Israel suddenly decided to open
up Meron for Lag BaOmer, with absolutely no limitations on the
numbers of people attending.
And then, after a day replete with awful police brutality,

life-threatening fences and over-crowding, 45 people ‘coinciden-
tally’ died when the one remaining exit out of the Toldos Aharon
complex was shut down in some mysterious way, very quickly
leading to a fatal crush.
After months of stonewalling, the police finally released the uncut

footage120 of the minutes leading up to the fatal crush at the bot-
tom of the ‘Reb Dov Shvil’ stairs via the Bhol.co.il chareidi media
site, on October 18, 2021.
It clearly demonstrated that no gates were at the bottom of the ‘Reb

Dov Shvil’ stairs at the time of the fatal crush.121
119
https://www.timesofisrael.com/virus-czar-warns-ultra-orthodox-
crowding-at-funerals-will-beget-more-funerals/
120
121
This video has an alternative explanation of what might have happened
to block the stairs that night: https://rumble.com/vo6urb-the-israeli-
government-murdered-the-jews-in-meron.html
215
On June 27, 2021, the brand-new government of Bennett-Lapid

committed to establishing an official commission into what had
happened that fateful night in Meron.122
It was headed by former Supreme Court Chief Justice, Miriam

Naor, who unexpectedly passed away in the middle of the inquiry,
on January 24, 2022, shortly after visiting the site of the tragedy
in Meron itself123, when large parts of the complex were still being
bulldozed by the authorities.124
We will give the Rav the last word on the subject:
Haman had such a cute son [Shimshi], sweet,

sweet, sweet, he was supposed to write the ‘Book of
Remembrances’. So, he decided to arrange things so
they would hang Mordechai.
[Shimshi] said: Me, I have so much wisdom [to do this],

I have just the trick…Especially that Miriam Naor,
the head advocate, she was very savvy in these sorts
of thing.
Rabbi Shimon [Bar Yochai] simply took her away

[to him]! …
She wanted to say that the chareidim were guilty [for

the disaster at Meron].
122
https://www.gov.il/he/departments/about/about_the_official-inquiry-
committee-mount-meron
123
https://www.gov.il/he/departments/news/state-commission-of-inquiry-
mount-meron_spokemanmessage_01112021
124
https://hm-news.co.il/197575/
216
Even though it was the police who were guilty be-

cause they blocked the passageway.
She blamed everything on us! So, Rabbi Shimon is now

dealing with her personally! In his beit din. She came
to Rabbi Shimon, so he took her immediately on the
spot, to his beit din. She’s now in his beit din – Miriam
Naor.”
217
The Disgr ace of the Tzaddik
T
he month before the tragedy in Meron, on March 23, 2021,
Israel had yet another round of elections- and yet again, it
appeared that neither side had the 61 mandates required
to ‘become king’ and form a new government.
As the squabbling and horse-trading and arguing continued in the

corridors of power, it seemed as though Israel was fast heading to
yet another election - the fifth in less than two years. And mostly
because no-one wanted to sit in a government with Netanyahu.
Unrest over the Coronavirus restrictions was continuing to build,

and the weekly demonstrations down by the Prime Minister’s
residence on Balfour Street were growing in numbers, leading to
several increasingly violent clashes with the police.
At this time, Rav Berland continued to sit in jail, and very trou-
bling rumors started reaching the Shuvu Banim community that
the Rav was being treated in a horrendous way by the prison
authorities.
The Rav had somehow broken his arm, but the Prison Service did
their best to neglect treating it as required. The Rav was also being
giving low-grade food that was very bad for his health; being left
in the same clothes for weeks at a time, and generally receiving
218
the same type of ‘care’ that had come very close to killing him the
first time he was imprisoned...
On May 14, 2021, the well-known kabbalist from Netanya, the late
Rabbi Amos Gweta, ztzl, publicized a message with a very harsh
warning, via R’ Chanan Vaknin, the gabbai of Kollel Olga.125
R’ Vaknin had been invited on to Radio Kol Chai by broadcaster

Moshe Ben Lulu - but the journalist clearly didn’t know what
message R’ Vaknin was about to give over.
Ben Lulu began the segment by saying to R’ Vaknin:
“You are known as someone who is close to the kab-

balist Rabbi Amos of Netanya. It’s known that you
are close to great Tzaddikim: Rabbi Dov Kook [from
Teveria), Rav Stern [from Bnei Brak], Rav Golan from
Alma - all the great Tzaddikim. Do you have a message
from Rav Amos?”
R Vaknin replied:
“Yes. I have an important message from him! We are

close to Netanya and go to him a lot. Rabbi Amos said
one thing now which needs to be said, about what is
happening now:
For a long time the Jewish people are silent, great rabbis
are silent, the entire world is silent — about the disgrac-
ing of a great Tzaddik, the Tzaddik of the generation,
who is Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit”a, whom they are
disgracing from morning to evening!
125
https://ravberland.com/kabbalist-reveals-reason-for-4th-intifada-and-
warns-of-tragedy-a-1000-times-greater/
219
You know, the Shas party, everyone…, when you say to

them about Bibi [Netanyahu], that he still hasn’t been
tried, they answer, Bibi is a ‘tzaddik’ — he’s presumed
innocent.
But Rabbi Berland shlit”a - they’re torturing him for

a year and a half in prison — and he still hasn’t been
tried, and everyone is afraid to protest! Now, they
brought the Rav to the district court in a mobile inten-
sive care unit! He needed to have intensive care inside
the courthouse!
What they annulled for Bibi [i.e. to appear in court], for

Rabbi Berland, they don’t annul! The kabbalist Rabbi
Amos said that if people don’t protest the affront to the
Tzaddik... For a year and a half, he’s not with us: there
was no Uman, there was no Rabbi Shimon — there was
a tragedy by Rabbi Shimon.
This year, Rabbi Berland screamed: ‘I want to go to

Rabbi Shimon. I want to sweeten the decrees!’ They
didn’t allow him…And the Sages of Israel — forgive
us, we are dust at their feet — are not protesting. Not
one protests. This Tzaddik is now in an ambulance,
Reb Moshe.”
R’ Vaknin continued:
“There was never something like this — they take an

84-year-old Jew in an ambulance to the district court
to try him for things that he has absolutely no connec-
tion to. Rabbi Amos screamed — he’s on video — he
screamed: “If people don’t protest the insult to the honor
220
of Rabbi Eliezer Berland, there will be a tragedy 1000

times greater!
We need to wake up because of this. There is a presump-

tion of innocence for everyone, yet everyone is silent!”
At that point, the presenter Ben Lulu brought the segment to a

close by saying the following:
“Ok, listen Channan. I’m going to tell you something.

I have an order here [at Radio Kol Chai] not to talk
about Rabbi Berland, but because you said that the
kabbalist Rabbi Amos said this, I was silent, and I
know what I’ll ‘receive’ after the program [for allow-
ing him to continue to speak about Rabbi Berland]. But
here you spoke. Thank you very much.”126
The next disaster wasn’t long in coming.
Four days after this interview, on May 18, 2021, the bleachers
collapsed at the new Karlin Beit HaMidrash in Givat Ze’ev just
as the festival of Shavuot began, once again in very strange
circumstances.
Footage from the synagogue’s security cameras appeared on

Jewish news sites127 even before Shavuot began in the States and
126
To hear the original recording in Hebrew: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=AJstTHcwyT0
127
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/synagogue-balcony-collaps-
es-in-givat-zeev-dozens-injured-report-668322
221
showed hundreds of chassidim falling as the top three rows of

a set of bleachers collapsed at 7:14 p.m., killing two people and
injuring over 180.
Coming as it did so hard on the heels of the atrocity in Meron,

the chassidic and chareidi community was shaken to its core.
This time, yet another tzaddik, Rabbi Yekutiel Fish, author of
the series of books Sod HaChashmal, girded his loins to help the
public understand what the true spiritual cause of all this death
and destruction really was.
The following is a slightly abridged version of his words:128
Rabbi Yekutiel Fish began:
“There is a Jew who is a Talmid Chacham and Tzaddik

who told me something after the tragedy in Meron, and
which he now said to me again, after the tragedy by
Karlin. He said that the same thing is also true here.
And he added a horrifying statement: The danger still

exists because of the same reason that was in Meron
and Karlin — the danger still exists.
I can’t say everything for a lot of reasons. I’m only say-

ing some things. Perhaps it will be of some benefit. And
perhaps these words will sound strange to some of the
listeners, but this doesn’t matter to me. “[The Talmid
Chacham] said: “You know that many Tzaddikim al-
ready say, among them Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky shlit”a
who’s been saying this already for ten years, and many
128
You can read the full translation here: https://ravberland.com/r-yekutiel-
fish-tragedies-in-meron-and-karlin-caused-by-war-against-mashiach/
222
other Tzaddikim, all of them say that Mashiach is al-

ready here in the world....
There is one Tzaddik, one Jew, that the Tzaddikim know

that he will be Mashiach. His body is here in the world,
and maybe he still hasn’t received the soul of Moshiach
from the chamber of the ‘bird’s nest.’ He still hasn’t re-
ceived all the things that he will receive in order that
there will be the revelation of Mashiach to the entire
Jewish people, but his body is here in the world, and
they know who he is. It could be that Mashiach himself
doesn’t know, but there are Tzaddikim who do know.’”
Rav Fish continued:
“[The Talmid Chacham] said: There are those in the

world who understand that this is going to happen,
the redemption of Israel, the coming of Mashiach is
going to happen fast, and they’re not interested in
this. This doesn’t work for them, mainly because of
their personal vested interests. They aren’t interested
in this [happening], so they found for themselves a
solution — to wage war against Mashiach to such an
extent. Simply, they know who Mashiach is, and they
decided that he should die.
They have spiritual means for doing this, as it were,

a kind of spiritual war, and of course, literally to the
end, Hashem have mercy. They decreed death on
Mashiach, and they think that through this they
solved the problem. It doesn’t work for them, the pro-
gram of the redemption of Israel, with their vested
interests.’”
223
Rav Fish interjects:
“These are very difficult things to hear, and they aren’t

totally understood. But the Talmid Chacham empha-
sized these words:
THIS IS A WAR AGAINST MOSHIACH HIMSELF
And he said: ‘Mashiach has the soldiers of the house

of David, those who are connected to him, are bound
with his soul and are supposed to help him. In a war,
there are sacrifices, and this is what you saw in Meron.’
And now, [the Talmid Chacham] added that the tragedy

at Karlin was a continuation of the same thing. These
are the sacrifices of the war against Mashiach him-
self. The whole Jewish people together with Mashiach
himself will be in debt to these sacrifices–their lives,
the redemption, and everything, forever — to such an
extent.129
The punishment of those who are doing this, who are

waging a spiritual war against Mashiach, will be
worse than that of Titus the wicked.”
Rav Fish continued:
“All the reasons that the Tzaddikim said after the trag-
edies in Meron and Karlin… certainly they are true;
certainly everything that needs strengthening needs
129
I.e. That these tragedies saved the lives of Mashiach and the entire Jewish
people, and the redemption will also be thanks to them.
224
strengthening. Everything that the Tzaddikim said is

all true, but the innermost point — there are many
reasons. There is the tragedy itself, and after that is the
form of the tragedy — why it happened here…
There are many things surrounding [this], like the

Tzaddikim who said that people trampled on one an-
other, so one needs to learn not to trample [others], and
so forth… The love of one’s fellow Jew, modesty, to learn
the inner Torah… Everything is true.
But this tzaddik is coming to say, ‘why does this happen

specifically now’? All those things we needed to rectify
and strengthen have been going on by us already for
many years. But what’s happening now?
He says that there is the war against our righteous

Mashiach who is found among us. Our righteous
Mashiach is found among us; so say all the Tzaddikim.
“We’re talking about the body of Mashiach. There may
also be wars against Mashiach that reach the soul —
we’re not going to elaborate on that point.
However, there is a war against our righteous Mashiach,

Mashiach son of David, and this war has reached a cli-
max which is very, very dangerous and terrible. I can’t
say everything that I heard; it’s to the point of death,
mamash. These sorts of tragedies are not happening
randomly. These are horrible tragedies happening here
in the holy of holies, in Meron and now in Chasidus
Karlin. These things are not simple.”
Rav Fish concluded:
225
“Many ask what we should do with this message? The

simple answer is to pray. One always needs to pray and
request from Hashem salvation. Now, we need a lot
more than this, we need to literally pray that Hashem
should protect our righteous Mashiach. To pray for our
righteous Mashiach!
That’s mamash how it is. If he is in danger, and to such

an extent that the danger causes what it causes… one
needs to request from Hashem to ‘Save with Your great
mercy Your righteous Mashiach and Your people.’ If
such a thing has been revealed…why not say it and give
strength to Mashiach and pray for Mashiach?...
HaKadosh Baruch Hu will certainly win the war. No

one can stand up against Hashem. One who goes out
against His Mashiach, this is also against Hashem ma-
mash, and certainly they will have a great downfall. We
need to be sure about this. However, this shouldn’t stop
us from making the efforts to prevent the tragedies that
are happening all around us.
Bloodshed is a horrible thing, and we’re still in the

danger zone; it still hasn’t ended. If we can, through
our prayers and strengthening, each one in his way,
even though I know that all this work requires a lot of
self-sacrifice; there’s no doubt about this. He said that
this war is against the head of the serpent itself. Things
that are not simple.
If they close the hotline for me (where R Fish left this

audio message) … I don’t care what they do to me. I’m
prepared to go with self-sacrifice in this matter. What’s
the question? To prevent the spilling of Jewish blood, to
226
do what is possible for our righteous Mashiach. One

needs to act now without looking right or left.
And to act with the simplest faith, in this simplest of

matters.”
Let us not forget, the government that hounded the Rav for over
a decade, and chased him from continent to continent, that made
up lies and slanders about him on multiple occasions, and bent
all the rules and all the laws, in order to imprison him with no
evidence twice in a row - all this occurred under a ‘right wing’
government, with Benjamin Netanyahu at its head.
As did ‘Covid 19’ and all the lockdowns, restrictions, and per-
secution of the chareidi communities. And the forced closure of
Uman, on Rosh Hashana.
And the disasters at Meron, and the subsequent disaster at the

Karlin synagogue in Givat Ze’ev.
While parties like ‘Yesh Atid’ and ‘Blue & White, and ‘Meretz’
were clearly running on an ‘anti-Torah’ platform, the persecution
against the Rav and against the Torah world was also taking place
under the watchful eye of Benjamin Netanyahu.
In the meantime, on June 2, 2021, against all the odds, Yair Lapid
and Naftali Bennett’s Yamina announced that they had formed a
rotation government, sitting with the Arab Ra’am list, which was
approved on 13 June 2021.
Perhaps Hashem gave ‘the Left’ the merit of running the country for
a year was because almost the first thing this ‘Unity Government’
227
did, on June 27, 2021, was to set up the Public Commission into
what had happened in Meron.
The month a change of guard happened on the political front, Rav

Berland was forced into making another plea bargain with the
State of Israel - who had made it clear that otherwise, they would
keep pushing the Rav’s trial off indefinitely, effectively keeping
him in prison forever.
Under the terms of the plea bargain, the Rav was forced to agree
to charges of: “obtaining things by deception, fraud, attempted
intimidation, tax offenses and money laundering totalling tens of
millions of shekels.”
Unbelievably, the court sentenced the Rav to another 18 months in

prison, in addition to the months of imprisonment he had already
served during his detention. And they also slapped a huge fine of
2 million shekels on Rav Berland - together with a condition that
he was prohibited from engaging in any fundraising of any sort,
to help cover the debt.
The one small concession was that the Rav could go back to house
arrest, with the proviso that if he failed to pay the monthly pay-
ments of his fine or breached any of the other conditions imposed
by the court - like doing any more pidyonei nefesh, for example -
they would fling him straight back into jail.
As the political persecution of the Rav ratcheted back up, within a

week, this reality was mirrored back in the daily life of Jews in Israel.
On June 25, 2021, despite the huge percentage of people ‘vacci-

nated’ against Covid-19, the Israeli government decided to bring
228
back mandatory masking indoors and reinstituted the hated

‘Green Pass’ requirements for gatherings of over 100 people -
including weddings.
The Ministry of Health’s bully-boy tactics continued over the fol-

lowing month. At the end of July, amid endless fearmongering about
the ‘Delta variant’, Israel approved the third round of vaccination for
Covid 19- even though the ‘official science’ was already starting to
show that the Covid shots had limited efficacy, didn’t prevent spread
or transmission of ‘Covid 19, and were increasingly causing some
massive, and massively under-reported, serious side effects.
At that point, it looked like ‘coronavirus tyranny’ was never going

to end. But in a pattern that repeated itself over and over, at exactly
this time, the Rav apparently took the decree of the ‘corona virus’
pandemic upon himself, and was hospitalized with Covid-19, on
August 17, 2021.130
130
https://ravberland.com/new-and-rare-photograph-of-rabbi-berland-
shlita-learning-despite-covid/
229
With hindsight, we can see that the grip the coronavirus had on
the country waned from this point on, from mid-August 2021.
By the end of August, even though the new ‘Covid Tzar’, Salman
Zarka, threatened that anyone who didn’t line up for the third
‘booster’ would lose their Green Pass status - most of the country
decided to ignore him.
After the ‘cancelling’ of the previous Rosh Hashana in Uman,

Rosh Hashana 5782 saw 29,000 pilgrims head out to Ukraine -
many of them leaving a full month before Tishrei, to be sure of
spending Rosh Hashana with Rabbenu.
However, that year many people in Shuvu Banim stayed home.

A message had been passed along from one of the Rav’s senior
students, that the Rav was telling people to stay home and not go
to Uman that year.
This sounded incredible - after all, the Rav had been tirelessly
fighting for people to go to Uman, even with maximum mesirut
nefesh, for decades. So, another of the Rav’s students went to clar-
ify the Rav’s remarks, and reported back that anyone who had
already booked their ticket could go after all.
Sometimes, we don’t understand the ways of the True Tzaddikim,

and just what they are trying to achieve or sweeten. But for the second
year in a row, many of the Rav’s followers didn’t make it out to Uman.
That year, PCR tests before getting on the plane and Ukrainian
tracing apps were still de rigeur for travellers to Uman, and the
230
State of Israel also set up a massive PCR testing center in Ben

Gurion airport.
Many pilgrims were worried about more ‘dirty tricks’ from the
State of Israel, following what had occurred in Meron on Lag
BaOmer, and there was a lot of distrust when United Hatzalah
announced a special ‘PCR testing’ out in Uman.
Rosh Hashana itself passed uneventfully - although technically

with masks required in Israel. But post-chag, word started filtering
back from Uman that nearly all the PCR tests from Hatzalah were
coming back as false positives.
As the prospect of being stuck in Ukraine for two weeks of bidud

loomed into view, many chassidim took matters into their own
hands, and got a second PCR test done in Ukrainian testing centers.
In one of the ‘wonders’ of PCR testing, all the Ukrainian tests

came back negative....
The State of Israel was not at all happy about this, and for a few
days stories appeared in the press that Israel was rounding up and
arresting Breslovers who had ‘faked’ their PCR tests coming back
from Ukraine.
In September 2021, Salman Zarka was still making threatening

noises about the ‘4th dose’, and telling the country that we’d better
get used to coronavirus boosters every few months, from now on.131
131
https://www.rt.com/news/533981-israel-covid19-vaccine-fourth-dose/
231
The following month, the ‘Unity Government’ of the so-called

‘Change Bloc’ showed that really, there was no change at all when
it came to coronavirus, by targeting chareidi schools with their
so-called green classrooms pilot.
This pernicious initiative forced school children and their parents

in Israel to spend hours and hours queuing up at Covid testing
centers to get expensive PCR tests, just to be allowed in school.
The ‘green classrooms’ was introduced very shortly before the
Israeli government was set to approve the Covid shots for kids....
even though kids were never at risk for serious Covid, and despite
precious little evidence that the Covid shots were safe or effective.
Despite the massive propaganda push targeting parents across

Israel, this time the ‘coronavirus spell’ seemed to have really been
broken. Even previously law-abiding, rule-following parents de-
cided they’d had enough of being constantly hostage to the next
PCR test, and many of them simply stopped testing.
Without a steady flow of positive PCR tests to fuel the next round
of fearmongering, Coronavirus was quickly becoming a thing of
the past in the State of Israel. But the government wasn’t about to
let things rest there if they could help it.
232
While the general population was still mostly unaware that what-
ever happened to the Tzaddik personally, would also happen to the
Jewish people generally, the authorities - and the evil forces wag-
ing war against the geula, were acutely aware of the connection.
So it was, on October 13, 2021, the State started threatening the

Rav that he would have to return to prison, for not being able to
pay his fine. After forbidding Shuvu Banim to directly fundraise
for the Rav, this was essentially a foregone conclusion. And so,
on October 28, 2021, the Rav was sent back to Nitzan prison in
Ramle, and the storm clouds started to gather, once again.
233
In the Blink of an Eye
At the end of 2021, following almost two years of Covid 19 hyste-

ria and draconian lockdowns, Rav Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, Head
of the “Shuva Yisrael” Institutions and Av Beit Din of the Jewish
Community in Morocco, published a recording where he said
the following:
Know, that this is now the time of redemption – the
Gemara says that the seventh year [of the Sabbatical cy-
cle] is a year of war. See, Tzaddikim, that this year won’t
pass without a war – a year of war.”
The war, we say, already began two years ago. This entire
pandemic of Gog and Magog is a war that has begun. This
began in a way… it’s not written whether this will be with
rifles, or with missiles, or with swords, or with knives –
Gog and Magog has begun.
When the Nazis rose to power, it was five, six years before
[World War II]. Did anyone believe [then that this would
lead to the Shoah]? However, they began! With opinions,
hatred, hating the foreigner, hating others – it began.
The War of Gog and Magog has begun, but how it develops
depends on our power. Like we said at the beginning of
the pandemic — if we will be… Know, Tzaddikim, that
at the beginning of the pandemic, on that Passover eve,
we heard: ‘No man shall leave the entrance of his home
until the morning.’
234
We were at the beginning of the redemption mamash –

Mashiach was at the door mamash.
Afterwards, began arguments, hatred – this one said, this
one did – arguments among the Jewish People. Mashiach
doesn’t like arguments. The redemption became further
away, and it’s written that if Mashiach comes, ‘He will
come, and I will not see it.’
If he doesn’t come in a good way, that the Jewish People
are a ready vessel for receiving Mashiach, then the time
will be a time of suffering and adversities.
We have seen in a certain holy book that before Mashiach
comes, those who are furthest from the redemption will
reach emunah [faith] that there is no other way – only
[through] G-d.
And remember, that however much there is now hatred
and persecution against the holy Torah, we see from afar
a spirit/wind of very great repentance… which is blowing
like a storm that is approaching the world. And remem-
ber, that this spirit/wind will cover the earth, and in every
single place there will be a place of Torah.
A
t the beginning of October 2021, it looked like maybe the
persecution of the Rav was turning a corner. The Rav was
back in the hospital, still with serious health issues, but
he was being reasonably well looked after for a change. At that
time, one of the Rav’s attendants explained that the situation was
improving, but still very complicated. He said:
The Police are trying nonstop to get the Rav out of hos-
pital and back in prison, which is a death sentence.
We pray that Hashem will stop it and keep him in the
hospital until his release. The highest officials are trying
235
very hard to get him back in prison. There are a lot of

evil things happening that we can’t talk about publicly,
but we need to keep praying for them to fail in their
evil plans.”
The attendant continued:
The hospital officials also have to stay on the “good side”

of their bosses and report that the Rav is ready to go
back to prison, and say that he is healthy enough, even
when he clearly is not. There are some good people there
who are fighting for the truth. This is a war. Constantly,
there has always been a war going on around the Rav.
There are people who have known the Rav for 50-60
years and they have noted that there are always people
around him who want to harm him.
His purpose in this world is to accept all the harm with

love and bring about Atonement and the Redemption.
Please continue to pray that the Rav will not be put back
in prison, which is a death sentence for him. When the
Rav was released to the hospital, there were policemen
guarding him 24/7, they were leaving him handcuffed
to the bed at all times. The court finally, for the first
time recognized this inhuman treatment and the judge
ordered that they should take off the handcuffs.
When the Tzaddik is bound in chains — it is Am

Israel and the Shechina that are bound in chains; it
is the Shechina that is in pain. And it’s time now for
the Shechina to be released from bondage and exile.
The handcuffs getting opened is the beginning of the
Shechina’s release from her bondage in exile. It’s the
236
Heavenly Court that decided this, not the courts here

in this world.
Everything that happens to the Tzaddik is happening to

the Shechina, they are one. The handcuffs are off, and
the Rav is free to walk around the room. This is a small
amount of Redemption and there is no turning back.
The attendant concluded:
This is where we are now. This is the beginning of the

Shechina’s release from exile. The Supreme Court saw
the evil of the Lower Court and said he should stay in
the hospital. They gave the other side until October 25.
If they cannot come up with a justification for the Rav
to be held in prison, then he is to be freed....
There was Haman’s decree, that was sealed by the King’s

seal, and which could not be undone. But then, sud-
denly, there was a turn of events and Haman started to
fall as Mordechai started to rise. Haman’s wife Zerach,
who was an evil witch, told Haman that he will con-
tinue to fall, and Mordechai will continue to rise.
She said: ‘If Mordechai, before whom you have begun

to fall, is of Jewish descent, then you will certainly con-
tinue to fall to oblivion.’
But please continue to pray for the Rav.
On November 1, 2021, the Rav was taken for questioning again,

this time on more false charges concerning the disappearance of
237
two young men associated with Shuvu Banim in the 1980s, Nissim
Sheetrit and Avi Edri. Given the type of ‘justice’ the Rav had
previously experienced from the State of Israel, his community
feared the worst - that the authorities were never going to release
the Rav from prison.
November 2021 marked the ‘high water’ mark of the campaign

of persecution against the Rav, and no-one knew if the Rav was
going to be able to get out of his current difficulties.
Not coincidentally, on November 10, 2021, Israel approved the

Covid shots for kids, and as the media continued to fearmon-
ger with non-stop stories about ‘Omicron’132, it looked as though
Salman Zarka was right after all, that non-stop covid injections
really was going to be ‘life from now on’.
The ‘war’ Rav Pinto and the other kabbalists had been talking
about seemed to be warming up again, on several fronts.
While the Rav was under house arrest, and unable to make di-
rect contact with his followers, one of his security guards started
passing snippets of information from the Rav to the community,
always anonymously.
132
https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/sktzgebyf -
238
Shortly before Rosh Hashana 5782 (September 2021) a rumor

swirled in Israel that the nine months of ‘birthpangs of the
Moshiach’ before his actual coming had already begun. The se-
curity guard was constantly accompanying Rav Berland, and he’d
also heard the rumors, so he decided to ask him if the rumor was
true.
Rav Berland told him:
“This isn’t correct. The nine months before the redemp-

tion still haven’t begun. They’ll begin in Chanukah and
will be accompanied by difficult events that will con-
tinue until Rosh Hashanah.”
The security guard then asked the Rav what people needed to do,
to be prepared for what was coming next. At that time, there was
still a great fear that the draconian Covid restrictions and heavy-
handed policing would continue indefinitely - and perhaps even
intensify.
The government-sponsored media was also blaring more

fear-inducing headlines about food shortages on the horizon
thanks to the chaos caused by the Covid 19 restrictions globally.
So the guard asked the Rav: “What do we need to prepare for this
period? Do we need to prepare a lot of food?”
The Rav replied:
“The situation with food won’t be so difficult. There will

be enough food; there will be what to eat, but medicine
will be difficult to get. Therefore, anyone who takes
medicine routinely should see to preparing for himself
a supply for the coming months.”
239
A little while later, the security guard asked the Rav about the
ongoing rumors that Iran was able to launch a nuclear bomb tar-
geting Israel. The Rav replied:
“Iran will throw a nuke at Israel, but I will catch it in

the air and throw it back at Iran. It will also fall on
Egypt and Syria, but mainly on Turkey.”
At the time of writing, the circumstances around the murder of

Meir Sheetrit is still under a gag order. But let’s bring some of the
comments from Attorney Efraim Dimri, who represented the Rav
previously, when he was interviewed by the ‘Tzaddik Hotline’ in
Adar 5783 (March 2023).133
“We were very happy that the Rav was released, and
we had no doubt that the Rav would be released, even
though we had no connection whatsoever with this
case,” Dimri began.
I want to say a little about my personal relationship

with the Rav. I sat with him for hundreds of hours, if
not thousands of hours, and I greatly admire him. I said
this in every media outlet that I could possibly speak to.
This last case that the Rav was brought in for investiga-
tion for was a practice of ‘manipulation’ that they use
during their investigation of a case. They were using
manipulative tactics. They took advantage of the Rav’s
simplicity.
133
You can access the Kav Tzaddik, in Hebrew, here: 02-5326502 Extension 42.
240
And they took advantage, because they know the Rav

is very easy-going, and would tell them whatever they
want to hear. They took advantage, because they know
that the way the Rav speaks is not the way that regular
people speak. He speaks on a much higher level, and a
lot of times they can interpret it in a way that’s good
for their purposes.
The investigators take advantage of this, and then pub-

licize the words that the Rav says which are taken out
of context. And with the Rav, it’s very easy for them to
do this.
But Baruch Hashem, this time, they didn’t succeed, and

the Rav was released, as they had no power to hold him
any longer....
So, in this case, I’m not at all surprised that the Rav was
released quickly. I knew this would happen. They were
just using him to strengthen their investigation, and to
manipulate the words he said to their advantage. But there
was no way that they could get him behind bars with this
case, as he had absolutely nothing to do with this story.
And they knew that. The Rav has no connection what-

soever to this story.”
Dimri then talked about some of the open miracles he’d seen the
Rav do with his own eyes, which were also covered in One in a
Generation II, before continuing:
“When we used to sit and learn together, we used to

learn for hours on end. And when I’d come to visit him,
he’d bring a sefer with him, and he would give me the
241
sefer, and he would be without any sefer, and he would

quote it word for word by heart and tell me where I’m
holding and tell me where to go.
And when I would ask the Rav about a certain topic,

and where it is, where it’s talking about it - the Rav,
without even looking, would open the book to a certain
page and point to it - without even looking!
This is the power of someone whose whole entire life

was spent in the Torah. He has holy power through
his learning Torah all his life. And I was amazed by it,
and I saw it on a regular basis. His level of wisdom and
understanding is not to be compared to anything else in
the world that I’ve ever witnessed.
He knows all the Torah. All parts of the Torah. He

knows history. He knows other knowledge. And in the
Torah, the Shechina speaks through him. Halacha, ge-
mara, kabbalah, midrashim, I can testify about all this.
You could put him on a desert island and not give him
food for 30 or 40 days and come back - he’ll be fine!
Food is not something that gives him life. He lives by
the Torah. The physical world doesn’t drive him. He can
talk for five hours and not even think about taking a sip
of water, for example.”
Dimri continued:
“Something else that is hard for us regular human be-

ings to comprehend, are thingst I would witness when
I sat with him for several hours, and then I would go
242
out and say, wow, this is not normal... the way he runs
his life.
Everyone who sits with him, he gives them a good feel-

ing. He gives very, very positive, good energy. If there
was a way to measure the energy that surrounds a
person when he’s with the Rav - it’s very, very positive,
very, very powerful.
This is a Rabbi of the Torah. The Rav doesn’t sleep at

night, he never sleeps at night. The whole day and night
he’s learning Torah. One time I asked him, why don’t
you get some rest? He told me: we’re supposed to learn
Torah, day and night - and the Rav takes this literally!
He takes it literally!
I represented many rabbis throughout my career, and

I never had anyone like him at all, anyone else even
near to his level.
Anyone who has any questions about the Rav, I tell

them just sit with him for three minutes, and then you’ll
have no questions anymore. But I could say this about
the Rav, that the Rav does tikkunim (spiritual rectifi-
cations) for each person who comes to him, and for Am
Yisrael generally.
He’s not just working in this world, he’s also doing

things on a much higher level that we can’t compre-
hend, that we don’t even understand. To think that
someone like this has taken on so much suffering for
nothing, someone who’s over 80, someone like this - it’s
not a joke.
243
There are a lot of things going on that we don’t see.”
Dimri then explained more about what happened in the run-up

to the Rav’s release:
“The lawyers preparing the Rav for this most recent

investigation told the Rav that all you need to do is say
the truth, and then you’re out. Just say the truth - think
about the kehilla and your family, the kehilla is very
important to you, and you need to be with them. You
shouldn’t say things that will get you in trouble, just
say the truth.
The Rav told them: There are also other things that are
very important.... But he didn’t explain himself further.
It was obviously connected to things that were happen-
ing on a global level, to Am Yisrael and the world. He
takes on himself things that we can’t understand.
That is what [the lawyers] were concerned about, that

the Rav would say something that he didn’t actually do.
There are also things in the upper worlds that the Rav
is involved in, that I can’t really expound on. If the Rav
wants to talk about these things himself... things that I
witnessed that I can’t really expound on.”
Attorney Dimri concluded by saying:
“There are things I saw and I wasn’t able to sleep for

two days afterwards. I’m not going to talk about it.
Thousands of hours, I spent with the Rav. There were
people he healed, people who came to him for help, and
he healed them. Anyone can see with their own eyes
what is going on.
244
But regular human beings just can’t understand.

Someone has to be on a very high level, to do these
kinds of things. It doesn’t matter with the Rav if you put
him in prison or in his house - he’ll be the same person.
The physical body will be there, but the ruach, the spirit,
is somewhere else completely. Put him in a freezing cold
cell, minus degrees - he’s the same person. It’s not about
his physical being, it’s about his spiritual being. You see
that clearly.
That’s all I can say right now, but there’s a lot more that
I’m not saying. I’ve witnessed things with my own eyes,
that I can’t talk about. Part of the tikkun is that the Rav
comes, and he takes things upon himself.”
What can be said, is that just when it looked as though the Rav
would be kept behind bars forever, in the blink of an eye - it all
turned around. Because as Rebbe Nachman explains, ‘fairness
exists everywhere’ - even in the deepest recesses of the Israeli
judicial system.
JUSTICE EVEN EXISTS ‘ON THE LEFT’

[Rebbe Nachman] was once in a small village. A military com-
mander had come there demanding horses, saying they were
needed to carry mail. The villagers bribed him to leave them
in peace. They kept their horses, and the officer had some easy
money.
Soon, one of his junior officers arrived. The commander con-
vinced him that he should also try this trick. The second officer
went to the villagers and also demanded horses for the mail. He
was also bribed and walked away with a tidy sum.
245
A third officer then passed through the town. He was really in

charge of the mail and was short several animals. He actually
needed the horses and would not be satisfied with a bribe.
A village chief went and pleaded before the commander. The
people had already paid two bribes but would still have their
horses taken.
This same commander had already robbed the villagers without
qualm. He had even advised his junior officer to do the same. It
took two crimes before his sense of fairness could even begin to
function. But by the third time, even he realized that the situation
was hardly fair. Then he ordered that the village be left alone.
Fairness exists everywhere. It may be buried, but it can always
be accessed.
It is written in the Zohar that even the Left Side134 (the side of
evil) contains both right and left. Even the unholy has a spark of
the Divine.
The Left Side has a right, even though its right might not even
reach the left side of holiness. The right side is fairness. It even
exists on the Other Side [i.e. the side of evil]. But on the Other
Side, righteousness and fairness begin very late - even after the
fairness of the left side of holiness. Understand this.
– Chayei Moharan 79, translated as ‘His Wisdom’
in English, by the Breslov Research Institute.
And so, within a matter of hours the murder accusations against

the Rav were thrown out - and the Rav was finally released back
home, to his shocked, but elated, community.
On December 15, 2021, Wednesday, 11 Tevet 5782, after spend-

ing over a year and a half in prison on the ‘charge’ of taking
134
This is describing the spiritual realm, not politics.
246
charity payments and performing pidyon nefesh, Rabbi Eliezer

Berland, shlit’a, finally came back to his home on Ido HaNavi
Street, Jerusalem.135
Thousands of the Rav’s followers from Shuvu Banim Jerusalem,

and from locations across the country, flocked to the Homa
Shlishit neighborhood of Musrara, giving the Rav a true welcome
fit for a king.
There was a palpable sense of joy, as the Rav’s car slowly made its
way up the road in Meah Shearim, as young men climbed up walls
and hung on window railings, hoping to catch a glimpse of the
Rav’s face, after almost two years of not seeing him.136
135
https://ravberland.com/awesome-rav-eliezer-berland-released-te-
vet-5782/
136
You can see video footage of the Rav’s return home here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBnSBQUq668&t=1s and also here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeimirVJRLc&t=1s
247
As thousands of people crushed into the courtyard below his

home, the Rav came out on the balcony to give his first shiur in
person to his followers.137 This is an excerpt of what he said:
“Add days upon the days of the king, his years like every
generation.”
The tenth of Tevet is in essence Yom Kippur, now after

Yom Kippur. The [fast of the] tenth of Tevet puts off
[the mitzvah of eating on] Shabbat. Therefore, Shabbat
never falls on the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Natan – because
Rabbi Natan is the Rebbe [Nachman] in himself. These
are the miracles of Rabbi Natan and the Rebbe because
he is the Rabbi and the student who were anticipated
from the creation of the world.
Adam HaRishon, before he sinned, before he thought to

sin, the souls of the Rebbe and Rabbi Natan flew away.
And they perform all the miracles [i.e. they implore
Hashem to work the miracles] that will be until the
end of all generations – they perform them, and they
worked the release!
Turned over… ‘and it was turned over, that the Jews

prevailed over their enemies!’
137
https://ravberland.com/first-shiur-after-release-rav-eliezer-berland-shl-
ita-in-words-of-redemption/
248
Now, Yechezkel chapter 24, verse 2, ‘This very day’ 138.

What is ‘this very day’? What is unique about this day
from all other days?
That on this day the Holy Temple began to be destroyed,

and the Third Temple needs to be built. Then it’s writ-
ten, ‘On this very day Avraham and his son Yishmael
were circumcised’139. That in Hevron they said they
won’t allow there to be a brit – they won’t allow [it]!
Like today, may their names be erased, on television

they have begun to incite, to say, ‘what is this, cutting
an 8-day-old child!?’ Because already for 2,000 years
there hadn’t been anything in the world like this, be-
cause Yitzchak was born in 2048, in 1948 Avraham
was born. For 2,000 years, they hadn’t seen britot!
Noach was born circumcised, Chanoch was [born]

circumcised, but a brit!? Cut an 8-day-old child? To
pieces, pieces??! This is only a revelation of the holy
Torah! According to logic and nature, there’s no such
thing as cutting an 8-day-old child....”
The Rav continued:
“Yaakov Galinsky was in a house with a Mohel [in

Russia when it was forbidden to perform a brit], and
suddenly a KGB agent entered and said that he wants
138
The full verse reads: “Son of man, write for yourself the name of this day,
this very day; the King of Babylonia has reached Jerusalem on this very
day.”
139
Bereishit 17:26.
249
to circumcise his son, that the Mohel should come to

such-and-such an address, he’ll see a woman with a
purse leave, he should go into the apartment, and the
baby will be in a cradle.
The Mohel immediately fled from the door outside –

there was another door there. In Russia, they must have
two doors in every apartment. Like today, a person
needs to have two doors in every apartment, so that
if they come from this door, you already flee from the
second door. Anyone who has one door is lost.
The Mohel returned and told Rabbi Galinsky that this

is an entrapment! Why did you tell him that I’m a
Mohel?! Rav Galinsky said, ‘I promised that we would
come. We’re obligated! He told me, “Go up to the third
floor, a woman with a purse will come out. Go into the
apartment, the child will be in a cradle.”’
Well, they went. Went up three floors, saw a woman

with a purse come out, went into the apartment, found
the baby in a cradle. They circumcised him. Yaakov
Galinsky was the Sandak. He has a will that at every
brit to tell this story.
There were 12 loaves of bread and 12 eggs there [as pay-

ment for performing a Brit - a fortune, in Communist
Russia at that time]. The Mohel told the assistant: Give
me coupons! You KGB have no problem, but how can
I go around in the street [with all this food]? They’ll
think that I held up a bank! I held up a supermarket.
Can a person walk around with something like this in
Russia…?
250
One day, Rav Galinsky was walking in the street and

suddenly the KGB agent passed by and recognized him.
He said to him: “Thank you for circumcising my son for
me! Today the Jews are on the bottom, but I know that
the Jews will return to being on top again, one day! It
will be good for the Jews. In a little while, everything
will turn around! The darkness will turn to light!! Then
we will see the light! I want to have a circumcised son,
already!”
The Rav continued:
“Now we’re talking about the first Brit in human his-

tory. To cut children?! So now they’re saying on televi-
sion, may their names be erased, Yair Lapid and his
whole gang. They now want to uproot the Biirit milah!
They don’t know that people will jump off the roofs
to circumcise their sons! The Jewish people will never
relent on the Brit!!
And Avraham Avinu needs to circumcise his son in

Hevron. Everyone hates him with deathly hatred, wait-
ing for some little mistake and they’ll slaughter him!
Parashat Vayera, the first verse – everyone read this
at home.140
Aner arrives, and they perform the first Brit on him –

boom! he immediately passes out and dies! They pour
three buckets of water on him, and he doesn’t wake up!
Then Eshkol says, ‘Now circumcise me.’ They circumcise
140
The full verse reads: “Hashem appeared to him in Eloney Mamrei, and
he was sitting at the entrance to the tent in the heat of the day.”
251
him – baruch Hashem, he dies! He ascends to the

Garden of Eden. Two ascend to the Garden of Eden.
Policemen arrive, KGB – ‘Avraham is slaughtering peo-

ple, slaughtering children!’ Two already died. Why?
Because they didn’t really want the Brit. They did it
because of social pressure. Then this Mamrei arrives.
What does he say? Circumcise me now! I’m the third
one. Now is my turn! They circumcise him, and ev-
erything goes happily. All the angels arrive! Now they
circumcise 100,000 converts. A river of blood flows in
Hevron. All the Land of Israel converted.
And now in the merit of this release, all the Land

of Israel converts! They will be Breslov, they will be
Shuvu Banim! May we merit to the complete redemp-
tion and to the Third Temple speedily in our days,
Amen!”
As usual, the Rav was packing a lot of hidden hints and coded
messages into his remarks to the crowd. Israel was still a full year
away from the riots and demonstrations incited by Yair Lapid and
the anti-Torah, ‘woke’ Left, superficially over Judicial Reform.
But really, those riots were over the future direction the State of
Israel would take, away from ‘woke militant atheism’, and towards
returning to God and greater Torah observance. And the Jewish
nation’s brit, or sacred covenant with Hashem, has always been a
central pillar of that teshuva process.
We will leave the reader to ponder some of the other hints and
clues contained in the Rav’s words and return to the great joy that
252
was experienced by tens of thousands of the Rav’s followers, upon

his miraculous release.
Rav Yisrael Sharet is a well-known outreach personality in Israel.

On the day of the release, he was interviewed by the Breslov
Information Line, and said the following:141
“Baruch Hashem, this made us happy, to see everyone.

Everyone got together and came to see. How many Jews
came! Baruch Hashem, it’s impossible to fool the Jewish
people. The Jewish people know who a Tzaddik is. They
don’t need to know from the media who is a Tzaddik
and who isn’t. The Jewish people don’t need to know
from the media who is the prince of Torah! Who is the
great sage of the generation. The Jewish people know!
Baruch Hashem, this was a great, awesome, and vast

Kiddush Hashem. After many thought that that’s it –
who knows if this will ever come back? There were those
who thought about this with longing [to get the Rav
back], and there are those who thought with [particular
negative] goals, G-d help us.
However, G-d showed who really controls everything.

Yonah the prophet said, ‘I said in my panic, I am cut
off.’ Yonah the prophet in the depths of the sea thought
that that’s it – it’s over! But ‘ from the depths of the
abyss I turned [to G-d], You heard my voice.’ G-d hears
and answers.
141
https://ravberland.com/rav-yisrael-sharet-shlita-with-fiery-words-at-
the-release-of-rav-berland-shlita/
253
This is an awesome Kiddush Hashem that happened

here, that the holy community of Rav Berland went,
not with might, not with power, but with ‘My spirit,
said Hashem Master of Legions.’
G-d showed the people and the world that to win,

a person doesn’t need any war, argument, or
mudslinging.
At a time when others were involved in evil speech, in

slander, in libels, and fabrications, the holy commu-
nity sat and learned such-and-such pages of Gemara
a day, such-and-such pages of Rambam a day, focused
prayers, chapters of Tehilim without end, Tikkun
Haklalli without end.
The prayers and the Torah stood and rescued and did
what people thought could never happen via natural
means. G-d showed us that: Hashem reigns, Hashem
reigned, Hashem reigns forever and ever!”
Rav Sharet then continued:
“My father told me that decades ago, he foresaw

that Rav Berland would be one of the greats of the
generation.
My father knew Rav Berland shlit”a already during

the period that the Rav was in Bnei Brak. He told me:
‘I followed Rav Berland then when he was still young; I
saw prayers and Torah learning I had never seen before.
Rav Berland would give a shiur for six hours, and it

made no difference to him if [people] came in or left, [if
254
they were] sleeping or awake. He teaches Torah to His

people Israel. Already then, I said that he would be one
of the greats of the generation.
This is something that is seen with one’s senses. Anyone

who wants to see the service of Hashem can come and
see—Does a person just have to make do with the ru-
mors? You don’t have to be a Breslover to know who Rav
Berland is. This isn’t a tzaddik who was only given to
Shuvu Banim. This is a tzaddik who was given to the
entire generation!...
Everyone who seeks the truth needs to pray about this,

even those who are against [the Rav] ... They need to
pray to Hashem to merit the true truth. They need to
beg Hashem for this, and to cry with tears... because
anyone who seeks the truth can’t just live off of rumors
and news headlines!
You don’t know? Then don’t talk! You want to know?

Then come and see for yourself!”
Rav Sharet also mentioned how the Rav’s students and community
had been conducting themselves over recent years, when they’d
been at the forefront of so many vicious public attacks and smear
campaigns by the Rav’s main persecutors, working together with
the State of Israel and the government-controlled media.
“Rav Berland’s students are testimony to his greatness,”

continued Rav Sharet.
255
It’s enough to see the honorability of the Torah scholars

who are among the students of Rav Berland, that de-
spite all the signatures against them, they didn’t write
a single derogatory letter in response. I saw a page in
which they put out a pained cry about the signatures,
but everything was in a respectful manner to those who
signed. Where is there anything like this?!...
It’s enough to see: ‘Tell me who your friend is, and I’ll
tell you who you are.’...At a time when his antagonists
are joining up with wicked people who cause Israel to
sin – the entire media and its offshoots… you tell me
who your friend is, and I will tell you who you are. In
the meantime, the students of Rav Berland are connect-
ing to Tzaddikim, and going to Rav Kook [in Tiveria],
and to Rav Golan from Alma.”
The opposition is drawing close to evil and the stu-

dents of Rav Berland to holiness.
The opposition is going to wicked people, and the stu-

dents of Rav Berland are going to Tzaddikim. The oppo-
sition is involved in mudslinging and slanders, and the
students of the Rav are involved in Torah and prayer....”
Then, the interviewer on the Breslov Line commented that he

wished everyone would be able to see the truth so clearly, but with
all the mudslinging going on around the Rav, and all the non-stop
falsifying cases against him, the truth appeared to be very hidden.
Rav Sharet responded:
256
“Look, if there was even a tiny bit of real evidence, then

the last ones to let him free would be the judges!”
Interviewer: “Really that’s how it is. We also see their great hy-
pocrisy. From yesterday until now, all the media haven’t stopped
talking, saying: how could they have freed him… They told everyone
such stories [about the Rav] that he’s such and such, and suddenly
they free him so fast. It was mamash ‘nahafochu’ - everything got
overturned, as the Rav said.”
Rav Sharet concluded:
“And the complete redemption will also occur like this,

speedily in our days. People think: when will it be over,
and how much further is it possible to descend? But then
suddenly, everything turns over in a single moment…
The release of Rav Berland shows us exactly how the

redemption will be.... in one moment all the evil will
be destroyed and the good of G-d will be revealed in
His world.”
And so, just like that, in the blink of an eye, the Rav was out of
prison.
But still not totally free. The court-imposed two million shekel
fine still had to be paid to the tune of 50,000 shekels a month,
or else the authorities could still send him back to jail. And of
course, the Rav was still banned from doing pidyon nefesh, or
making any direct pleas for funds for himself or the Shuvu Banim
community.
257
Shortly after the Rav was released, at the end of December, some
of Shuvu Banim’s leading rabbis began an Emergency Fundraising
Appeal, to try to pull enough money together to keep Shuvu
Banim’s institutions going, and the Rav out of prison.
Rav Meir Malka explained the situation like this, when he made
a public plea on December 26, 2021, for people to support the
campaign:
“Our Sages say that Hashem made the pauper poor

to give merit to the wealthy. So to speak, the pauper
himself wasn’t deserving of being poor at all. However,
to give merit to the wealthy, Hashem ‘made him poor’.
The Rav isn’t a pauper… Rather, Hashem did this for

us, in our generation.... All the years, the Rav has given
and given endlessly – his body, his soul, his time, the
depths of his heart to every soul. The Rav didn’t stop,
didn’t rest, didn’t become exhausted from his holy work
with the souls of Israel.
There are many, many Tzaddikim and Rabbanim who

are involved in outreach, but the Rav put his mind to
something that isn’t found anywhere else in our gener-
ation – i.e., how to offer help to souls whom no one else
wants to help, or no-one else is prepared or able to help.
There is no need to elaborate. The Rav brought himself

to these souls from love, knowing the greatness of their
deep inner value. The Rav knew it was just the ‘pack-
aging’ that made them appear lowly and materialistic.
The Rav, in his great mercy and love for the souls of
Israel, went to their places to lift them back up. And he
has done that for many decades.
258
The teshuva, arousal, drawing close to Rabbeinu and to

Breslov, the great warmth which is seen in the Rav’s follow-
ers - where does all this come from? This is the Tzaddik,
who can revive the souls who are ‘lying in the dust.’
But we say now with grief and embarrassment, that

Hashem has arranged that this Tzaddik needs us.”
Rav Malka then went on to explain some of the huge costs that the
Rav and his household have been trying to cover, as a result of the
ongoing State-sponsored persecution against him:
“Let’s elaborate a bit. Rav Berland’s health is very deli-

cate, and he’s dealing with many, many medical issues.
Even one serious health issue demands good care, and
when you’re talking about many issues, then it’s even
more necessary, and it requires the full attention of the
most senior doctors, because the situation is changing
from hour to hour.
That means a lot of money, and great expenses…

Already what happened just up until now has involved
tremendous expenses, and the Rav still requires expen-
sive healthcare.
While it’s true, that healing is from Hashem Yitbarach,

Hashem has also given us this merit, to share in a por-
tion of the great Tzaddik’s health concerns....
The Gemara says that this merit isn’t given to everyone.

It’s possible to give charity for all types of things, and ev-
erything is good. But the merit to give Tzedaka to such
an exalted person?! This just isn’t found everywhere...
259
If we want to talk about the Rav’s legal expenses, the at-

torneys who entered the fray -– this isn’t a normal battle.
Against them stood and stand – antagonists. The legal
costs are astronomical. The lawyers’ work is very great,
deep, and very difficult - and their services are still needed.
Fortunate is the person who merits to undertake this

holy endeavor and helps,” concluded Rav Malka.
With the Rav out of prison, his followers were reinvigorated and
hopeful that the coming months would prove to be much easier
than the last two years, with the fear, stress, and restrictions of
Covid 19.
In some ways, they were. But in other ways, Israeli society was
fast approaching a watershed moment. Israel’s enemies hadn’t
disappeared. The terrorists in Gaza and Lebanon were still rattling
their sabers, the Ayatollahs in Iran were still talking about nukes,
Western leaders were still pushing for a ‘two state solution’ that
would permanently partition the Holy Land.
And perhaps the biggest difficulty was the ‘status quo’ that had
papered over the cracks between ‘secular and religious’ commu-
nities for decades, now coming unstuck in a spectacular fashion.
But before any of these issues returned to the headlines, some-

thing else grabbed the world’s attention, and reminded us that
this was indeed ‘the year of war’.
260
The Year of War
TOMORROW, PUTIN IS COMING.

“He wants to take Eretz Yisrael. He’s complaining that everything
is supposed to be his. He (i.e. Russia) was the first to buy plots of
land here, like the Russian Compound.
The Turks didn’t want to sell plots of land to any other nation, be-
cause if they even possessed a single plot of land, they would already
come and take the whole country – exactly as they ultimately did.
So, the Russians said to them, but we walk 4,000 kilometers by foot.
It’s written in the Tanna devei Eliyahu, Chapter 8:1, that Chana
and Elkana used to say [to the Israelites who weren’t coming up to
the Mishkan in Shilo] – Learn from the non-Jews! They go 4,000
km on foot just to spend a single day in Eretz Yisrael.
They used to come and sleep by the Kotel.
The Kotel used to be full of non-Jewish widows who came with
a lot of money, and everything went to build churches. Or, they
died, and then the money was given to the church, and they built
churches all over Jerusalem. The whole of Jerusalem is ‘church
land’. Rehavia – everything belongs to the churches.
And the plot of land next to Breslov [in Jerusalem] also belongs
to the church, that empty plot. They bought half of Jerusalem.
Wherever the Russians wanted to buy, they were the first ones to
buy [land].
And Putin already received two buildings in the Russian
Compound, they already returned it to him. It was standing empty,
261
and now he’s coming, and he already wants everything. He wants

the whole Russian Compound to be returned.
And if not, he’s going to begin a World War.”
– Excerpted from a shiur given by Rabbi Eliezer Berland,
the evening of January 22, 2020, the day before
Vladimir Putin made a State Visit to Jerusalem.142
A
fter eight years of on-again-off-again simmering tensions,
on February 24, 2022, Russia finally decided to invade the
Donbass region of Ukraine.
Donbass had been in the throes of what was effectively a civil war
since 2014, when the predominantly Russian-speaking population
found themselves facing-off against ultra-nationalist Ukrainian
militias. The militias were strongly aligned with a new Ukrainian
government, installed in dramatic circumstances. Some com-
mentators speculated that Ukraine was the target of yet another
US-sponsored ‘color revolution’.
Russia, unhappy with the West and its missiles on the Kremlin’s
doorstep, complained for years that the USA was using Ukraine as
an informal extension of its own territory. Thus, Putin announced
that the aim of the invasion was to ‘demilitarize’ and ‘de-nazify’
Ukraine.143
The West’s reaction to the invasion was swift - and monolithic.

Overnight, the war in Ukraine became the main topic of conver-
sation everywhere, and Western governments all over the world
142
https://ravberland.com/putin-wants-the-whole-of-eretz-yisrael/
143
https://tass.com/politics/1409189
262
moved fast to send billions of dollars, tons of ammunition and

other armaments, vehicles, and equipment to Ukraine.
Russia and Russians became persona non grata overnight, all over
the West. And each day, it appeared that the war of words be-
tween the USA and Russia was escalating higher, into some very
dangerous territory. At one point shortly after the invasion, the
American government put out a message that if Russia didn’t
abandon its plans in the Crimea, it was headed for ‘catastrophic
consequences’.144
Whether or not the invasion was really justified; whether or not

Ukraine really was full of neo-Nazi ‘Azov Battalion’ militias;
whether or not Russia was just trying to clean up a US-backed
threat on its own territory or was just using the Donbass as a
launchpad for its own imperial ambitions - we will leave that to
others to figure out.
What is an incontrovertible fact is that Russia invaded Ukraine

on the morning of February 24, 2022 - and this meant that Jewish
communities located in Ukraine, including Uman, suddenly
found themselves in a potentially dangerous situation.
144
https://sputnikglobe.com/20220925/us-threatens-russia-with-cat-
astrophic-consequences-if-it-nukes-ukraine-distorts-putins-warn-
ing-1101212446.html
263
No-one knew if the politicians were just bluffing, with their bom-
bastic speeches and broad hints about using nuclear weapons, or if
the world was once again on the cusp of a nuclear World War III.
On February 15, 2022 - a week before the actual invasion took

place - the Rav’s attendants released the following message from
Rav Berland:
“The Rav now said it might turn into a world war, but
this generation is protected from another Holocaust.
The Tzaddik is protecting the generation.”
In the run-up to the war in Ukraine, the Rav had been singing a
lot of Uman songs at communal prayers with the kehilla at 8.30
every night, on Ido HaNavi Street. Regulars at Ido HaNavi knew
that the Rav had a custom to begin and end the prayers with nig-
gunim, as that is how prayers ‘ascend’, but it was highly unusual
for the Rav to sing Uman songs more than six months ahead of
Rosh Hashana.
The 84-year-old Rav encouraged the crowd to clap hands and

jump up and down, often leading the way by jumping up and
down himself, on his balcony. Many people felt something ’big’
was being sweetened again, and it was somehow connected to
Uman.
With the backlash against Covid-19 spreading across the globe, it

looked like the world’s leaders were trying to take everyone’s mind
off the pandemic by sparking off a massive war in the Ukraine,
instead.
264
HOW PRAYERS ASCEND

Rav Berland said:
“Dancing with all his might” – people are not familiar with this
avodah (service of Hashem). Rabbenu came and brought back
the concept of dancing with all one’s might – to dance, jump,
and sing. Without singing, the prayer does not ascend. If a person
does not sing before and after, the prayer does not ascend.
“The Gra says in Teruma, that through the morning zemirot145
the prayer ascends. Without the morning zemirot, Hashem does
not accept the prayer at all. You need to hear the song of the
birds, rising in the morning and hearing the birds sing – these
are angels.”146
As well as the singing and dancing, the Rav also seemed to suggest
that the war in Ukraine was not actually the beginning of Gog and
Magog, as so many other Tzaddikim were saying.
On Purim 5782 (March 18, 2022) the Rav said the following:
“Putin is not Gog and Magog, it’s stam, a meshuga

(crazy person), stam, someone who is insane.
He’s already 69 years old, he was born the same year

Stalin died. He received the soul of Stalin, to stam kill
people. Already, 90,000 people died, and already 20,000
Russians died.
145
The songs before the prayers, which also appear in Sephardic siddurim
in the “Bakashot” section.
146
https://ravberland.com/without-song-the-prayer-doesnt-ascend-dai-
ly-chizzuk-by-rabbi-eliezer-berland-shlita/ - comments made on Rosh
Chodesh Nissan, 5783.
265
Up until now, the Ukrainians already received $800

trillion worth of arms, from America, anti-tank [mis-
siles], and everything. They didn’t have anything, not
a weapon, nothing. From Holland they sent, from
Germany they sent, from France, they sent weapons.
They wiped out all the tanks for them. The Russians
still can’t enter Kiev.
The king said, on one day, I’m going to kill a whole

people.
It’s impossible to conquer a single city in one day. Here,

try with Kiev. Already now, it’s been four weeks. The
war started at 5 and 10 minutes.
There was one person here, R’ Shmuel Stern and his

son, Yechiel. They got on the airplane five minutes be-
fore they blew up the airport in Kiev. Five minutes ear-
lier, his son got on the airplane, and the airplane still
managed to navigate to Israel. Putin really doesn’t want
to harm the Jews.
A motorcyclist was killed in Uman because a rocket fell

there by mistake. Someone was travelling from Kiev to
Uman – a secular Jew wanted to hide himself in Uman,
but on the way there, there was shooting, and he was
killed. Two Jews died, one secular and one religious.
But it’s impossible to murder a whole people in one

day.”147
147
https://rivkalevy.com/rav-berland-on-the-war-in-ukraine-2/
266
Later that same day, the Spinka Rebbe came to visit Rav Berland at
his home, and the Rav made some more references to Putin, and
what was going on in Ukraine. He said:
“Hitler was Amalek, and now Putin is Amalek. What

does he want? Already 90,000 people, and he’s not stop-
ping. He’s gone totally mad. He’s worse than Hitler.
“The Jews – he says, I’m not going to touch the Jews, but
it’s impossible to tolerate the ‘booms’ [of the bombs]. It’s
written about Pharoah, I can’t tolerate the noise! He
used to yell at them, stop!!! He used to hear ‘booms’ all
day long, all the roofs were shaking.
In Ukraine, they damaged a beit knesset, and they

damaged Chabad. It’s impossible to continue to
suffer from the booms. The noise is worse than the
explosions.”
Right from the beginning, immediately after reports surfaced that

Uman was going to be evacuated by the Ukrainians148, the Rav
kept emphasizing that Uman was still safe, and that Jews could
still travel there - which honestly sounded incredible, given the
news reports that were coming out of Ukraine at that time.
Jewish orphanages were being evacuated in Odessa; refugees were

queuing for miles to cross the borders out of Ukraine; and there
were early reports of Uman being directly shelled by Russian
forces, aiming at the local army base there. Nobody knew what
148
ries/2063670/ukraine-evacuates-uman-after-4-locals-killed-in-explo-
sions-videos-photos.html
267
Putin’s real intentions were, and rumors were sweeping the web
that the Russians would move on to the rest of Eastern Europe,
after conquering Ukraine.
In the middle of a shiur the Rav was giving on Parshat Vayikra

(March, 2022), someone in the audience told the Rav that the word
‘Putin’ had the same gematria as the name ‘Nachman’, if spelled
without the letter ‘vav’.
The Rav replied:
“Yes, because only Rabbenu will subdue him.
“Because now, Zelensky asked the Jews in Uman to pray

for him in the Tzion. So, there will be some miracle,
because according to the usual way of the world, he
has no chance.
“So, either Putin will regret [going to war], or maybe all

the tanks will be burned, because there are five million
citizens in Kiev, so each one will burn a tank.”
Someone else in the audience then told the Rav that a million
refugees had already fled from Ukraine, because of the war. The
Rav replied:
“Yes, they stood on the 20 km road, and went around

with loudspeakers, [saying] whoever has an Israeli
passport, they should come.
Because Zelensky is doing that now.
268
Like Rabbi Yaakov Galinsky, when he did the brit for

the KGB commander. So, after that, he met him in the
street, and asked him [the KGB commander] how were
you not afraid [to do that]? So, he [the KGB officer]
replied, I know that now it’s bad for the Jews, but there
will come a day when it’s good for the Jews. And I want
my son to be worthy of that good.
So now, it’s good for the Jews, and whoever is a Jew,

they immediately let him pass through [the border],
even without a passport, and the non-Jews are ex-
ploding because of this.”
In a highly controversial move, the State of Israel announced that

they were accepting 25,000 Ukrainian refugees into the country,
most of whom were not Jewish. At a time when the State of Israel had
barred entry for Jews around the world during Covid 19 and was still
barring entrance to the country for unvaccinated Jews who weren’t
citizens of Israel, this abrupt volte face on entry requirements for
tens of thousands of non-Jewish Ukrainians struck a very sour note.
The Rav continued:
“Now, they conducted 200 children [Jewish children

from Ukraine] from an orphanage, without passports.
Everything that the Ukrainians did [to the Jews] is
being done to them.
But because Zelensky requested that they should pray

[for him] in Uman, the war will be finished by Purim.
The fear is from the pogroms, because when there
269
is no government, there are pogroms, the same as

happened by Ahashverosh.
They call this ‘Brigades’. Because Ahashverosh didn’t

let people own a weapon, he just let them pile up on all
the tables by the door.
They [i.e., the people who wanted to kill the Jews in the
Purim story] had to get back by dawn, because Haman
only gave them permission to kill [Jews] for one day.
Whoever managed to survive until dawn was saved.
Like the person who told how [in World War II] it was
mamash the second where they [i.e., the Nazis] were
about to break down the door [and kill him and his
family].
He said, in the zchut of Rebbe Nachman!!! – so they

(the Nazis) left, and he was saved.”149
Shortly after Purim 5782, the Rav was again hospitalized -

something that happened very often at these times of ‘peak cri-
sis’, when the Tzaddik would yet again take all the generation’s
suffering upon himself, when it seemed there was no other way of
‘sweetening’ the problem.
When the Rav was making these statements, that “here will be
some miracle, because according to the usual way of the world,
he has no chance,” a month after the war erupted in Ukraine, it
seemed incredible that the whole thing would somehow peter out.
149
https://rivkalevy.com/rav-berland-on-the-war-in-ukraine-part-3/
270
The Americans and Europeans were pouring huge amounts of

arms and money into the country. President Zelensky was be-
ing feted as a celebrity, appearing on Zoom from his bunker at
countless gala dinners, events - and even being beamed directly
to parliamentarians across the world.
Putin was talking about nuclear weapons150...Biden was talking

about nuclear weapons151... there were stories of nuclear reac-
tors being booby-trapped by Ukrainians, and / or targeted by
Russians152....of food shortages that were going to sweep the world,
as the enormous Ukrainian wheat harvest disappeared153... of
‘dark winters’154, as the energy sanctions against Russia back-
fired155 against the countries implementing them....Nordstream
gas pipelines between Russia and Germany were blown up (ap-
parently, by the USA itself156)...
And still, the war of words between the politicians continued, as

people who wanted a full-blown war between the West and Russia
constantly escalated and inflamed tensions.
And yet...
150
https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-threatens-nuclear-weapons-
over-ukraine-says-not-bluffing-2022-9
151
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63167947
152
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/04/europe/ukraine-zaporizhzhia-nu-
clear-plant-attack-explainer-intl/index.html
153
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/07/ukraine-wheat-
crop-global-shortage/
154
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/11/27/693461/Economist-Europe-
cold-weather-death-toll-exceed-number-soldiers-Ukraine-
155
https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/how-sanctions-against-russia-
could-backfire-2022-05-26/
156
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/how-america-took-out-the-
nord-stream
271
As the year wore on, all the media hype about ‘Standing with
Ukraine’ started to wear thin. People got tired of hearing the
same old slogans and same old mantras, from the politicians on
all sides of the fight.
And then, more awkward questions popped up about how much

of the money being sent to Ukraine, especially from the USA,
was actually spent on the country’s defense, and how much was
siphoned off as part of Ukraine’s notorious corruption problem.157
It seems that something was going on to continually sweeten

the harsh decrees and terrible predictions about the Ukraine
situation158.
And in the meantime, the Rav and his community continued to

sing songs about Uman, and continued to dance and jump up and
down, and continued to clap their hands to ‘sweeten the judge-
ments’ and get the prayers to ascend.
157
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/trading-with-the-enemy
158
Still ongoing, at the time of writing.
272
The Death of a
Tzaddik Atones
“Rabbi Nachman reveals to us159, that just as there is self-sacrifice

that actually happens, that is, handing over his body to death for
the sanctification of Hashem’s name, so too there is an aspect of
sacrificing one’s name, which is also like real self-sacrifice.
“When the Tzaddik accepts upon himself that his name should be
disgraced in the mouths of people, this is also counted as actual
self-sacrifice; because within the name of a person rests his soul
root, and when people talk about his name, [associating it with]
everything forbidden, and humiliating him in public, this is con-
sidered actually giving up one’s life for Hashem; and through this,
he sweetens the decrees from the souls of the Jewish People.
“Really, in many aspects, sacrificing one’s name for the sanctifica-
tion of Hashem’s Name is more difficult than handing over one’s
body to be killed, because it’s possible to kill the body only once,
and after that his soul ascends to its root on high and delights in
the radiance of the Divine Presence.
“However, with sacrificing one’s name, a person can suffer long
years of scorn and spilling his blood; and every time, his blood is
spilled anew, and he feels terrible and enormous suffering.”
– Excerpt of a shiur given by R’ Yoram Abergel, Ztzl.160
159
In Likutey Moharan I:260.
160
https://ravberland.com/the-disgrace-which-the-tzaddik-takes-upon-
himself-atones-for-the-jewish-people-rabbi-yoram-abergel/
273
I
t’s known that the death of great Tzaddikim atones for the sins
for the generation. And so it should come as no surprise that
during these years of suffering for Am Yisrael, several of our
greatest Tzaddikim also passed away.
In this chapter, we’ll cover some of the Tzaddikim who were par-
ticularly associated with the Rav in recent years. The first to pass
over to the next world was the famous kabbalist Rav Chaim Cohen
Perachia, ztzl, affectionately known as ‘the Milkman’.
Throughout the long years of the Rav’s persecution, the Milkman

put out a number of public statements in support of Rav Berland,
and continually warned the public against speaking badly of the
Rav, or believing the terrible slanders and lies being published.
Back in 2017, Rav Yehuda Sheinfeld, one of the Milkman’s closest

students, publicized the following story, about a talmid chacham who
came to see the Milkman for advice and a blessing. Rav Sheinfeld said:
“This talmid chacham told the Milkman that his wife

had been stricken with cancer of the brain, and they’d
been told that she needed to travel to the United States
for treatment. The man said to the Milkman: ‘There
is no cure for her illness here in Eretz Yisrael, so what
should I do, revered Rabbi?’
The Milkman responded: ‘Tell me something. Did you

talk badly about Rav Lazer [i.e., Rav Eliezer Berland],
shlita? Did you write something bad against him? Or
do something to try to hurt him?’
274
This talmid chacham started trembling violently when

he heard the holy Milkman’s questions, until finally he
blurted out: ‘How is this connected to Rav Berland?
Why are you mixing Rav Berland into my wife’s con-
dition?’ But the Milkman wouldn’t be put off, and he
firmly asked him again:
Did you, or did you not, say something [against Rav

Berland]? Did you, or did you not, make statements
[against Rav Berland]?’ Finally, the talmid chacham
replied: ‘I spoke against him, and I made statements
against him.’
The Milkman replied: ‘In that case, there is no cure for

your wife’s illness. And, I also don’t know if there is any
way that you can rectify what you’ve done. Maybe, if
you now go and turn the whole world upside down,
and go and write and distribute things, and go and tell
everyone to change their ideas about Rav Lazer, then
maybe, maybe, there’ll be a miracle.
But we don’t talk [negatively] about Rav Lazer! Do you

hear?’ concluded the Milkman.”
But while the two Tzaddikim maintained a very close spiritual

connection throughout all the long years of the Rav’s exile and ini-
tial imprisonment, it was only in May 2019 that these two giants
met each other in person again, at the brit milah (circumcision) of
Rav Berland’s great-grandson, the son of Rabbi Tzafania Sheinfeld,
which took place in the Milkman’s synagogue in Givatayim.
275
During their meeting, Rav Berland and the Milkman greeted each
other with the great warmth and feeling characteristic of two old
friends reunited with each other, and they spent many minutes
engrossed in conversation.161
Rav Berland then gave the Milkman a blessing that he would enjoy
great length of days and good health, and continue to lead Am
Yisrael to see the coming of Moshiach. In return, the Milkman
kissed Rav Berland’s hand, and with tremendous feeling replied:
“Both of us together will!”
Sadly, that wasn’t to be. On August 13, 2019, Rav Chaim Cohen
Perachia, ztzl, passed away after a long illness, at the age of 84, and
was buried in Jerusalem’s Sanhedria cemetery.162
The years 2020 - 2022 passed in a blur, with many holy rabbis and
tzaddikim passing away during the years of Covid 19. But then,
on March 20, 2022, Am Yisrael was struck another extremely hard
blow, when the ‘Minister of Torah’, HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, ztzl,
suddenly passed away.
The Kanievskys and the Berland family had a very strong con-
nection going back many decades, when the Berland family pur-
chased the apartment of the Steipler Gaon (Rav Chaim’s father, Rav
Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky zt”l), and became the direct neighbors
and friends of Rav Chaim and Batsheva over the next two decades.
161
You can see the meeting of these two great tzaddikim here: https://youtu.
be/924U1ZuyPo0
162
https://ravberland.com/baruch-dayan-haemet-the-milkman-returns-
his-soul-to-his-maker/
276
Following the funeral, Rav Berland delivered the following public

eulogy163:
“We were neighbors for twenty years, doors across

from one another. I would see him every day several
times, pray with him at Lederman together. This was
our regular synagogue over the course of twenty years.
My children, from the day they were born, all of them
prayed at Lederman together with Rav Chaim. All of
them merited to see him every day.
Really this was something the likes of which hasn’t been

for hundreds of years, such a revelation of G-dliness
revealed within flesh and blood.
This is something impossible to contain or understand.

It’s impossible to measure it with any measure in the
world, to live in proximity to the giant among giants,
‘the great man who is a giant among giants,’ to live for
twenty years beside him every day.
When the Rabbanit [Berland] would teach until four in

the afternoon, and the girls would return from school
and there was no food in the empty refrigerator, from
the age of six to fifteen they would regularly go up to Bat
Sheva [Rabbanit Kanievsky a”h], [and] she would feed
them. This was every day from the age of six until the
age of fifteen. All my daughters would eat by Bat Sheva.
She would come down and prepare food for them.
163
https://ravberland.com/maran-rav-chaim-kanievsky-ztl-rav-eliezer-
berland-shlitas-eulogy/
277
We were close to each other like family mamash, more

than family, and Bat Sheva mamash was a mother to
my daughters. She would take care of them and nour-
ish them, because from eight in the morning already
until four in the afternoon, the Rabbanit wasn’t home.
[Rabbanit Kanievsky] took care of sustaining them and
took care of everything. If not for Bat Sheva, who knows
how they could have grown up.
This was material help which was totally spiritual, be-

cause Bat Sheva and Rav Chaim were an aspect of the
cherubs of the Ark of the Covenant! In every generation,
there is a couple who are the cherubs of the Ark of the
Covenant. In our generation this was Rav Chaim and
Bat Sheva. They were the cherubs whose ‘ faces are man
[facing] his brother.’
So we know the situation of the generation, that

Hashem forgives all iniquities, because the death of
Miriam is next to the Red Heifer [in the Torah], be-
cause the death of the Tzaddik atones more than the
Red Heifer.
The death of Tzaddikim is twice as hard as the de-

struction of the Holy Temple. This day is a terrible and
awful day. It’s totally impossible to bear it, the terrible
tragedy. This is the most terrible day that could be; it’s
impossible to describe at all. We didn’t dream that there
would be such a thing.
We were sure that Rav Chaim would live until 120

with us together and would continue to lead and guide
278
us with his light and counsel. The very fact that he is

alive here in this world draws the G-dly light, the holy
Shechinah [Divine presence]. Because the Tzaddik is the
Shechinah, and his wife is the help to the Shechinah; she
is the Sefirah [Divine emanation] of Malchut [Kingship]
of the Shechinah.
Rav Chaim and Bat Sheva, both of them together, with

their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren,
continue to illuminate the Jewish people, they continue
to shine! It’s forbidden to think that the soul departs. It’s
written in ‘Gesher HaChaim’ that the greatest sin is to
think that the soul departs. This is the greatest iniquity
of all iniquities.
The soul doesn’t depart; it remains with us! As it’s writ-

ten in the Gemara Shabbat 152, that Rabbi Yehudah
went to comfort someone who didn’t have family. So he
brought him ten people, and after the Shiva, he came
[the dead person in a dream] and said, ‘I was there!’
As Rav says, ‘Deliver a moving eulogy, because I will

be standing there’ (Shabbat 153a). ‘Deliver a moving
eulogy!’ – however much we eulogize it’s only a drop
in the sea. It’s not even a drop, from the millions and
myriads of kindnesses and good that Rabbi Chaim did
with us through the essence of his being amongst us,
through the essence of the Divine light which he would
draw onto us, because all the Torah of the generation –
boys and girls, all the strengthening was in his merit.
Everything is in his merit.
279
Just to see him for one second, it would be possible to

learn Torah all 120 years continuously without dis-
traction, without taking the head out of the book. This
was the lesson that we learned from Rabbi Chaim, be-
cause I followed him for twenty years — in his life, he
never took his head out of the book! Whether walking
to Kollel Chazon Ish, whether… she would run, run
after him; I remember to this day. He wouldn’t look at
all if she was walking with him or not.
On the way with the children to kindergarten, he would

only hold the book! His face only in the book. With dif-
ficulty he knew the streets, how to reach Kollel Chazon
Ish! So I followed him for twenty years every day. Such
an exceptional figure already won’t be until our righ-
teous Mashiach comes! He is the letters of Mashiach164.
He was the Mashiach of the generation without any

doubt!
If we were worthy, he would have been revealed, we

would have seen his revelation. As the Chatam Sofer
says in Siman 98, Choshen Mishpat in Likutim, that
Mashiach is found in every generation. There is no
generation without Mashiach. Only that we don’t have
the merit. We don’t have the merit that King Mashiach
will be revealed to us.
164
The initial letters Rav Kanievsky’s name, ‘Maran Shemaryahu Yosef
Chaim’, contain the letters of the word ‘Mashiach’.
280
But he was King Mashiach of this generation without

any doubt. He was really Mashiach, and that he de-
parted suddenly is [because of] the sins of the genera-
tion; this atones for the generation.
Because really there was a decree of extermination

on the entire Jewish People, and he now sweetened
this decree.
Because in every generation there are decrees of

extermination.
Therefore, Mordechai couldn’t devote himself to learn-

ing, because then there were terrible decrees of exter-
mination, ‘to exterminate, kill, destroy all the Jews.’
Therefore, he ‘ found favor with the multitude of his
brethren,’ because they didn’t understand that he was
obligated to fight the decrees of extermination. However,
the moment that [the decrees] stopped, he ascended to
the Land of Israel and returned to his learning, after
the [time of] the Megilah. This was Rabbi Chaim, who
sweetened all the decrees.
All that we’re living here in the Holy Land already for
94 years, we are living here without enemy or destroyer.
No enemy succeeds. There are endless enemies and
only the merit of Rabbi Chaim stands for us, and it
will stand for us for our generation and for all the
coming generations until our righteous Mashiach
comes, speedily in our days, Amen.”
281
Barely nine days after Rav Kanievsky’s death, Bnei Brak experi-
enced its first ever terror attack, with multiple fatalities.
Diaa Hamarsheh, a Palestinian from the town of Ya’abad, was

dropped off on one of the busiest roads in Bnei Brak at around
8pm, but inexplicably decided to walk to a quiet side road, where
he first started shooting at balconies.
As the attack progressed, Hamarsheh began firing at passersby on

HaShnaim street, including two people in a grocery store (who
later turned out to be Ukrainian nationals), a car driver, and then
29-year-old rabbi Avishai Yehezkel, who was taking his two-year-
old son for a walk. Miraculously, the terrorist didn’t shoot the
toddler, and his gun also jammed when he tried to fire at another
pedestrian. The last fatality was one of the two police officers who
responded to calls from the residents, who ended up in a shoot-out
with the terrorist, that finally ended the attack.
At that time, the Bnei Brak shootings, with five fatalities, were the
deadliest single terror attack in Israel since the horrible attack on
the Har Nof Synagogue back in 2014, and the third fatal shooting
attack in Israel in the week since Rav Kanievsky’s funeral.165
That Bnei Brak had always escaped such awful things while the
rest of the country had regularly been targeted by the terrorists
down the years, underlined just how much ‘protection’ the merit
of R’ Chaim, and his devotion to the Torah, had been bringing
down upon Bnei Brak.
As Rav Berland said in his eulogy: “This day is a terrible and awful day.”
165
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-security-services-struggle-to-
stop-deadliest-terror-wave-since-2nd-intifada/
282
At the same time, there were signs of general ‘sweetening’ in Eretz

Yisrael, particularly in connection to Covid 19. Almost immedi-
ately after the passing of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, ztzl, the State of
Israel finally began to lift most of the ‘Covid 19’ restrictions. So in
many tangible ways, the passing of the Tzaddik was clearly seen
to have ‘sweetened’ the very difficult situation that the Jewish
people were in.
But clearly, a lot more sins needed atonement, because a few

months later, in November 2022, another of the generation’s big-
gest Tzaddikim, a strong supporter of Rav Eliezer Berland and
Shuvu Banim, Rav Shimon Badani, ztzl, fell seriously ill.
Rav Shimon Badani, ztzl, the president of the Torah Sages Council
and spiritual leader of the Shas political party, was admitted to
Maayanei HaYeshua hospital in Bnei Brak at the end of November
2022, apparently suffering from ‘Covid’. He was sedated and put
on a ventilator, but his medical condition quickly deteriorated,
and on December 1, 2022, Rav Berland came to Rav Badani’s
bedside, where he recited the Tikkun HaKlali, and prayed for Rav
Badani for half an hour.166
Three days after the Rav’s visit, Rav Badani woke up out of the
coma he’d been in for 12 days, and there was some hope again that
he would pull through. Rav Berland’s grandson and attendant,
Rav Dov Zucker, explained what happened in an interview he gave
to the Breslov Information Line167:
166
https://ravberland.com/rav-berland-shlita-in-hospital-visit-to-rav-shi-
mon-badani-shlita/
167
You can hear the full interview in Hebrew, here: https://www.shuvubani-
mint.com/53694/
283
He said:
“It’s known that there is a strong bond between our Rav

and Rav Badani for several years already. Through all
the persecutions, Rav Badani stood as a steadfast rock
and continued to come to visit our Rebbe, the Rav.
Two weeks ago, the Rav somehow heard that Rav

Badani was anesthetized and on a respirator in seri-
ous condition and expressed his wish to visit him. At
that stage, Rav Badani was diagnosed with Corona, so
it wasn’t possible to enter the ward.
Nevertheless, we were told it was possible for the Rav

to come and stand next to [Rav Badani’s] room. It’s
known that it’s a big mitzvah to visit the sick, and es-
pecially by our Rebbe the Rav. There are many, many
stories about sick people who have been saved through
his prayers.
Baruch Hashem, an opportunity came up last Thursday,

when we heard it would be possible for the Rav to ap-
proach [Rav Badani’s] room by himself. The Rav trav-
elled to Bnei Brak on Thursday for a family celebration
of his grand-niece, and we got a positive answer from
Rav Badani’s family that it would be possible [for Rav
Berland] to come.
The Rav got to Rav Badani’s room around five in the

evening. Rav Badani’s son opened the door for the Rav
but warned him it wasn’t a good idea to get too close,
because of the Corona. So the Rav stood at the en-
trance to the room and said the Tikkun Haklali. After
we asked the medical staff if it’s possible to get closer
284
to the sickbed of Rav Badani, they answered that it

was something we could do if we accepted the possible
consequences. Then the Rav mamash drew close to the
sickbed of Rav Badani.”
Rav Dov Zucker continues:
“The Rav came out with a happy expression on his face.

The Gemara says that you know if your prayers for the
sick are accepted when you see that the prayer flows
easily from your mouth... We saw the light poured out
on the Rav, and we understood that we’d see some sort
of salvation here.
Of course, we need to pray that it will continue…We al-

ready saw, mamash, a dramatic improvement...Baruch
Hashem the Rav sacrificed himself [to visit Rav Badani
in hospital], to repay his goodness, and also from a
sense of personal obligation, to pray for a great sage of
Israel.”
Sadly, while Rav Badani’s condition improved miraculously for a

short time after the Rav’s visit, a month later, on January 11, 2023,
he passed away - another Tzaddik who atoned for the generation’s
many sins.
The Rav has a general rule that he doesn’t participate in funerals

at all. However, as soon as Rav Berland was informed about Rav
Badani’s passing, he deviated from his usual practice and came
to the purification room at Maayanei Hayeshua Hospital to say
farewell and recite the Tikkun HaKlali, as is customary in Breslov,
next to Rav Badani’s bier.
285
Rav Eliezer Berland stood next to the bier of his close friend for
many long minutes, while he slowly recited the Tikkun HaKlali.
Afterwards, he left the hospital and during the car ride home, the
Rav eulogized the Elder of the Torah Sages Council Rabbi Shimon
Baadani, referring to him as:
“My Rabbi and the Rabbi of all the Jewish people.... Israel’s chariot
and horseman…”
The Rav continued:
“For 95 years, Rav Badani served us and all of the people of Israel,
and in his light we walked, we walked in his light for… at the age
of fifteen he had already saved the people of Israel, for eighty years
we are walking in his light. He was my Rabbi at every single mo-
ment. We merited to visit him, and he would visit us. We merited
to benefit from his light and from his Torah. His Torah enlightens
us for ever and ever....
“[H]e lives for ever and ever in our hearts and in front of our eyes
and in the eyes of all the people of Israel.”
It was another harsh blow for the Jewish people. It seems that
shemayim was decreeing that more tzaddikim should pass away,
as an atonement for those who remained. But the world they left
behind still continued to be extremely challenging.
286
Uman Brings the Geula
“We are obligated to travel to Uman!!

“There is no excuse! Shuvu Banim is obligated to be in Uman,
there’s nothing else to say.”
– Comment made by Rav Berland, May, 2020.
A
s Elul 5782 (September 2022) rolled into view, more and
more people started wondering what’s going to be with
Uman, this year? According to the media reports, the
whole Ukraine was a terrible war zone, and anyone going to kib-
butz on Rosh Hashana would mamash be risking their life.
At the same time, more stories filtered back from individuals and
small groups who despite everything, still made the trip to Rebbe
Nachman’s Tziyon in Uman. And they reported back that despite
the nightly curfews throughout Ukraine, Uman was bursting at
the seams with people.
Somehow, the place got a reputation for being a ‘miracle shelter’

during the war, even among non-Jewish Ukrainians, many of
whom were flocking in droves to Uman’s now empty ‘Jewish hotels’.
287
The following quote sums up what was happening in Uman in

July 2022:
“On day 152 of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the hotels

in the heart of Uman’s Jewish district are full. Laughing
children run through the hallways, hot kosher food is
served three times a day under the strict watch of a
supervisor, and hundreds gather for Shabbat meals.
Most of these families enjoying challah and kugel, min-

utes from the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav are
not Jewish.”168
Uman had become a national center for Ukrainian refugees, and

during the fighting developed a reputation as one of the most secure
and stable cities in Ukraine - exactly as Rav Berland had promised.
But the media was still running one scare story after another,
apparently to keep as many Jews as possible away from Uman for
Rosh Hashana 5783. It’s said that the first casualty in any war is
the truth, and it was certainly hard for the average person to know
what to believe.
At the beginning of August 2023, Rav Berland made the following re-
marks, after a group of about 50 women loosely affiliated with Shuvu
Banim made it safely to Uman and back, travelling in from Poland.
He said:
168
https://www.timesofisrael.com/with-pilgrims-coming-umans-miracle-
refugee-shelters-will-be-forced-to-clear-out/
288
“Now fifty people returned from Uman, between the

missiles. Now in Vinnytsia, a hundred people were
killed. A missile fell forty minutes from Uman.
“Now is the moment that whoever makes it to Uman

brings the entire redemption. He brings Mashiach ben
David, Mashiach ben Yosef — both Messiahs.”169
And the truth was, that apart from the nightly curfew and a cou-
ple of Ukrainian soldiers manning a solitary checkpoint in the
middle of the road, there were hardly any other signs that Uman
was in a country at war with Russia.
Ukrainian airspace was still closed, but there were several other
options to enter Ukraine, including via Kishinev in Moldova, or
entering from Romania, or even on an all-night train from Poland.
And the Rav was regularly closing the evening prayers with the
remark that everyone should travel to Uman that night, and drop-
ping other hints that travel to Uman was both possible and safe.
On August 16, 2022, he said the following:
£In Mariopul, there was the most torture of Jews, so [the

Russians] destroyed it to its foundations after eighty
years. This was in 1942, and now it’s 2022. They de-
stroyed it to its foundations, the entire city. All the tor-
ture they did there to Jews, everything the Ukrainians
did. Now Hashem is uprooting their cities.
But [the Russians] won’t reach Uman.”
169
https://ravberland.com/the-trip-to-uman-brings-the-redemption-daily-
chizzuk-with-rabbi-eliezer-berland-shlita/
289
Just to be sure, the Rav called for a mass prayer rally at the Tomb
of the Patriarchs in Hevron, the night before Rosh Chodesh Elul
5782, (August 28, 2022) “for the success and salvation of the Jewish
people in Israel and around the world, and for the success of the
holy Rosh Hashana gathering and trip to Uman.
The Rav said:
“Everyone must be in Hevron! No one should be miss-

ing.... All the Jewish people must be there on Thursday
night! All sects and divisions, it makes no difference –
everyone is one man! Like a man with one heart, like
one man!”170
That Thursday night, dozens of buses from all over Israel brought
thousands of men, women, and children who had heeded the Rav’s
call to the Me’arat HaMachpelah in Hevron.
Rav Aharon Berkowitz led the communal recitation of the seven

Tikkun HaKlalis in front of a huge crowd of people gathered by
the ‘seventh step’ in Hebron.
As soon as the seven Tikkun Haklalis were completed, the Rav

appeared in Hevron, and made his way to the temporary stage set
up by the seventh step - where he immediately led the crowd in
reciting another set of seven Tikkun HaKlalis.
At the end of the gathering, the Rav said the following:
“All of those who merited to come to the gathering mer-

ited to the giving of the Torah, to the third Tablets, to
the new Tablets.... We are now in the Land of Israel,
170
https://ravberland.com/all-the-jewish-people-need-to-be-there-the-
complete-statement-of-r-berland-shlita-about-prayer-rally-in-hevron/
290
mamash, and are fulfilling the verse, ‘Come and in-

herit.’ We don’t need any weapons — we don’t need
anything, the moment that we go with the Tikkun
HaKlali.”
The Rav then concluded the prayer gathering by tell-

ing the crowd:
“We are asking everyone, already today, to register for

Uman, because the places are already running out.”171
As word spread that Uman was safe for Rosh Hashana 5783, and
thousands of people, predominantly from Israel, started mapping
their routes and buying their tickets for the kibbutz, the usual sto-
ries trying to scare the pilgrims away started flooding the Jewish
media again.
The day after the prayer gathering in Hevron, the Ukrainian Embassy
in Israel issued a statement saying the Ukraine “cannot guarantee
the security of pilgrims”, because of the ongoing war, and the mayor
of Uman and Ukraine’s Chief Rabbi echoed that message.172
171
https://ravberland.com/the-stirring-video-clip-from-the-hevron-
prayer-rally-rav-eliezer-berland-shlita/
172
ries/2119409/who-will-take-responsibility-ukraines-rabbi-moshe-
azman-warns-against-rosh-hashana-in-uman.html
291
But after ‘Covid 19’ and the cancelling of the Kibbutz two years
earlier, many people no longer believed the media, and preferred
to trust the assessment of the Breslov community in Uman, who
were telling travellers it was safe to come for Rosh Hashana.
But many people, especially those outside of Israel, were still wa-
vering, unsure who to believe. So on 11 Elul 5782 (September 7th,
2022), the Rav redoubled his call for as many men as possible to
travel to Uman for Rosh Hashana.
He said:
“Everyone is afraid to travel to Uman. There are no

wars – this doesn’t exist! There’s only Rabbenu, only
Rabbenu!
Everyone needs to buy a ticket to Uman. It doesn’t make

a difference – it’s possible to buy a ticket for Saturday
night and still manage to reach Uman [before Rosh
Hashanah]. If you leave Saturday night, you will man-
age to reach there. They already spoke to the police,
spoke to everyone to allow entrance to Uman, to not
delay, to allow us immediately to travel, even though
there is a curfew there and a war.
They spoke already with all the police, with all the army,
that when people reach the Ukrainian borders, they’ll
immediately let them through without delays. Within
six hours, they’ll reach Uman from Kishinev, within nine
hours they’ll reach there from Iasi Romania, and who-
ever travels from Warsaw will need to travel by train.
Whoever doesn’t manage by way of Iasi and Kishinev,

there will be a special train to Uman from Warsaw. By
292
train, this is twenty hours. They already spoke with the

train companies, spoke with everyone. Everything is
already ready.”
The Rav continued:
“The tickets are already almost gone, none. So you need

to get to Uman with the greatest speed without delays.
The last ones will need to come by train from Warsaw.
This is a twenty-hour trip until Uman, mamash.
We are saying now that the Tzaddik does everything.

You need to know that everything is just an illusion.
There are no wars. There’s nothing!!”173
That was reassuring to hear, because the media was continuing

to run its baseless scare stories, including ones suggesting that
Russia would deliberately target the pilgrims heading to Uman,
with rockets.174
173
https://ravberland.com/dont-fear-there-are-no-wars-only-rabbeinu-dai-
ly-chizzuk-by-rabbi-eliezer-berland-shlita/
174
ries/2123105/ukraine-warns-russia-will-purposely-direct-missiles-at-
uman-on-rosh-hashanah.html
293
Not for the first time, these stories turned out to be just more ‘fake
news’ - and increasingly, the public was getting wise to it. When
all was said and done, an incredible 29,000 people made the ar-
duous and taxing round trip to Uman for Rosh Hashana 5783, in
the middle of the ongoing war in Ukraine.175
But Rav Berland was not one of them. Even though the Rav had
received special permission from the Israeli courts to travel to
Uman for Rosh Hashana, his persecutors were not about to leave
him alone.
On September 24, 2023, news filtered back to Israel that the

Ukrainians had stopped the elderly tzaddik at the Romanian
border and refused to let him through.176 There were still a few
short days before Rosh Hashana, and the Rav’s entourage worked
around the clock to figure out why the Rav was being refused
entry.
Apparently, the Rav’s persecutors had paid a huge bribe for the Rav
to be placed on a ‘black list’, and had also forged articles pretend-
ing to be from the Rav that criticized the Ukrainian government’s
handling of the war.177
In the meantime, the Rav’s attendants were told it would require

a lot of time, effort, and money to get the Rav removed from the
blacklist. That meant he would otherwise be permanently banned
from entering Ukraine. - By that point, they were effectively out
of time for Rosh Hashana 5783.
175
https://allisrael.com/thousands-of-ultra-orthodox-jews-make-pilgrim-
age-to-ukraine-despite-the-ongoing-russian-war
176
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/flashes/587622
177
https://newsrnd.com/news/2022-09-24-after-receiving-special-permis-
sion-from-israel--berland-s-entry-to-the-uman-was-blocked---voila!-
news.Sy-2uRAh-o.html
294
Thousands of the Rav’s followers were already in Uman when

word reached them that this year, Rabbi Berland would not be
joining them after all, and was stuck alone in Romania, almost
without a minyan. Given the complicated and expensive travel
arrangements, it was not a simple matter to just go and join
the Rav - but that is exactly what tens of the Rav’s followers in
Uman did.
They got to Romania very shortly before Rosh Hashana began, and
the prayers were held in an empty hangar in the Iasi airport. The
local Jewish community had generously donated food for the high
holidays, but conditions were so basic there were no refrigerators
to store the food, most of which spoiled before it could be eaten.
Nevertheless - or perhaps, precisely because of the self-sacrifice

involved - Rosh Hashana with the Rav was accompanied with
tremendous spiritual light and holy fire. At the end of the chag, the
Rav announced that he’d still managed to perform all the spiritual
rectifications required.178
At that stage, nobody knew what sort of year 5783 was shaping up
to be. But with war still raging in Ukraine, Covid 19 still being
pushed, and severe political unrest in Israel and abroad, one thing
was clear: there was still a lot of spiritual work to do.
178
https://ravberland.com/the-rosh-hashanah-gathering-in-roma-
nia-with-rabbi-eliezer-berland-shlita/
295
The Heart of the World
W
hen you look at Rav Berland’s ongoing service of
Hashem, it’s hard to grasp that he’s an 85-year-old
man with just one kidney, a pacemaker, and a pleth-
ora of other serious health issues.
How could the Rav stand and pray with his kehilla for five and a
half hours on Hoshana Rabbah, 5783?179 Yet, that’s what happened.
Five days later, on the eve of Simchat Torah (October 24, 2023), the
Rav arrived at the giant sukkah on HaAyin Chet Road and started
praying minchah.
Then the Rav launched into maariv prayers for Simchat Torah
with singing, clapping, and jumping - and so he continued long
into the night, until Hakafot.180 Once the prayers were concluded,
the Rav began the Hakafot.
The Rav led the kehilla around the giant Sukkah, and then into the
streets of Jerusalem, next to Town Hall dancing with the Torah
scrolls more than two and a half hours: up and down HaAyin Chet
street three times then to the Russian Compound and, into the
middle of Kikar Safra, the main square bordered by the Jerusalem
179
https://ravberland.com/five-and-a-half-hours-of-prayer-on-hoshana-
rabbah-with-rabbi-eliezer-berland-shlita/
180
https://ravberland.com/simchat-torah-with-rabbi-eliezer-berland-shlita/
296
City Hall buildings. The Rav did the fifth hakafa there, surrounded
by more than a 1,000 people....
Then the Rav returned to the sukkah, singing and dancing, com-
pleted the last hakafot, and began the Torah reading. Before the
crowd dispersed, the Rav announced that the morning prayers
would be in the sukkah at 5:00 am.
It was hard to keep up with the Rav. The way the Rav continued
to exert himself to fulfil the mitzvot; the energy he put into the
prayers and the dancing; the self-sacrifice he demonstrated time
and time again, the determination to pray with the community
for long hours at a time, ever day—it was so easy to forget that
physically, the Rav was very weak, and dealing with a complicated
medical situation, a mirror of the danger threatening the Jewish
People.
Around Pesach time, one of the Rav’s attendants put out a message:
“The Rav says we are in a very serious situation. [On

April 9th, 2023], two weeks ago, the Rav said that
Hizbollah wants to destroy Eretz Yisrael, and all the
nations around us are vowing to destroy us!
“I am sharing this information with you to provide

chizzuk, not to create panic, chas veshalom.The Rav...
is protecting us, by self-sacrifice, taking upon himself
pain and suffering, to protect us. We should know what
the Rav is going through, and what he is working on.
297
On Erev Pesach the Rav’s pacemaker stopped working.

It was originally installed in Holland. For an 85-year-
old, this was a very complex procedure. The doctors
wanted the Rav in the hospital for two weeks, but the
Rav insisted on returning home to his community. We
know there is no such thing as the Rav resting.”
The Attendant continued:
“Two tzaddikim went to the grave of Shimon HaTzaddik

to pray for the Rav, and two terrorists from Gaza got
permission to visit Jerusalem because it was their hol-
iday of Ramadan. These two terrorists shot at the two
Tzaddikim at point-blank range. The gun jammed in
one incident. Both Tzaddikim were shot and in hospi-
tal; one was scratched by a bullet. The other Tzaddik
got surgery and is alive and recovering.
The attendant then mentioned someone in the Shuvu

Banim community who had just passed away from
cancer, leaving five orphans, and then continued:
Some big Tzaddikim are giving up their lives to ensure

that the Rav continues to live... We must continue to
daven the prayer that the Rav should live! Continue to
say as many Tikkun HaKlalis as possible! That we have
made it through Ramadan like this is a miracle - but
these next three months are crucial.
During the period of counting the omer, there is din and

judgment anyway.... Everyone is suffering.... The next
three months — Nissan, Iyar, and Sivan - are each very
crucial for Am Yisrael.
298
The heart of the physical world is Jerusalem. And the

heart of Jerusalem is the Tzaddik.2
As the new year, 5783 got started, it seemed that ‘the

heart of world’ was once again going to come under
serious attack.
299
The Time has Come
for Ben Gvir
“We want Melech HaMoshiach. Baruch Hashem, Bibi was elected,

but we wanted Melech HaMoshiach to be elected. After this kind
of atzeret, we were sure that Melech HaMoshiach would come, but
Bibi was chosen instead of Melech HaMoshiach.”
- Rav Berland, speaking after the prayer gathering in Hevron,
April 8th, 2019.181
S
hortly after the High Holidays, Israel found itself going
back to the polls again, for the fifth time in two years, on
November 1, 2022. Unsurprisingly, many people felt apa-
thetic about voting for anyone because every political party had
shown itself to be full of corruption, graft, and incompetence,
regardless of who happened to sit in the PM’s chair.
And if that was true for the general population, it was even truer
for Rav Berland and Shuvu Banim, still being persecuted by the
State of Israel, no matter who held the Knesset majority. So, it
came as a surprise when the Rav made some strong statements
about getting out to vote.
181
https://ravberland.com/photo-gallery-prayer-gathering-in-hevron/
300
In the days leading up to the ballot, the Rav compared the elec-
tions to a battle over life and death182:
“On Tuesday, everyone goes to vote! Even though there

are many ballot slips of ‘Emet’ [the ballot symbol of the
leftist “Labor” party], no one should vote for ‘Emet’ – no
way! Even if it’s written ‘Emet,’ (‘truth’) we don’t vote
for ‘Emet.’ Only Gimel (i.e. United Torah Judaism)!
Everyone should vote Gimel, even if they say to you
what they will say to you.”
The Rav continued:
“Anyone who votes Gimel should merit to length

of years, because now they are going to fight a war
against the holy Torah, to uproot the Torah, to uproot
the Yeshivot, to uproot all religion from the country!
There are people here who have decided to uproot ev-
erything. They are saying this in public, and this is a
war, face-to-face.
These are not elections at all! This isn’t relevant to elec-

tions. All of those who are banning the elections have
no place in the World to Come, because this is a war
over life and death. Like they said that there won’t be
Hitler. Everyone said that there won’t be Hitler. In the
end, there was Hitler....
All of these are reincarnations of Hitler, and now this is

a war over life and death… And if not, then all the chil-
dren will be secular within a year! The goal is to turn
the children secular. Lots of children are abandoning
182
https://ravberland.com/this-is-war-over-life-and-death-whoever-votes-
gimel-should-merit-to-long-life-r-eliezer-berland-shlita/
301
Judaism, they are on the way to abandoning it. The

moment that there will a government with the same
people of today183, then everyone will be secular without
a doubt; all the children will lose their way.”
The Rav continued:
“Now, this a war over life and death! Once they would
fight with guns, today they fight with ballot slips! This is
a war in which whoever wins will live; whoever doesn’t
win, they’ll burn him alive.
Therefore, we’re requesting that everyone, at eight in

the morning, everyone will already be voting. At eight
in the morning, the Rav will already be at the elections,
will already be there at the voting station. Everyone, at
eight in the morning, should already be at the voting
station, and after this it’s possible to do what you want,
to travel to Uman, to travel to America, to travel to
Buenos Aires. But whoever doesn’t vote has no place in
the World to Come!”
These were very strong words, but with hindsight about the tur-
moil that was shortly about to engulf the country, when the very
ugly face of ‘the left’ came out of the shadows for all to see, we can
once again understand a little of the Rav’s ruach hakodesh.
183
I.e. the government of Yair Lapid, Naftali Bennett, Benny Gantz and
Avigdor Lieberman.
302
To make sure his followers had got the message, on the day of
the elections itself, Rav Berland put out another public message,
saying184:
“Everyone is obligated to go vote! Immediately in the

morning, immediately at seven in the morning, every-
one should be at the voting stations. So that they should
already see that the Agudah (Gimel) won, because the
only group that defends religion is only the Agudah.
We only want that there should be here Shabbat, that

there will be here yeshivot. The moment that they
will learn Torah here, the Arabs won’t bother us. And
whoever doesn’t vote, very simply he establishes the
government of wickedness. It doesn’t matter why he
doesn’t vote. Maybe, they didn’t accept his daughter to
the girl’s school, or perhaps they didn’t accept his son
to the yeshiva – this is convenient [reason] for him [not
to go and vote] …but then, he establishes with his own
hands a government that doesn’t want there to remain
anything of religion!”
The Rav continued:
“In order for there to be Gemara learning, we are ob-

ligated to vote Gimel! Their goal is to uproot all the
Yeshivot through all types of excuses, and via all types
of laws which they will decree…
Therefore, you need to know that today the war is with

ballot slips. Once the war was with bullets, with gun-
fire, with arrows, with spears. Then people decided that
184
https://ravberland.com/everyone-is-obligated-to-vote-gimel-the-holy-
call-of-rabbi-eliezer-berland-shlita/
303
instead of killing each other, it’s better to write ballot

slips, and whoever gets the most ballot slips will be the
king.
A person needs to know that this is more than Torah

law, because we today are in a situation of destruction.
Everyone said that there wouldn’t be Germany. All

the Rebbes said that there would not be Germany,
that Germany wouldn’t do anything, outside of Rabbi
Avraham Elimelech [of Karlin] and Rabbi Yechiel of
Ostrovtzah, who fasted forty years to cancel the decree.
And Rabbi Avraham Elimelech said that if they would
fast on Rosh Hashanah they would cancel the decree,
like they fasted on Seder night185.
He was here in Meron; he screamed. They heard his

screams in Tzfat. His assistant ran up to him with a
glass of boiling milk… This was a period when every-
one said that nothing would happen. Everyone was
complacent, everyone is complacent. Now the war is
the same war, that they want to make all the Land of
Israel “Red Haifa.186”
We need to emphasize that this entire State is the great-

est lie in the world, so today instead of arrows, they
fight with ballot slips. The Ballot Slips are the War!
These aren’t elections!...
We’re now in a situation in which in a little while,

there won’t remain… There are today iphones, and
cellphones, and the “liberated” say that today, they
185
During the time of the Purim Miracle.
186
I.e. atheist-communist.
304
don’t need to fight with the religious, just distribute

iphones to them – automatically they’ll become secular.
A person who has an iphone will be secular. Even if he
is religious, it’s from the lips and outwards. Every child
who saw an iphone is already religious from the lips
and outwards.
Therefore, we are saying that now this is a war over life

and death, and the only war is to put the Gimel slip in
the ballot box....
They want to uproot the Torah, and we want to live

the Torah, and this is the only war that’s being fought
for the sake of Torah. Every party, even if it’s religious,
has all types of goals on the side, all types of secondary
goals. The only party which is only Torah learning and
keeping Shabbat, and children’s education – they have
no other goal.
Anyone who votes Gimel saves the entire Jewish people

from spiritual and physical destruction!”187
At 8am on November 1st, Rav Berland arrived at the polling sta-

tion in Ramat Eshkol, and was publicly photographed voting for
Gimmel....Many of his followers held their nose, and with tremen-
dous emunat tzaddikim, went to do the same.
In the meantime, the really big winner of the election was Itamar
Ben Gvir, and his ‘Jewish Power’ party, who gained a lot of sup-
port with promises of being tough on gun crime, and sending 50
187
https://ravberland.com/everyone-is-obligated-to-vote-gimel-the-holy-
call-of-rabbi-eliezer-berland-shlita/
305
rockets over to Gaza for every one that was fired at Jews in Israel...
The whole country had been papered in posters for ‘Jewish Power’
proudly stating that: ‘The time has come for Ben Gvir’.
But time would quickly tell, if Ben Gvir really was the ‘political
messiah’ many people hoped he might be, and if his promises
were actually going to be kept. In the meantime, the new ‘right
wing’ government headed by that same old Benjamin Netanyahu
of the Likud was sworn into power on December 29, 2022 (Kislev
17, 5783).
That same day, which fell out during the week where we read
about the sale of Yosef HaTzaddik in Parshat Vayeshev, Rav Eliezer
Berland went to pray the morning prayers at Mitzpe Yosef, located
on Mount Gerizim, overlooking the grave of Yosef HaTzaddik,
who is buried below in the city of Shechem.
306
The Rav got to Mizpe Yosef in the early morning hours. First,
he spent some time doing hitbodedut facing the grave of Yosef
HaTzaddik, and only then, he began praying shacharit with tre-
mendous excitement and energy - and copious tears. The Rav’s
assistants were used to the intensity of his avodat Hashem, but
even they were blown away by the power and force of his prayers
that morning.
After the prayers, Rav Berland told his attendants that they had
now returned to the spot where more than 3,000 years earlier, the
Jewish people had stood to accept the Torah’s commandments, on
Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. The Rav then spoke about the
level of Har Bracha and said that all of the blessings and salvations
there are in the merit of Yosef HaTzaddik, who was buried at the
bottom of the mountain in Shechem.
Another name for ‘Mount Gerizim’ is ‘Har Bracha’ - or the

‘Mountain of Blessing.’ A few weeks later, ‘Har Bracha’ would
be hitting the headlines across Israel for all the wrong reasons.
Who knows, what the Rav was trying to sweeten that special
December day?
What is clear is that very soon after that day when the Rav prayed
on the ‘Mount of Blessings’ and the new ‘right wing’ government
was sworn in, Israel plunged into the worst period of civil unrest
and violence for over 30 years.
HASHEM IS WAITING FOR PEOPLE TO DO TESHUVA

“In every generation, Mashiach needs to arrive, and Hashem puts
this off. Hashem is waiting for people to return in teshuvah (re-
pentence) through choice. Hashem is waiting for the arousal below
307
and then Mashiach will come. If people don’t do teshuvah, then

Mashiach won’t come...
“A person who is a man of truth, they send arrows at him from all
directions, and the more you are a man of truth, so they send at
you more arrows, make more controversy about you, and speak
more evil gossip about you.
“Hezkiyahu was worthy of being Mashiach. Therefore, Sancheriv
came upon him with 2,600,000,000 soldiers to wage war on him....
The arrows were aimed at the man of truth, because the more
truth a person has, the more Hashem tests him to see if he’s going
to break, G-d forbid, or fall into despair - or whether he’s going to
strengthen himself with emuna.
“The more a person is a man of truth, the more they fight against
him....
“All the tragedies and holocausts come about because people see
that they’re persecuting the Tzaddik and everyone is silent. If they
would protest, there wouldn’t be tragedies. Everyone saw that they
were pursuing King David, and everyone was silent. David was
with 600 people only, with babies in their hands. They ran from
forest to forest, and from hill to hill. They didn’t have airplanes and
cars. They walked barefooted.
“And just as they persecuted David — that he needed to wander
about with 600 people and babies — the same thing is happening
today. Everyone who was there then is present until today. People
are born today, but thousands of years ago they were among the
pursuers of King David, or they didn’t protest. They allowed David
and his people to run barefooted with their babies in their hands.
Hashem doesn’t forgive.
“If they had clung to the Tzaddik at the time of the Holocaust and
said, “in the merit of the Tzaddik,” they would have sweetened all
the judgements. When they hold onto the Tzaddik, they sweeten
all judgements.
“The true Neturei Karta (Guardians of the City) are those who
are close to the Tzaddik. The Tzaddik guards everyone, the whole
world. The Tzaddik is the morning, he is the Yechidah, he is the
308
true light. He has 370 myriads of light. So have we found the

Tzaddik? People despair! But a person must say that he’s not going
despair and continue to search for the Tzaddik! It’s not enough just
to search for the Tzaddik [a little bit].
“You need to search more and more. And to wait! And to not to
be alarmed by the evil gossip. Just wait, until Hashem reveals the
true light.”
– Comments made by Rav Berland on December 20th, 2022.188
188
https://ravberland.com/hashem-doesnt-forgive-also-those-who-didnt-
protest-the-persecution-of-the-tzaddik-and-his-followers-rabbi-eliezer-
berland-shlita/
309
A Decree of Destruction
“‘AND DAVID WAS DANCING WITH ALL HIS MIGHT’”189.

The main thing is to dance with all one’s might. All his life, David
would only jump.
“Dancing with all his might” – people are not familiar with this
way of serving Hashem. Rabbenu came and brought back the
idea that there is a concept of dancing with all one’s might – with
dancing, and jumping, and singing...
“The Rebbe says that through dancing, a person gets his liveli-
hood, healing…
“The Rebbe says190 that the reason he’s not dancing is because
he has judgments upon him. The Rebbe says that the reason he
decides not to dance is only because he has judgments upon him.
He thinks that he’s smart, so he doesn’t dance, he doesn’t sing. He
sees that everyone is singing; he is smarter than everyone – No!
“You have harsh judgments upon you. Suddenly, the child gets
sick. Suddenly, the wife gets sick. And he doesn’t understand
why... The fact that you don’t dance is because you have judgments
on you. You don’t sing because you have judgments upon you.
And then the “messengers” to deliver those judgments come...
“Through dancing, we nullify all the decrees.191
– Comments from Rav Berland
189
Shmuel II, 6:14.
190
In Likutey Moharan I:169.
191
https://ravberland.com/without-song-the-prayer-doesnt-ascend-daily-
chizzuk-by-rabbi-eliezer-berland-shlita/
310
O
n the 23rd Tevet (January 16, 2023), Rav Eliezer Berland
celebrated his 85th birthday in style, together with the
Shuvu Banim community: straight after the evening
prayers, the band started to play in the courtyard down on Ido
HaNavi Street, and the Rav and the community danced to ‘ame-
liorate the judgements’ for an hour and a half.
Some of the Rav’s senior followers had asked him to write a ‘birth-
day prayer’ for the occasion, which hinted at some of the awesome
spiritual work Rav Berland had been sent down to do.
The prayer read:
Ribono Shel Olam — Master of the World, Who can

do everything, and nothing can impede [Your] purpose
from You, on 23 Tevet the soul of the Rav came down
to the world, on a mission from G-d.
That he should merit to return the entire world in te-

shuva — Jews and non-Jews, as it is written: “And the
311
earth shall be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as

water covers the seabed.”
And all flesh shall call in Your name, and You will be
recognised by all the wicked of the earth, all dwellers
of the earth, to know that every knee shall bend, and
every tongue shall swear only to You.
And that only You are G-d, because only the G-d of
Israel reigns and His kingship is through all the earth.192
After the morning prayers on January 28, 2023, Rav Berland told
the kehilla praying with him on Ido HaNavi Street that the Jewish
people were facing another decree of destruction, like what had
occurred during the holocaust.
He told how during World War II, the Admor of Husiatyn, Rav
Friedman, and Rav Yaakov Landau, the Chief Rabbi of Bnei Brak,
tried to stop the German army from invading Eretz Yisrael. The
Rav told the kehilla:
“Then they went to the grave of the holy Or HaChaim –

all the Chareidim went, all of them. Then on Shabbat,
the Germans encountered complications and didn’t
come to Israel, after everyone had screamed and cried
at the Or HaChaim. Whatever is requested at the Or
HaChaim – everything is fulfilled.”
192
You can download the original Hebrew version of the prayer here: https://
www.shuvubanimint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/%D7%A6-
%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9D-%D7%94%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%
93%D7%AA.pdf
312
Immediately after Rav Berland finished telling the story, he told

his followers to go and pray at the grave of the Or HaChaim - even
though the Rav usually follows the kabbalistic custom of visiting
the graves of tzaddikim in the middle of graveyards during the
week, and not on Shabbat or Yom Tov193.
Even though it was Shabbat, the Rav stressed: “Go today and on
the 16th – it’s possible to cancel the decrees, and everything that is
requested there is accepted.”
After hearing what Rav Berland said, a group of the Rav’s chassi-
dim, including R’ Meir Hamburger, immediately set out from the
Musrara neighborhood to the Mount of Olives cemetery, where
the Ohr HaChaim is buried.
R’ Hamburger said:
“We went in the direction of the grave of the Or

HaChaim, and we thought that on the way, we would
go via Kfar HaShiloh (Silwan), where the grave of Rabbi
Ovadia of Bartenura is located, and also pray there. In
the end, though, we decided to just get on with doing
what Rav Berland, shlit’a had said, and we continued
straight on to the Ohr HaChaim.
While we were there, we prayed a lot, and we sang the

Shabbat zemirot, known to have the power of cancelling
decrees. On the way back [to Musrara], we suddenly
heard loud gunfire, and then immediately afterwards,
193
This also applies to Uman Rosh Hashana, and Rebbe Nachman’s grave,
where the Rav and his community have the practise of not going to the
Tziyon itself during the days of Rosh Hashana, but only immediately
before and after the chag.
313
we heard ambulance sirens and saw a lot of security

personnel.
That’s when we understood that something serious had

just happened. So we decided to go back to the Ohr
HaChaim’s grave, and this time to pray even more.”
On the way back to Musrara for a second time, the Rav’s followers
went past the Dung Gate entrance to the Old City, which leads
directly up to the Kotel Plaza, and down past the ‘City of David’
historical site in the heart of Silwan. They saw that the police had
set up a roadblock there, and the Rav’s students asked what was
going on.
R’ Hamburger continues:
“Mamash at that moment, there had been a terror

attack there. An Arab terrorist had fired at a Jewish
family that was passing by, but miraculously, there was
a paratroops officer there on break, who managed to
neutralize the terrorist in a matter of a few seconds,
preventing a much more serious tragedy.
That’s when we understood why the Rav, shlit”a, had

specifically asked them pray at the Or HaChaim’s grave,
near the place of the terror attack, and specifically on
Shabbat Kodesh.”
R’ Hamburger concluded:
“When we got back from the Or HaChaim, we were sent

a message from Rav Berland, shlit”a, that in the merit
of our walking and prayers, not one person was killed.”
314
The terrorist, a 13-year-old resident of Silwan Village, had some-

how got hold of a semi-automatic machine gun, and walked up
the street in Silwan spraying bullets all over the place, before the
off-duty paratrooper shot him.
A father and son were still seriously injured in the attack, which
occurred on the same Shabbat as the Neve Yaakov atrocity, which
we’ll cover in more detail in a later chapter. But both survived.
And everyone knew things could have been much, much worse.
The new ‘Minister for National Security’, Itamar Ben-Gvir hap-

pened to be in Jerusalem when the twin shootings occurred that
Shabbat. When he arrived in Neve Yaakov shortly after the attack
there claimed seven lives, an angry crowd told him: “We loved
you, Itamar. We trusted you. This was on your watch.”194
But as the year wore on, it started to become more and more ob-
vious that the real and only ‘Jewish Power’ that could sweeten the
harsh decrees hanging over the nation was the ‘Jewish Power of
Prayer’, and nothing that any politician could promise or legislate.
100,000 Tikkun HaKlali’s to save the Jewish People
The following day, another of the Rav’s followers named R’ Chaim

Kohen got an opportunity to go in and speak with Rav Berland,
and he asked what the public could do to help the Rav and Am
Yisrael.
R’ Kohen said:
194
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-729860
315
“Our Rebbe, Rav Berland shlit”a asked me to turn to

the public and request that they should say 100,000
Tikkun HaKlalis, to mitigate the decree of destruction.”
Shortly after that meeting with R’ Kohen, the Rav released a re-
cording where he said:
By the 13th of the month of Adar, we must finish 100,000

Tikkun HaKlali’s! By 13 Adar, we must finish in or-
der to cancel decrees, because now there is a decree of
destruction.
There is a decree to annihilate all the Jewish people.

All the nations have joined this decree like in the time
of the Nazis, 90 years from the Shoah. Now there is a
new decree to annihilate the entire Jewish people, and
that all the nations will conquer the Jewish people and
annihilate this people completely!
Therefore, we need to finish 100,000 Tikkun HaKlali’s

by 13 Adar, and the Rav will join also.
Shuvu Banim swung into action, and the ‘prayer operation’ was
given top priority, with many hundreds of people signing up to
say the necessary Tikkun Haklalis by the Fast of Esther, 5783
(March 6th, 2023).
The Rav put out another brief note, published in the ‘Orot
HaTzovot’ newsletter for the women of Shuvu Banim, that said
the following:
“To the talmidot of Rabbeinu.
316
Be strong and courageous – in the merit of the Tikkun

HaKlali that you said, the complete redemption will
come. Hashem is One, and Mashiach (358) ben (52)
David (24) (=435) will come, and there will be the
complete redemption in the blink (305) of an eye (130)
(=435).
Eliezer Berland”
But at this stage, no-one was quite sure what form these decrees of
destruction were supposed to take. From the moment the ‘Right
Wing Government’ had been elected, the State of Israel was rocked
by one act of Palestinian terror after another.
Then, there was the terrible ‘almost civil war’, superficially blamed
on the government’s plans for Judicial Reform, that had already
begun its program of paralyzing, convulsing and dividing the
country, in myriad poisonous ways.
And there were even a few more rockets thrown in from Gaza,
and a strange terrorist attack near Megiddo that the security
forces were blaming on a Hezbolla operative, who apparently got
through the border fence with Lebanon completely undetected,
and then drove two hours down to Megiddo before detonating a
device that injured an Arab teen.
Back at the beginning of February 2023, there were so many dif-

ferent types of ‘decrees of destruction’ on the table, it was hard to
know what the Rav was really warning about. But then, something
happened that brought a great deal more clarity to the picture, and
once again underlined Rav Berland’s tremendous ruach hakodesh.
317
On 6 February 2023, at 4.17am in the morning, the South of

Turkey and the North of Syria were hit by a massive earthquake
measuring 7.8 on the Richter Scale. Barely nine hours later, at 1:24
in the afternoon, a second earthquake measuring 7.7 hit, with its
epicenter 95 km further North than the original quake.
It was the second biggest quake to hit the area of modern Turkey
in recorded history, and its effects were immediate - and devas-
tating. Around 1.5 million Turkish citizens were left homeless,
with around 60,000 people killed by the quakes, between Turkey
and Syria.
Over the following weeks, there were more than 10,000 after-
shocks felt throughout the region - and the media in Israel was
full of headlines warning the country that there was a significant
chance that Israel could also be hit with a serious quake, over the
coming days.
Far more worryingly, that warning was being echoed by some

big Tzaddikim - including Rav Berland himself, who hinted that
another big earthquake was headed for Israel around Purim 5783.
Unless it could be sweetened.
318
For reasons that are still not entirely clear, 12 days after Rav
Berland first called for the public to come together and recite
100,000 Tikkun Haklalis, and three days after the massive earth-
quake hit Turkey and Syria, the Rav suddenly called the whole
‘prayer operation’ off.
Already, 40,000 Tikkun Haklalis had been said, and more and
more people were registering on the Breslov hotlines as word
spread around Israel and across the world. But then, the Rav pub-
licized the following message:
“It is written in Pirkey D’Rabbi Eliezer, chapter 28, that

for another 189 years, until [the year] 5972, 28 years
before the end of the 6th millennium – there will not be
any disasters here.
319
Because he who said that we stand before a new disas-

ter – there will be no disaster here.
What happened in Turkey isn’t relevant to us. This

isn’t relevant to the Land of Israel, not relevant to
Jerusalem – Jerusalem is shielded.
The kings of the world did not believe, nor did any of
the world’s inhabitants, that an oppressor and enemy
would come to the gates of Jerusalem” (Eicha 4:12) –
there is no threat to Jerusalem and no threat to the
Land of Israel, and it’s not necessary to say 100,000
Tikkun HaKlali’s.
It’s enough to say one Tikkun HaKlali a day. Someone

who wants to can say 2, 3, not more than 3. One doesn’t
need to say more than 3 Tikkun HaKlali’s.
There won’t be any disaster, and in the merit of the

dancing, as in the exodus from Egypt, through dancing
[there was the redemption, so too] there will be the com-
plete redemption, speedily in our days, Amen.”
No-one could understand why the Rav had pulled the plug on the
prayer operation half-way through, especially as prayers are never
wasted and can always be put to good use, spiritually, in a million
different ways.
One possible explanation was put forward in reference to a passage

in Likutey Halachot, which explains:
320
“The main [aspect] of prayer is mercy and supplica-

tions, and mercy is dependent on knowledge… and
when the Other Side draws sustenance from merciful-
ness, then the mercifulness is corrupted and turns into
cruelty, and knowledge is blemished… and then the
prayer is in an aspect of judgement… and the Other
Side draws sustenance from it.”
The idea is that sometimes, specifically these types of prayer can

arouse the harsh judgement itself, particularly if they lead to peo-
ple experiencing depression and despair about the difficult situa-
tion they are facing.
Whatever was going on behind the scenes, the Rav’s son R’

Nachman Berland made it clear that his father had begun the
prayer operation specifically to sweeten the earthquakes.
They’d been ‘intended’ for Israel, and a great miracle occurred and
Eretz Yisrael had been spared.
Here’s what one of the seismologists said, in the aftermath of the

terrible disaster in Turkey:
“The earthquakes could have ended for us in a very

grave disaster and claimed many victims, because it
was classified at level 8 on the Richter scale, and as
known, Israel is found mamash on the Syrian-African
Depression.
According to all the laws of physics and nature, the

chances of a disaster in Israel were very high. The scien-
tists are dumbfounded: how can it be that we in Israel
321
were spared against all the laws of nature? There was

higher providence here.”195
Even so, the Jewish people weren’t out of the woods just yet. A few
days after the Rav cancelled the public ‘prayer operation’, word
went around the Shuvu Banim community that Rav Berland was
now asking for 1000 people who would take upon themselves the
task of completing 100 Tikkun Haklalis before Adar 13 - the Fast
of Esther.
At the same time, several earthquake experts, including the alter-

native earthquake forecaster Michael Yanitch, aka ‘Dutchsinse’,
were expecting another 7+ earthquake to hit the region of the
Levant precisely around March 6, 2023 - the Fast of Esther.
In the end, more than 2,000 people signed up to recite 100 Tikkun
Haklalis within the required period - and the second looming
earthquake on the horizon somehow disappeared.
On the 2nd of Adar (February 23, 2023), the Rav said the following
after the prayers with the community on Ido HaNavi Street:
“The Rambam says that it’s permitted for the non-

Jews to build a Beit Mikdash (temple) – but for us, it’s
forbidden. For us, we have just one Beit HaMikdash
in Jerusalem, and we have to wait until Avraham,
Yitzchak and Yaakov come, and blow the shofar.
195
https://ravberland.com/how-the-tzaddik-cancels-the-degree-of-de-
struction-and-puts-off-disaster-for-another-189-years/
322
And then, there will be an earthquake, like there was

in Turkey. There will be an earthquake, and all the
mosques will collapse into the ground.
For us, it’s forbidden to destroy them. Therefore, there

are earthquakes there every day. The day before yes-
terday, another 10 people died because of an earth-
quake. So now, every week there is an earthquake, but
when the final earthquake [strikes] all the mosques and
churches will fall.
We can’t do anything to them. It’s forbidden for us to

destroy them.”196
Shortly before Ta’anit Esther, the Rav put out another public state-
ment, saying:
“There was a decree that the Jewish nation would be

destroyed within 5 minutes. But it got canceled and
now we will merit the light of Moshiach this Purim.”
A little while later, earthquake forecaster Dutchsinse posted up a

video with the following description:
“Turkey was not struck (yet), and was a miss for me

in my forecasting, as I explain in detail in this video,
where I got it wrong, what I think I missed, and all
other relevant details.”197
Apparently, the 7+ earthquake destined for Israel and the Middle

East struck far south instead, in the oceans around New Zealand.
196
Translated from the Shivivei Or Newsletter, 303.
197
https://youtu.be/GPZPkwkyRtg
323
Purim 5783 was a joyous time down on Ido HaNavi. The Rav came
out on the balcony at 7:43pm to pray the evening prayers on the
eve of Shushan Purim, and spent the first half an hour just singing
“Ve’Tosef Esther V’Tedaber…”
A massive crowd of more than 2,000 people were squashed into

the courtyard down by the Rav’s building, and then spent the
next three and a half hours with him. Some of that time was
spent reading the Megillah, but the Rav then spent another hour
singing, dancing - and even jumping up and down, together with
the community.198
At 4.47am the next day, the Rav was back out on his balcony
and immediately began leading the crowd in reciting the Tikkun
Chatzot, or Midnight Lamentations, before spending the next 3-4
hours praying, then again reading the Megillah.199
As usual, it was hard to keep up with the Rav. But also as usual,
the ‘heart of the world’ was working overtime to keep sweetening
the harsh judgements that just kept piling up higher and higher.
And the Rav still had a lot to do.
198
The Rav sang “Shoshanat Yaakov” for ten minutes, and then “Ata
Kadosh,” singing “Hu Yiftach” together with the community for another
50 minutes.
199
Remembered and Celebrated – Review of Purim Holiday with R’ Eliezer
Berland Shlit”a : Shuvu Banim
324
325
Blood Brothers
THE STUDENTS OF RABBI AKIVA DIED BECAUSE THEY

DIDN’T TREAT EACH OTHER WITH RESPECT.
For the prayers to be accepted, a person needs to always see that
he’s submitting to the other person.
If a person doesn’t give in to the other person, if there is some sort
of ‘separation’, so then immediately the prayers can’t be accepted.
This is what Haman said to Achashverosh, that you need to sep-
arate Am Yisrael, only if they are scattered and dispersed - when
they are separated, even if they will yell out their prayers, their
prayers won’t be accepted.
So, Esther said: “Go and gather all the Jews together.” A gather-
ing - there needs to be a ‘gathering’ of achdus (togetherness), to
be together.
The First Temple was destroyed because of avoda zara and be-
cause of bloodshed. But the Second Temple was destroyed after
420 years, despite the fact that they were learning Torah, and
everything was okay - because there was sinat chinam (hatred
with no cause).
Where there is sinat chinam, there is nothing worse than this.
We need to increase our ahavat chinam (love without cause). The
explanation of what ahavat chinam is, is that you don’t slander
anyone, and that a person always needs to feel totally nullified to
every other Jew.
– From the Rav’s shiurim, Yeldei HaTzaddik Newsletter 66.
326
On October 13, 2022, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East

Jerusalem, Ben-Gvir took part in the clashes between Israeli Jewish
settlers and the local Palestinian residents, brandishing a gun, tell-
ing the police to shoot at Palestinians throwing stones at the scene,
and yelling at them that “We’re the landlords here, remember that
I am your landlord.”
This was a message that was later repeated by him in a tweet on the
morning after the 2022 election in his victory tweet. - Wikipedia
entry for Itamar Ben-Gvir200
O
n the morning of November 23rd, 2022,16-year-old
Aryeh Schupak, a Canadian yeshiva student whose par-
ents had made aliyah to the Jerusalem neighborhood
of Har Nof, was sitting at the popular trempiada, or hitchhiking
spot, located next to the main entrance into the holy city, waiting
for the bus that would take him to school.
Shortly after he arrived at the bus stop, something that was ru-
mored to be an electric bike chained to the railings exploded,
killing Aryeh. At almost the same time, another device, also ru-
mored to be an electric bike, was detonated at a bus stop in the pre-
dominantly chareidi neighborhood of Ramot. Apart fron Aryeh
Schupak, the twin blasts injured another 22 people.
Strangely, security forces initially claimed they had no footage of

the attack, despite the thousands of brand-new AI ‘facial recogni-
tion’ cameras the municipality had set up all over the city - with
a particular focus on bus stops and bus lanes.
200
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itamar_Ben-Gvir
327
Even more strangely, the following day a group calling themselves

‘Moses Staff’, who the establishment claimed were ‘Iranian hack-
ers’, released footage from the attack that the State insisted just
didn’t exist.201
A few hours after this strange terror attack, an anonymous ‘senior

official’ with the incoming Likud released a statement urging the
other parties on the ‘right wing’ slate to bury their differences
over which ministerial portfolio should go to who, and to ‘come
together’, in order to fight terror.202
Coincidentally, the bombing occurred just as coaltion talks be-

tween Netanyahu, Otzma HaYehudit, Beit HaYehudi, Noam and
the chareidi parties were getting seriously stuck, and apparently
201
https://vinnews.com/2022/11/24/police-claim-security-cams-at-jerusa-
lem-entrance-not-working-iranian-hackers-show-bombing/
202
https://www.timesofisrael.com/likud-right-wing-allies-cite-bombings-
to-inject-new-urgency-into-coalition-talks/
328
provided the necessary impetus for the talks to get ‘unstuck’, and
an agreement to be reached by the various coalition partners.
While the Schupaks sat shiva for their son, and residents of
Jerusalem puzzled over how a lone terrorist could have trans-
ported two bombs to two different bus stops and then detonate
them at the same time - all by himself, while nobody noticed -
Netanyahu and the Likud inked the agreement that was going to
put them back into power again.
Perhaps no-one understood it then, but it was going to be a reign

of ‘terror’.
Barely two months later, a terrorist armed with just a single hand-
gun showed up in the Jerusalem suburb of Neve Yaakov shortly
after Shabbat began on the eve of January 27.203
The terrorist managed to kill seven people204 in a shooting attack

that lasted for 20 minutes, before the police showed up and fi-
nally neutralized him. Distraught residents complained that they
couldn’t understand why it had taken the police - who had a big
police station located barely a minute away from where the attack
occurred - more than ten minutes to respond to their calls.205
203
https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/app/uploads/2023/02/E_021-23.pdf
204
Those murdered that day were Eli Mizrahi and his wife Natalie Ziskin
Mizrahi, Raphael Ben Eliyahu, Asher Natan Morli (14 years old), Shaul
Shay, Irina Korolova and Ilya Shoshansky, z’l.
205
329
Shortly after the murders in Neve Yaakov, that’s when one of Rav
Berland’s attendants released that message saying:
“The Rav says that they want to destroy Am Yisrael. So

we must finish together 100,000 Tikkun Haklalis before
the 13th of Adar.”
This was just ahead of the terrible earthquake that was being
‘aimed’ at Israel, but which hit Turkey instead.
With hindsight, it seems that the victims of all the terrible attacks
in Israel who were dying al kiddush Hashem were a kaparot l’evan-
yot, an atonement, for the nation’s sins. But that didn’t make the
bitter pill much easier to swallow.
Two weeks later, on February 10th, 2023, Alter Shlomo Lederman,

and the two young brothers Yaakov and Asher Paley, were killed
when a Palestinian ran them over at a bus stop in the Jerusalem
suburb of Ramot. That same week Sergeant Asil Suad was
330
murdered at the Shuafat checkpoint, by the Northern entrance

to Jerusalem.
That same ‘right wing government’, who had made so many prom-
ises to the electorate about being tough on terror, and tough on
terrorists, sat on its hands and did nothing. But there was still
worse to come.
On February 26th, 2023, two brothers from Har Bracha were driv-
ing on Route 60, the main road through the Shomron, when they
passed through the Arab town of Huwara. For years, Jewish res-
idents of the Shomron had been calling on the government to
build a bypass road for Huwara, because of the countless attacks
occurring there against Jews.
The work was meant to have begun on that bypass road two years
earlier - but Meirav Michaeli, the transport minister under Yair
Lapid and Naftali Bennett, cancelled it. She reportedly said that
it was a shame to spend money on an area that wouldn’t be part
of Israel for much longer.
On that fateful day, a terrorist first deliberately drove his car at the
Yaniv’s causing an accident on the main road through Huwara -
then got out and shot Hillel and Yigal Yaniv dead, at point blank
range.
The day after, an expat American citizen who’d made aliya to

Israel, Ilan Ganels, was murdered in the Jordan valley.
Again, the ‘right wing government’ did nothing much, and the cit-
izens of the Shomron started to feel a mounting desperation, that
331
nothing had changed under this new, ‘right wing government’ -

and that in many ways, things just seemed to be getting worse.
As the frustration and fear increased, some of the Jewish residents

from the Shomron decided to take matters into their own hands,
by setting fire to a bunch of garbage bins and old cars in Huwara.
Strangely, the IDF, who have a base right next to the Northern
entrance of Huwara, again went AWOL for an hour, as the settlers
approached en masse.
To the careful observer, it appeared that they had orders to let the
distraught Jews burn as many things as they could, without being
disturbed. When the inevitable violent clashes with the Arabs
started up, the army showed up at that point, and started shooting
and arresting people.
The government-controlled media in Israel - and then later, around

the world - claimed that a Jewish ‘pogrom’ had just occurred in
Huwara. They claimed the settlers had set multiple buildings on
fire, and even killed an Arab resident.
All of this was untrue. The Arab had been shot dead by the IDF
itself, in the town of Za’atar, not Huwara, in the course of violently
attacking some soldiers. And no buildings had been burnt down
by the Jews, just a junk yard of old, abandoned vehicles. But since
when did the facts really matter, when the press could run more
defamatory stories about ‘violent Jewish settlers’ and ‘fanatical
religious Jews’?
In the meantime, the terror continued unabated, both in Huwara

and elsewhere in the country. On March 9th, 2023, terror came to
Tel Aviv, when three people were shot as they sat outside at a cafe
332
on Dizengoff Street. One of the wounded, Or Eshkar, later died

of his injuries.
On March 19th, 2023, a former US marine who’d been living in

Itamar for years was shot while driving the Route 60 road through
Huwara, together with his wife and children. Many miracles oc-
curred that day. Despite being shot in the head at point blank
range, the former marine was released from hospital just three
days later, after surgery.
Also in March, Huwara was still in the news for all the wrong
reasons, when two IDF soldiers who were manning the checkpoint
to keep Route 60 secure for drivers were themselves injured, one
seriously, in a drive-by shooting.
Less than a month later, on April 7th, 2023, in the middle of the
Pesach holiday, two British-born sisters, Maya and Rina Dee, with
their mother Lucy, were met with a hail of bullets as they drove
the Route 90 through the Jordan Valley. Again, it took police 20
minutes to show up - by which time, Maya and Rina were dead.
Lucy died of her injuries two days later.
And what of the terrorists? Again, they seemed to magically melt

away, with the security forces initially claiming they couldn’t find
them for several days, after they’d escaped back to the Palestinian-
Authority controlled city of Jericho.
Later that same day, April 7th, another Palestinian terrorist drove
his car at high speed down the beach promenade in Tel Aviv, in-
juring five people - including Alessandro Parini, an Italian lawyer
who’d come to Israel on vacation, before being run over by the
terrorist, then shot dead.
333
There were so many siblings being murdered together, by the

enemies of the Jewish people, at exactly the same time that the
country was being convulsed by the ‘wars of the Jews’. A lot of
people started making the links themselves, between all the strife
within, and the terror attacks without.
That point was made even starker, when yet another pair of
young siblings lost their lives when their car was caught up in a
flash flood on Route 90, down to Eilat, on the penultimate day of
Pesach, 5783.
As the enemies of the Jewish people continued to circle both

within and without Israel’s borders, the message that we were all
just one nation was being emphasized and underlined again and
again with the blood of the brothers, and all the other Jews, who
were being killed in such awful ways.
But as the arguments and confrontations continued to rage, and

as the chaos and demonstrations continued, and the warnings
about Israel facing a war on all fronts started to mount, it started
to feel as though only a miracle could get Am Yisrael through the
coming weeks in one piece.
And there was still the Muslim festival of Ramadan to get through
when the stressful relationship between the Jews and Muslims in
Israel traditionally tensed even tighter.
334
Around this time, on March 26, 2023, one of the Rav’s senior
followers, Rabbi Shlomo Elmeliach206, was interviewed for Shuvu
Banim’s weekly Webinar for English speakers, and told the group
that the coming of the Moshiach was being delayed, to prevent
significant loss of life.
Rav Elmeliach said:
“The security situation in Israel is very dangerous, as

this is the month of Ramadan, and the Arabs want to at-
tack Israel from all directions: Hezbollah from Lebanon
and Syria, and Hamas and Islamic Jihad from Gaza.
The left-wing liberal pilots are refusing to fly their

planes, and soldiers are refusing to do Reserve Duty
and mobilize in the event of a war emergency.”
And the violent protests against honestly-elected government

were continuing too, with many leftists proudly sported stickers
on the cars stating: “Democracy doesn’t end at the ballot box.”
There was so much din in the air, so many harsh judgements

that needed sweetening. And so around this time, nobody was
surprised when we heard the hard tidings that once again, the
Rav had been taken seriously unwell, and had been readmitted
to the hospital.
206
Rav Elmeliach’s brother Asher Elmeliach was the guard at the Jerusalem
Central Bus Station who nearly died, when a terrorist stabbed him in
the heart. His life was miraculously saved by a pidyon nefesh with Rav
Berland, in a story that was widely publicized across Israel.
335
On April 16, 2023, a prayer rally was called for 5pm at the Kotel,
to bring as many people together as possible to pray for the Rav’s
speedy recovery. Ahead of the prayer gathering, the Rav’s atten-
dant and grandson R’ Dov Zucker gave an update about what was
going on207.
R’ Zucker said:
“The blood tests came back, which showed that the

Rav’s medical situation requires treatment and moni-
toring in the hospital. So over the last day, he has stayed
in the hospital, to stabilize the indicators.
“With God’s help, his rates stabilized, and after consent

of the doctors and according to the request of our Rebbe
the Rav, shlit”a, he returned to his home for Shabbat
Kodesh.”
R’ Zucker continued:
“But he will not come out to the community for the

Shabbat prayers, because he needs a great deal of rest.
On the night of Bedikat Chametz, the Rav went through
minor surgery to replace a pacemaker. Then he sacri-
ficed himself for the community, to come out for every
single prayer, and he also didn’t even skip the mitzvah
of Aliyah L’Regel208. And all this exertion brought about
a rise in his [health] indicators and led to the present
situation.
“We want to arouse the public to continue to prayer

continuously for our Rebbe the Rav, shlit”a, by saying
207
https://ravberland.com/prayer-rally-for-rav-berland-today-at-kotel/
208
I.e. going to the Kotel during Passover.
336
“Refa’einu” 209 or by saying three Tikkun HaKlalis, as

our Rebbe the Rav, shlit”a, instructed, so that we may
merit that he will remain with us healthy and complete
until the coming of the righteous Redeemer, speedily in
our days, Amen.”
It’s known that the prayers that are said for the Rav are really just
said for us - to sweeten the harsh judgments, to stop the wars
with our enemies without, the arguments with our brothers and
neighbors within, to end all the divorces, and health issues, and
all types of other suffering.
As the period of Counting the Omer began for the year 5783,
the State of Israel was in utter turmoil, and people were walking
around feeling tense, anxious - and scared for what the future
held, on so many levels.
At the beginning of May 2023, another of the Rav’s attendants

explained:
“The Tzaddik of the Generation has the power to cancel

negative decrees but ONLY IF the people connect to him.
More than 2 weeks ago, the Rav was saying “We are in
a very serious situation!” — Hezbollah has plans (and
he gave a date) to wipe out all of Eretz Israel.The Rav
asked us WHY are these things happening - and how
are they being stopped? Then he explained that it’s be-
cause the Shimon bar Yochai, the Baal Shem Tov and
Rebbe Nachman of the Generation, has been cancelling
209
The traditional prayer for healing that is part of the Amidah.
337
all these decrees. Singing with the tzibur has the power
to cancel the harsh decrees!”
“Recently, Hezbollah fired 60 rockets into Israel from

Lebanon... They have rockets and missiles aimed at
every inch of Israel and we know that they can fire off
many times more than 60. The government has con-
cealed this information. Hezbollah has a plan of de-
struction and at any moment, they can fire thousands
of rockets all at once. Hamas and Islamic Jihad can do
the same.
According to a recent interview with a Major General,

a former national security advisor, the terrorist or-
ganizations and the Arabs can very, very easily wipe
Israel of the map. We are not prepared for this!! It’s not
“maybe” it will happen, but “WHEN” it will happen.
They are just waiting for the right moment for it to
happen, chas v’shalom...”
The Rav is also fighting to remove the din on Ukraine,

which was due to be conquered by Russia. Nothing
was due to be left standing except for the Tzion and
surrounding buildings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov in
Uman! The Rav suffered during last Rosh Hashanah,
because he was stuck in Romania - but that still pre-
vented the destruction of Ukraine....The Rav is fighting
to stop the war and remove the din from the Ukrainians
and Russians.”
The attendant concluded it was not an accident that the main

Shuvu Banim yeshiva was located in the Muslim Quarter of the
338
Old City, literally adjacent to Har Habayit, with a stunning view

of it.
“Jerusalem is literally the heart of the world,” he said.

“And the Tzaddik is the heart of Jerusalem. His suffering
is reducing the judgment that’s resting upon all of us.”
339
The Wars of the Jews
They had here now on the television all the time ‘bombardments’
from the Leftist government, the government of kefira (heresy), that
just wanted to bring more terrorist attacks, to drive away the Jews.
They wanted to erase the name of ‘the Jews’ from the world, that
there ‘shouldn’t remain a trace of Israel’.
So, they were doing programs every day against brit milah - every
day! What is this, to take children eight days old and to chop them?!
Chop him when he’s 18 or 20! (I know that by then, he’s going to
be totally secular)...
In any case, they were doing this sort of awful, intimidating propa-
ganda. There was Aaron Baumel here, and he said, now I’m going
on TV to talk in favor of the brit milah - he wanted me to tell him
a few words.
I thought they’d already stopped... [all the propaganda against
circumcisions...]
Now, they already stopped. They can’t continue. Now, there’s
already a dati (religious) government, and they are going out of
their minds. At the end of the day, they just want to change one
judge, that’s what they want to change. There was Aharon Barak
here, who made a dictatorship here.
He ruled over the land and put all of the rabbis in prison. They also
put me in jail, everyone....
This was all one co-ordinated action, to fabricate shtuyot (non-
sense), to make up stories about everyone.
340
So, they want to change a judge, this is what they want to do, and
not more than this. They are still ruling here, even today.
– Excerpt of a shiur given by Rav Eliezer Berland,
the last week of April 2023.
A
t the beginning of January 2023, the State of Israel’s 37th
government began passing a series of bills in the Knesset,
related to reforming the country’s judiciary.
Within days, a number of protests against the ‘right-wing govern-

ment’s’ judicial reform sprang up across the country. On January
7th, 2023, around 20,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv’s Habima
Square. A week later, the second demonstration had quadrupled
to around 80,000 people, with separate protests also taking place
in Haifa and Jerusalem.
By January 21st, 2023, over 100,000 demonstrators showed up on

Kaplan Street in the heart of Tel Aviv, and the number of pro-
tests around the country started to mushroom, albeit with much
smaller crowds.
Israel is no stranger to protests, and during the last couple of

years, before, during and after the main Covid ‘lockdowns’, reg-
ular demonstrations were being held every Saturday night outside
the Prime Minister’s official residence in Jerusalem. It became
a social fixture, and the highlight of the week, for many of the
people attending.
The protests against Netanyahu stopped for the year and a half of
the ‘Unity Government’, leaving a big hole in the social calendars
of many left-wingers, on a Saturday night. But once Netanyahu
managed to get back into office, the demonstrators began again
341
like clockwork, and initially, most people in Israel didn’t think

there was anything unusual about these demonstrations.
But then at the end of January, the USA’s Secretary of State Anthony
Blinken flew into Israel, apparently to speak to Netanyahu about
his plans for Judicial Reform, among other things. Shortly after
Blinken’s visit, the demonstrations morphed into a much slicker,
more organized - and way more destructive movement.
New protests popped up like mushrooms across the country, in-

cluding locations like NesZiona, Herzliya and Rishon LeZion, and
the number of protesters spiralled up to around 150,000 people.
On February 8, MK Simcha Rothman, the chair of the Knesset’s

Constitution, Law and Justice committee, announced a vote on
February 13 to refer a bunch of reforms to the Knesset Plenum,
including a law that would give the government a much bigger say
in appointing new judges.
That led to people like the former Chief of General Staff Moshe
Ya’alon, and a strange organization named ‘the Movement for
Quality Government in Israel’, pushing for a general strike in
Israel, and organizing the first of many protests that took place
directly outside the Knesset in Jerusalem.
The news channels were flooded with images of tens of thousands

of people swarming into Jerusalem, many of them carrying pro-
fessionally produced identical signs bearing slogans like: “there
is no democracy without equality’, and ‘destroying the country
to avoid trial’.
342
There was also a liberal sprinkling of the usual ‘rainbow flags’, plus
a few Palestinian flags - and the weird spectacle of tens of people
showing up ‘spontaneously’ in red capes and long white bonnets
that shaded their faces, apparently connected to a character from
the dystopian novel ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’.
As left-wing personalities like President Herzog poured more fuel

on the flames by claiming attempts to reform the judiciary would
result in ‘social collapse’210, the arguments in the Knesset between
the politicians on both sides descended into farce.
During the initial debate on Judicial Reform, members of the op-

position jumped onto tables to scream ‘shame! shame! shame!’ in
the faces of the Government ministers, while one politician after
another popped up on prime time, to blame ‘the other side’ for
deepening the rift across every stratum of Israeli society.
By the middle of February, tens of thousands of protestors blocked

major highways across the country, and even picketed the homes
of ministers and law makers involved with moving forward
Judicial Reform. Somewhere along the way, the mood shifted from
the usual ‘left-wing, anti-Netanyahu’ weekly social event to some-
thing uglier and more dangerous.
Netanyahu and his cohorts began to openly speak about ‘civil

war and blood in the streets’, while the strangely choreographed
demonstrations in Tel Aviv took on a surreal quality, when 150
members of the Bonot Alternativa (“Building an Alternative”)
women’s group showed up wearing more of those strange identikit
red-and-white outfits linked to ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’
210
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/13/middleeast/israelis-knesset-protest-
netanyahu-judiciary-intl
343
No-one trusted the politicians on either side of the argument.

However, when certain members of the right-wing camp muttered
about ‘foreign interference’, and outside interests paying for the
demonstrations, for once their words rang true.
Who was really funding the demonstrations in Israel?

In March 2023, the Home Page of the Movement for Quality
Government in Israel proudly announced the following, in con-
nection with the Israeli judicial reforms:
[W]e have started a broad public struggle: thousands of citizens

have already joined our demonstrations across the country in
Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the North, the South, and more.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel’ was clearly or-
ganizing and helping to fund the anti-Reform demonstrations in
Israel. In turn, according to the information on their own site211,
their funders included something called ‘The MEPI Foundation’.
211
https://mqgisrael.org/about/sources-of-funding/
344
MEPI stands for ‘US-Middle East Partnership Initiative’, which is

a branch of the US State Department, funding NGOs and push-
ing its own agenda inside the Holy Land.
As speculation continued over where the money to fund the pro-
tests was coming from - including the hundreds of thousands of
professional posters, and thousands of ‘performers’ dressed in
identikit red capes and white bonnets - in April, the notorious
New Israel Fund posted something up on their site that also
solved some of that mystery.212
212
https://nif.org.il/magen-grants-against-coup/
345
The New Israel Fund was ‘proud’ to announce it was spending

hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for people to attend
demonstrations at the Knesset and other locations across the
country, and creating new initiatives to ensure that the more
Torah-observant government wouldn’t able to dismantle the sec-
ular, ‘woke’ brainwashing agenda being rolled out via the Israeli
education system.
Clearly, ‘democracy’ in Israel only worked as long as it pushed the

ideas and agenda the Americans and anti-Torah atheists wanted.
As soon as the public pushed back towards a traditional, God-
fearing, Torah observant approach, the US decided it was time
to show them who was boss.
In March 2023, the ‘Israel HaYom’ paper ran a piece where they
estimated that a whopping 10 million shekels (about $2.7 million
dollars) had been spent on the protests for ‘democracy’, with the
lions’ share coming from outside of Israel.
At the beginning of March, the shadowy group of people orga-

nizing protests announced a National Day of Disruption’, and the
country took another lurch forward into anarchy and violence.
Tens of thousands of ‘left wing secular elites’ turned out to block

the main Ayalon Higway in Tel Aviv - and were shocked when
they got a small taste of the police brutality that the chareidi, set-
tler, and Arab communities experienced for years.
One man literally had his ear blown off when a police officer casu-
ally tossed a stun grenade into a crowd of protesters at close range,
totally ignoring the safety protocols. Meanwhile, the mounted
346
police and water cannons were also out in force, and the police
arrested many of the protestors - including a lady in her eighties.
Bibi Netanyahu and Itamar Ben Gvir, the highly controversial

‘Minister for National Security’, appeared all over the news, call-
ing for mass arrests of the anarchists who were bringing the coun-
try to a halt. But there was an uncomfortable feeling that the
politicians and media were manipulating the public to turn on
each other, for reasons that still weren’t obvious.
Those strange US-sponsored ‘women in red’ returned on March

8th, with more than 25,000 ‘handmaids’ in red cloaks and white
bonnets deciding - spontaneously! - to form a human chain across
Israel, ramping up tensions and turning the Jewish people against
each other.
That was quickly followed by yet another ‘National Day of

Resistance’, which saw more roads blocked across the country,
and an attempt by protesters to block Ben Gurion airport, and
prevent Netanyahu from flying out to Rome.
By March 11th, 2023, the protests were pulling in half a million

people, and the atmosphere was becoming ever more poisonous.
The protest organizers started to bait the religious public.
First, a group of demonstrators set up ‘segregated areas’ for men

and women at Tel Aviv bus stops, to show the nation ‘what awaits
us all around the corner’.
Then another strange group showed up in Tel Aviv, calling them-

selves ‘Grandmothers for Democracy’, and gave interviews to the
media, explaining:
347
“This state is based on the fact that we all work hard

and we all get the public goods and a good economy.
But what’s happened now is that a certain group wants
to milk the cow to death and squeeze the lemon till
there’s nothing left, and we won’t allow it.”
Then on March 23rd, 2023, the anti-Reform organizers turned the

demonstrations into an ‘anti-religious Jews’ movement, deliber-
ately planning a march through the chareidi city of Bnei Brak.
Again, the careful observer could notice how much money was
poured into the march by outside interests, who even paid for a
huge mock-up of the Declaration of Independence to be made and
erected on site.
The organizers hoped to incite another ‘war of the Jews’ between

the religious and secular public in Israel. But with God’s help,
things didn’t go according to plan. The Bnei Brak municipality
set up stands ahead of the march that were fully loaded with free
drinks and hot cholent, while traditional Shabbos melodies were
piped across loudspeakers.
As the marchers passed through Bnei Brak waving their rainbow

flags and Stars of David, they were offered bottles of water and
cholent by friendly chareidim who were determined to show that
Am Yisrael Chai and, despite the ideological differences, under-
neath the Jewish People was still one nation, one family.
The demonstration passed peacefully, and the ripples of ahavat

chinam in Bnei Brak moved beyond the city, when a man came to
march but ended up crying his heart out instead, and the video
went viral.
348
The video showed a secular older guy on a motorbike, a huge

Israeli flag tied around his shoulders, overcome with emotion
when he heard Shalom Aleichem piped across the speaker sys-
tem. He got off his bike, took off his helmet, and sang along, tears
streaming down his face.213
Later, he told the person who video’d him:
“My father loved every Jew. He would turn in his grave

if he could see what is happening between us today.”
Who knows how much sinat chinam evaporated as millions

of Jews watched that apparently secular man singing Shalom
Aleichem as he cried his eyes out - and realized that underneath
all the labels, politics, and media manipulation, we were just one
big family, after all.
It was exactly as the Rav said: “Through singing, we eliminate all

the evildoers...”
So, while the lawmakers, politicians and journalists continued

their diatribes and poisonous discourse, hundreds of thousands
of Jews started to realize that they had much more in common
with the people ‘on the other side’ of the argument than they had
thought.
When Netanyahu fired his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on

March 26th, 2023, for suggesting the reforms should be halted,
protests on the left reached their zenith, with more than 630,000
213
https://vinnews.com/2023/03/23/watch-bnei-brak-residents-hand-cho-
lent-to-protesters-one-cries-after-hearing-shalom-aleichem/
349
people attending rallies and blocking roads across the country,

making it the biggest turnout in Israel’s history.
The following day, Israel’s old guard elite, spearheaded by the

Histadrut labor federation, announced an immediate, nationwide
general strike. Within hours, the nation’s ports were closed, Ben
Gurion airport ground to a halt, and many other labor unions,
chain stores, high tech firms and even Israel’s embassies in the US
and UK, all closed their doors.
Another tipping point was reached as the tension mounted, and

reports appeared that the protests turned violent. This time, it
wasn’t just the police beating protesters, or protesters fighting the
authorities. More and more reports popped up on Telegram and
other social media sites, showing members of the public starting
to brawl with each other.
To the careful observer watching from the sidelines, that was a

new and disturbing development.
Following a pattern seen many times before, at the height of the

latest round of tension, the Jerusalem police went inexplicably
AWOL, the evening that hundreds of protestors announced they
were converging on the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem.
Somehow, they were able to run down the street towards the res-
idence en masse, across hundreds of meters, and even scale the
security barriers without being stopped.
The vested interests funding the protests in Israel were doing ev-
erything they could to set a flame to the tinder and ignite a social
conflagration that would pit one section of Israeli society violently
against the other. But time and time again, miraculously, the fire
fizzled out before it could catch hold and lead to a real civil war.
350
By the end of March, Netanyahu and his government apparently

cracked, and agreed to delay the Judicial Reform legislation by a
month. That led to a new round of protests - but this time, from
the people ‘on the right’.
These protests also attracted hundreds of thousands of people,

but where many on the left had made a huge effort to divide the
nation with hate-filled slogans and poisonous tactics, many of the
grassroots protestors on the right were carrying home-made signs
with messages of unity and brotherly love.
In the meantime, Israel’s little home-grown ‘antisemitic’ problem

was starting to be noticed by more and more people.
Even after the main protests began to peter out after Israel’s
Independence Day in May, the secular media’s incitement against
‘Chareidi parasites’ continued, unabated. Increasingly, the penny
dropped that the riots and protests had never really been about
the government’s plans for ‘judicial reform’.
That had just been an excuse for the hatred lurking in the base-
ments of so many prestigious institutions, and in the hearts of ‘tol-
erant liberals’ to come into the light. Whatever new measures or
bills the government announced, Lapid and his followers turned
it into the same old hate-filled complaint that religious Jews in the
State of Israel were bleeding the country dry.
Social media was flooded with videos of ‘left wing demonstrators’

showing up outside the homes of prominent figures in the chareidi
351
world, where they often threw around wads of fake 200-shekel bills
for the cameras... or engaged in other public displays of hatred.
In one example that typifies them all, a professor of econom-

ics at Bar Ilan University who was demonstrating near Minister
Goldknopf’s home was caught on camera telling a chareidi man:
“You’re not Jewish, you’re a cult”.214
The man hit the nail on the head when he responded: “You hate
me just because I’m dressed like this.”
As intolerance and hatred against orthodox Jews continued to

rage across the secular world, Israeli TV host Galit Gutman took
things one step further, by saying live on air what many ‘tolerant,
secular liberals’ of Israel said when no-one was recording them.
As the condemnation of Gutman’s imagery flowed in, other poli-

ticians, journalists and commentators were lining up to say things
like this, from Israel’s Radio 103 FM Erel Segal:
214
https://vinnews.com/2023/05/17/incitement-against-chareidim-in-isra-
el-increases-day-when-chareidi-is-murdered-not-far-off-warns-journa-
list/
352
“‘Bloodsuckers’ and in German ‘Sie saugen unser

Blut’ – Israel, May 2023. On the most watched chan-
nel in Israel. Thank you to Keshet…I wonder if Yad
Vashem would consider this the ‘slippery slope.’”
But in truth, while Gutman’s hatred of religious Jews was horrible

and disturbing, the interview given by Carmi Gillon, former head
of the Shin Bet to Ha’aretz around the same time, was even more
sinister. He said:
“The haredi and more religious Zionist politicians are

the Jewish jihad. They are an absolute existential threat
to the State of Israel.”215
Eleven years earlier, in June 2012, the former head of the Mossad,
Efraim HaLevy had said almost the same thing, vis:
“Ultra-orthodox extremism has darkened our lives.

This is more dangerous than Ahmadinejad.”
By now, we should know better than to regard these statements as

being mere bombast. The Israeli security establishment had iden-
tified another ‘enemy’ within their borders. And as they have done
so many times in the past, they continued to make their plans for
how to ‘neutralize the threat’.
215
https://www.chaifm.com/2023/05/20/former-shabak-chief-calls-haredi-
religious-mks-the-jewish-jihad/
353
Arrows and Shields
“Eliyahu said to Rabbi Shimon: “Oy Rebbe, oy Rebbe, how hard

is this matter, and how long is this exile, and how much suffering
upon suffering the haters of Israel have prepared [for the Jews]
throughout this galut, and how much longer will these brutes
rule, i.e., the Nations of the World; and how much more will they
roar over their prey and devour Israel, each and every day, until
the end of days?”
– Zohar Hadash, Parshat Balak 65
“They say that the first thing they will do is fire a nuke.... that they
will fire shells that have ‘Shuvu Banim’ written on them, and this
will turn the nuke, it will turn the nuke into candies....
“But say seven Tikkun Haklalis! If you say seven Tikkun Haklalis,
it can’t harm anyone. Seven Tikkun Haklalis cancels all the harsh
decrees in the world! There is no decree that it can’t nullify. There
is no decree in the world that this can’t nullify!”
– Excerpt from one of Rav Berland’s shiurim, April 2023.
N
obody quite knows how or why, but after the Rav’s
heart surgery, after the prayers for his recovery, after
the hundreds of thousands of Tikkun HaKlalis, after all
354
the hours spent singing, dancing and clapping the harsh judge-
ments away during the prayers down on Ido HaNavi, the ‘left wing
demonstrations’ started to flop in a radical way.
When the leftists continued to play politics around Israel’s

‘Memorial Day’, it left a bad taste in people’s mouths and the
weekly turnout for the mini riots on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv
dropped dramatically.
On April 27, 2023, an estimated 600,000 people in favor of judicial

reform - most of them obviously religious Jews from the dati leumi
camp - gathered at the site known as ‘the Gates of Jerusalem’.
Instead of sowing more violence and destruction, most of the
protestors came with messages of unity and ahavat chinam, and
recited prayers and tehillim.
It was a beautiful example of real ‘Jewish People Power’ - i.e., the

power of achdut and the power of prayer.
Back in March 2014, shortly before 600,000 chareidim gathered at

the ‘Gates of Jerusalem’ to protest the government’s new draft laws
conscripting yeshiva students into the army, some of the students
of Rav Dov Kook in Teveria put together a booklet that contained
what the Vilna Gaon wrote about the coming of Moshiach, as
brought in the book Kol Hator, section 6.
There, it’s written:
“Rabbi Binyamin of Shklov asked our master the

Vilna Gaon what he could do to hasten the coming
of Moshiach ben Dovid and the redemption of Am
Yisrael. The Vilna Gaon answered his student: ‘If you
355
can gather 600,000 Jews in a place called the “Gates of

Jerusalem,” whenever you’re able to do that, a gathering
of 600,000 Jews can completely cancel the power of the
sitra achra that rules at the Gates of Jerusalem — and
then, you’ll merit the complete redemption.’”
So one way or another, “the power of the sitra achra that rules
at the Gates of Jerusalem” - exactly where the Supreme Court,
Knesset and other State of Israel buildings are located - got can-
celled out, at least the power of political manipulation to turn Jew
against Jew, and brother against brother.
But the sitra achra had a few other tricks up its sleeve. By the mid-
dle of April 2023, the Israeli government was once again warning
its citizens to expect a ‘war on all fronts’.216
And another important issue pressed on the minds of many in the

religious community - namely, what was going to be with Rebbe
Shimon and Lag BaOmer 5783 (2023)? The previous year (2022),
the authorities had severely limited access to the site, and had
forbidden anyone from lighting a bonfire, except for one ‘central’
bonfire lit by the Boyaner Rebbe.
216
ries/2182983/defense-minister-warns-israel-is-preparing-for-multi-
front-war.html
356
Many of the people who still made it to Meron for Lag BaOmer
5782 later complained they’d been left stranded in fields and park-
ing lots for hours, in the heat of the day, without any water or
facilities. When they reached RASHBI, the authorities had already
banned all music and distribution of the traditional chai rotel food
and drink - all in the name of ‘safety’.
One of the editors of Mishpacha magazine, Aryeh Erlich, captured

the mood in a tweet where he said:
“The police decided to eliminate the Rashbi festivities.

They took off the music, closed the tomb, stopped the
buses on the way to Meron. The courtyard is empty, the
tomb is empty, and hundreds and thousands of Jews are
distressed and helpless. Commander Lavi and Police
Commissioner Shabtai, this is not safety, this is evil
and criminal. Jews want to be by Rashbi- protect them,
don’t strangle them!”217
On Lag BaOmer 2022, Meah Shearim was closed to all traffic as

the different communities were forced to hold their big communal
lightings close to home. Rav Berland lit a huge fire at the inter-
section of the Meah Shearim and HaHoma Shlishit roads, before
heading up to Meron - but was clearly unhappy about what was
going on.
Up in Meron itself, some members of Shuvu Banim who actually

made it to the site pulled together a few old cardboard boxes and
made a very small ‘Shuvu Banim’ bonfire - totally against all the
authorities’ draconian rules. The Rav later told one of his atten-
dants that the entire year, the world had stood on the merit of that
one, small bonfire in Meron.
217
https://vinnews.com/2022/05/19/watch-worshipers-break-through-po-
lice-barriers-at-meron-others-celebrate-in-parking-lots/
357
So as Lag BaOmer 5783 rolled around, there was a lot of concern,

particularly in the chassidishe world, that the authorities and the
‘Ministry for Holy Sites’ shouldn’t wreck RASHBI’s hiloula for a
fourth year in a row.
Meir Porush, the Minister nominally in charge of the hiloula, quit

his position back in February 2023218, saying that he couldn’t do
the job he’d been given to do, because everything had already been
decided ‘in advance’.
Later he was reinstated, and with the help of Yossi Daitch, a deputy
mayor of Jerusalem, the chassidishe world was promised a hiloula
that would return joy to the event - but still within a tightly con-
trolled framework dictated by the State of Israel.
The followers of the Rav had an additional concern to deal with:

the Rav’s persecutors were once again trying to prevent him from
going to Meron and were dead set against him performing the
Shuvu Banim hadlika.
In previous years, it had been Shmuel Eliyahu, the rabbi of Tzfat,

who spearheaded the campaign to ban the Rav from Meron.
This year, the torch was passed to his son, Amichai Eliyahu, who
had just entered the Knesset as part of Itamar Ben Gvir’s ‘Jewish
Power’ faction.
At a time when the country stood on the brink of civil war, fol-
lowing months of growing demonstrations, when the defense
218
https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-latest-coalition-sputter-utjs-po-
rush-quits-as-minister-of-meron-pilgrimage/
358
minister was warning that Israel was facing a ‘war on all fronts’;
and when scores of Israelis had been killed and wounded in ter-
rorist attacks, Amichai Eliyahu knew what his main priority was:
to stop the Rav from lighting a bonfire at Meron.
Back in 2020, the Ministry of Religious Affairs had pushed through

a special law that appeared to have the sole aim of preventing Rav
Berland from lighting a bonfire in Meron on Lag BaOmer.
As Eliyahu Junior took to Twitter, citing the above law as the rea-
son why the Rav should be banned from Meron, it was clear from
most of the comments that this time around, the Rav’s persecutors
were fighting a losing battle.
Many commentators came back to him stating the obvious, that:

“You should be dealing with things that are more critical to the peo-
ple of Israel,” or: “We are in a democratic country. If Rabbi Berland
has followers who want their rabbi to light a candle in Meron, who
are you to prevent them from doing that?!”
When he continued to rail that Rav Berland shouldn’t be allowed

to light a bonfire at Meron, because he’d spent time in prison,
someone closed down that argument by responding: “But Deri
can be a minister…?”
The year after Shmuel Eliyahu successfully banned the Rav from
getting to Meron in 2018, the whole place was closed because of
Covid. And the year that the government kept the Rav away from
Meron by throwing him in prison – that’s when the horrible (pre-
planned) ‘disaster’ happened.
359
So when the Rav started to drop hints that this year, it was impera-
tive that he get to Meron, and be able to light a bonfire there, many
more people were listening. On April 20th, 2023, the Rav again told
his story of the Baal Shem Tov sweetening the decree to annihilate
the Jews of ‘Istanbul’ - but this time, with a few new twists.219
Again, the Rav began:
“In the meantime, in Istanbul, there was a decree.
The Baal Shem Tov, when he came to that place, he did

there a whole bunch of sweetenings.
There was a decree there, like in Hebron, to wipe out

all the Jews....the decree was at six in the morning. They
were going to slaughter all the Jews. By seven there
wouldn’t be even one Jew left alive.
In the meantime, it wasn’t revealed to a single person.

They said, if the Jews would know that there was such
a decree, they would nullify it within five minutes....
So, they made a ruling that this cannot be revealed to
a single person.
There was one person, a very suspect person indeed,

a renegade. He would always tell all the secrets of the
king’s palace. What was going on there inside the
Mossad, inside the Shabak. He would reveal to the
Jews each time what there was decreed. They would
then go and nullify it within five minutes. They would
bring a billion dollars, two billion dollars, whatever was
needed, and nullify every decree....”
219
You can read the full translation at:
360
The Rav continued that this ‘suspect person’ who knew the big
secret went to the head of the Jewish community to tell him about
the awful decree and told him to find a way to nullify it. The Rav
continued that he had to:
“Find a way of nullifying the decree without showing

that you know anything about it.”
The Rav continued giving his ‘clues’ via that same story
of the ‘decree in Istanbul’. This time, there was going to
be ‘banging on the door’ at 1am.... Boom. Suddenly, an
explosion, they’re blowing up the door! They woke them
up in the middle of the night with banging on the door,
terrible kicking. Everyone woke up.
The Rav continued:
“In Istanbul the Chief was called the Sultan. He ruled

over half the world. He ruled over Mecca. He ruled over
the Land of Israel. He ruled over half the world. So, now
let’s go to the mother [of the Sultan]. We’ll relate to her
the story as it is, and maybe she’ll find a way.
Ok. Three in the morning they knock on the door. They

wake up the guard. The guard was also in a deep sleep.
Three in the morning is the sweetest sleep in the world,
the deepest. He asked them, what’s going on? It’s three
in the morning…?”
And then as the story continued, the Rav continued to give more
clues about what the ‘decree’ actually was:
361
“Within two hours we’ll all be destroyed. There’ll be

here a fire. Everyone will be burnt alive.” And then
continued: Tear up the decree!!... I’m running now to
tear up the decree. He ran to the archives, there was
the parchment. He tore it into shreds.... look, all the
shreds, the decree is nullified. You have nothing to
worry about.”
The Rav then concluded:
“There, the Jews were waiting. It was already five in the

morning. In another five minutes, the sunrise minyan
would start. She showed them the shards of the decree.
She told them, everything’s okay, don’t worry.... So, af-
ter the prayers, they told the Jews what had happened.
They told everyone the whole story.... And then the

Baal Shem Tov said, if it wasn’t for this surprising Jew,
this meshuganeh [who sweetened everything] there
wouldn’t have been a miracle.”
The next week, the government released its official guidelines

for pilgrims coming to Meron for 5783: the tickets were in short
supply, very few people could get there by private cars, and most
people would have to take a pre-arranged bus if they wanted to
get to the hiloula this year.
Bonfires were permitted, but not directly next to the kever of

Rabbi Shimon. This year, a new area had been designated for
the communal bonfires, about a kilometer away from the main
entrance of Meron, in a massive area on the corner of Route 89.
362
Shuvu Banim also released details of the location and time of their
hadlika: sometime between 3-3:45am, in the allocated plot that
was right next to ‘Parking Lot 60’, the main carpark for all the
privately chartered coaches coming to Meron.
Tickets were expensive.... it was going to be at least a four-hour bus

ride either way... and no-one knew for sure if the Rav would be
able to come that year or light the bonfire. But the Rav exhorted
as many people as possible to get to Meron this year - and con-
tinued to drop some strange hints, like the following, that were
part of a shiur he gave over on Friday May 5, three days before
Lag BaOmer220:
“Nadav and Avihu wanted to bring the geula. This was

the biggest day of their life, [the biggest day] in history:
the establishment of the Mishkan, the Aron, the Luchot –
they were putting up the Mishkan (Tabernacle)….
They were putting up the Mishkan… This was the

biggest day! Even bigger than the inauguration of the
Temple.
Nadav and Avihu wanted to bring ‘fire’ down from the

heavens. They wanted to bring it down….
Now, they moved us [i.e. the Shuvu Banim lighting site

in Meron] to the gas station [to do the lighting there.]
Our site is next to the gas station. They want there to
be a lot of petrol for the fire.
220
Translated from the Shivivei Or Newsletter 309.
363
So they, they – Nadav and Avihu – went to bring petrol,

a ‘strange fire’. What is this ‘strange fire’? They went to
bring petrol. They went to bring 20-liter jerry cans full
of benzine, to spill it on the altar. They wanted to bring
‘fire’ down from shemayim.
For today Hashem appears to you. (Vayikra 9:4)
They wanted to bring down fire, so they brought 20-liter

jerry cans, they poured benzine on the altar – ‘strange fire’,
they brought it from the stoves. They went and brought a
jerry can, they went to the gas station, and filled up the
jerry can. And fire didn’t come down from shemayim!
They spilled the jerry cans; they poured out a whole

jerry can…”
At the time, it was hard to even guess what the Rav was really
speaking about. But over the following days, many of those ‘hints’
and ‘clues’ started to be decoded.
Around 1am on the night of Lag BaOmer, the government decided

to launch a massive attack on Gaza, codenamed ‘Operation Arrow
and Shield’. The operation began with several missiles that killed
three leading terrorists from the Islamic Jihad group.
(At 1am.... Boom. Suddenly, an explosion, they’re blow-

ing up the door!)
Most of the people coming to Meron knew nothing about this. By

3am, shortly before the Shuvu Banim lighting was to begin, the police
began turning back buses from reaching Meron, citing their concern
364
that they were expecting rockets to start raining down across the
country any minute.... Baruch Hashem, that didn’t happen.
(Three in the morning they knock on the door. They

wake up the guard.... He asked them, what’s going on?
It’s three in the morning…?)
The Shuvu Banim gathering began at 3am, but no-one knew until
the last minute if the Rav would come, and so for the next two
hours, the crowds danced and clapped to try and ‘sweeten the
judgments’ and pray for the Rav to make it.
(There, the Jews were waiting. It was already five in the

morning. In another five minutes, the sunrise minyan
would start. She showed them the shards of the decree.
She told them, everything’s okay, don’t worry...)
At 4:50 am, the Rav finally got to Meron via helicopter. He came
up to the stage, and a 10-meter-long telescoping pole was pro-
duced, that enabled the Rav to hold the ‘torch’ that was going
to light the Shuvu Banim bonfire - but wouldn’t give the Rav’s
enemies the image they were hoping to get, of the Rav directly
lighting the bonfire himself.
365
By 5am, the Shuvu Banim compound was jumping. The vibe

was electric, and the people in the crowd could palpably feel that
something very big had just been ‘sweetened’ by the Rav’s arrival
and hadlaka.
Shortly before the buses left back to Jerusalem, the Rav took a few
moments to fire the customary arrows at Meron.
The Rav’s ‘Operation Arrow and Shield’ had been successfully

concluded. In the meantime.... most people had no idea that an-
other war in Gaza had been started during the night, and the
authorities continued to puzzle over the total lack of ‘response’
from the Arabs in Gaza, and in Lebanon.
The Islamic Jihad waited 35 hours at the beginning of the oper-

ation from “Gan Vachar” to begin launching rockets into Israel,
surprising even the top of the IDF.
According Army Radio, as the operation was launched on L’ag

B’omer, the IDF had decided to revise its ‘Iron Dome’ protocol for
the first day of the operation, to also intercept missiles that were
heading to open areas as well. The army was clearly anticipating
rockets all over Israel during L’ag B’omer.
But it just didn’t happen. Islamic Jihad didn’t launch any missiles
into Israel, open areas or otherwise, for the first 36 hours of the
operation.221
Of course, the quiet didn’t last for ever. Many hours after the
L’ag B’omer celebrations were concluded, Islamic Jihad began
launching one barrage of rockets after another at Israel. By May
221
366
14th, 2023, the government reported that 900 rockets had been
launched - with barely any casualties.
An 80-year-old woman was killed in Rehovot222; a Palestinian

working in the fields near the Negev town of Shokeda was killed
by shrapnel, which also seriously injured his brother223 - but all
told, there had been just 77 calls to Magen Dovid Adam because of
the rockets - and 45 of them were panic attacks, with nearly all the
others very light injuries from falling shrapnel and broken glass.
Nissei nissim!
But the miracles weren’t over yet. On the evening of May 13th,
2023, an out-of-control fire began in what had been ‘Parking Lot
60’ up in Meron, on the corner of Route 89, near the gas station.
Video showed what looked like the remains of bleachers still on

the site being totally consumed by the blaze, as the fire services
looked on, helpless to stop it.
Our site is next to the gas station. They want there

to be a lot of petrol for the fire.... They went to bring
petrol. They went to bring 20 liter jerry cans full of
benzine, to spill on the altar. They wanted to bring ‘fire’
down from shemayim... They went and brought a jerry
can, they went to the gas station, and filled up the jerry
can. And fire didn’t come down from shemayim!”
Later that evening - just in time for the Eurovision Song Contest
finals! - a cease fire was announced between Israel and the Islamic
Jihad.
222
223
367
Clearly, something very big was being sweetened by the Rav in

Meron on Lag BaOmer 5783. And even with all the open miracles
we were experiencing as part of ‘Operation Arrow and Shield’, the
story of the biggest miracle that occurred on Lag BaOmer is one
that can probably never be fully told.
368
Behold, Behold,
Mashiach is Coming!
“I heard that he said the Moshiach will come suddenly and there
will be plenty of noise and excitement saying the Moshiach has
come. Everyone will throw their business aside. The banker will
throw aside his counter, and the candle-maker his wax, as Isaiah
writes: “And each one will throw aside his gods of silver and gold.”224
“People think that when Moshiach comes the world will be different
from today. It is not so. Things will be the way they are described
here, and everyone will be ashamed of the folly of his ways, each
according to his deeds.”
– Rav Natan Sternhartz, writing about Rebbe Nachman
in Chayei Moharan, no.597.
O
n February 16, 2023, Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Salmonovitch
decided to share some words of much needed chizzuk
about where the geula process was really holding, shortly
after the terrible earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria.
224
Isaiah 2:20.
369
These are his words:225
“We are found on Saturday night at the meal of David,

the King Mashiach – the Mashiach is going to be re-
vealed at any moment. We see mamash that Rome is
falling – Great Rome and Minor Rome, Russia, Turkey,
Hashem help [us] – mercy on those people but…
The klipah (evil husk) is certainly falling. We see that

the whole world is horrified mamash, the worst fear –
so much suffering with each person. “Degeneracy in
a person’s home is worse than the War of Gog and
Magog” 226. Mamash we see that the world is horrified,
and any moment Mashiach is going to be revealed....
There are Tzaddikim who are concerned with the rectifi-

cation of the world all the time. Everyone knows that Rav
Berland is sacrificing himself all the time. Anyone who
looks, sees that for years he has been sacrificing himself
for the sake of the Jewish People, so that there won’t be
decrees and that Mashiach will come with mercy....
We need so much mercy, without end. Every person

knows how much mercy we need. Hospitals are full,
and the decrees are harsh – mamash the worst fears.
Last week, Rav Berland, shlit”a, asked us to say the
Tikkun HaKlali227 ... – I’m nothing and nobody, but
people who think that I have some kind of importance
asked me [to talk].
225
https://ravberland.com/behold-behold-mashiach-is-coming-rav-yaa-
kov-moshe-salmanovitz/
226
Berachot 7b.
227
The Rav asked for 1,000 people to take it upon themselves to recite 100
Tikkun Haklalis each, before Adar 13, 5783.
370
Yes, I know that the world is horrified, and we feel

that Mashiach is going to arrive. And I believe in all
the Tzaddikim and in Rav Berland. I know that Rav
Berland does awesome things, so there is mamash no
doubt regarding what the Rav said about the Tikkun
HaKlalis. Behold, the Rav doesn’t have time to make
jokes. Anyone who knows Rav Berland – every word
that the Rav says is uttered responsibly... Everyone
knows that these are measured words.
...If the Rav says that this sweetens the judgments of all
the Jewish People and from the whole world, then who
needs to add anything to this at all?
Hashem should help us, that all of us should merit to

strengthen ourselves and to say the Tikkun HaKlalis.
The very fact that we are saying the Tikkun HaKlali –
every Tikkun HaKlali that we say is certainly rectifying
the world....
We believe that the Tikkun HaKlali is rectifying the

world. Especially when the Tzaddik sees that this sweet-
ens all the judgments over the Jewish People, and that
this mamash brings the redemption closer, with mercy...
[W]e see that the world is waiting for the redemption,

mamash. Everyone, even the non-Jews are saying that
Mashiach is coming, and everyone, even we, are saying
that Mashiach is coming. Even those who are found
with such apathetic faces are also saying that Mashiach
is coming....
There is no doubt at all that in the merit of the Tikkun

HaKlalis, the Rav will be healthy. The Rav at all times is
371
sacrificing himself so that there will not be decrees. If we

say the Tikkun HaKlali, then bezrat Hashem, the Rav
won’t need to suffer and to sacrifice himself so much....
The students of Rabbenu, especially his greatest stu-

dents, are bringing and causing the redemption with
great mercy. Hashem should help; behold, behold,
Mashiach is coming!... And that we should merit to our
righteous Mashiach, speedily in our days mamash....
Over the ten years that the Rav went through all the suf-
fering in the world, in health and in legal terms… there
weren’t such prayers, there were never Tzaddikim that
[encouraged others to say] so many prayers for them.
It’s possible to say that millions of Tikkun HaKlalis

were said. The whole world knows that only the prayers
helped. According to the natural order, there was no
chance there....
And Hashem should help us, that bezrat Hashem we

should all merit to continue the miracles which are
above nature... There’s no nature, only the Tikkun
HaKlali, only prayers, bezrat Hashem, until our righ-
teous Mashiach.”
Nearly four years ago, before Covid 19 began, Benjamin Golden

and some of the other well-known autistics put out several mes-
sages stating that ‘Eliezer ben Ettia’ was the hezkat Moshiach ben
David of our generation.
372
A few weeks later, Rav Berland asked the facilitators to stop the
communication, at least at that point. It seems the world was not
yet ready to hear what the autistics were saying back in May 2019.
Back then, an autistic young man named Menachem said the

following:
“For the last 26 years, we’ve been writing essays all the
time, to strengthen Am Yisrael, and to demonstrate
where the sheker, all the lies are to be found, and where
the truth is to be found.
But now, there is no more need for our talents. We

are now obligated to leave this work because the King
Moshiach has come. And he will provide the answers
to all the questions everybody has, and he will direct
Am Yisrael towards complete redemption, and we are
going into retirement.”
However, after taking the break that the Rav had asked for, the
autistics started communicating again. In April 2023, Ben Golden
put out another message about the Rav, which seems fitting to
conclude Volume 3 of ‘One in a Generation’.
Ben Golden said:
“The Mashiach is working hard to save Am Yisrael!

Hashem’s most beloved nation! No one in the world can
attain his level of prayer, learning and love of the Jewish
people! At the same time, he is very humble and has taken
on the mission of helping Am Yisrael to do teshuvah! He
prays that his people will accept the Truth of Hashem.
373
Even though the world is falling apart, wherever you

are in the world, if you are connected to the Tzaddik in
some way, you can successfully do teshuvah, and return
to Hashem and His Torah. The Mashiach has been sent
specially to save you. Don’t miss out on this, it is not just
your physical life, but also your Olam Haba.”
May Hashem help us connect to the True Tzaddikim, and to find

that ‘One in a Generation’ who will lead us forward into geula the
sweet way, speedily in our days, Amen.
374
Epilogue
WHAT WILL PEOPLE
DO, WHEN MOSHIACH
ACTUALLY COMES?
“Through peace we then merit prayer, by which we merit univer-

sal peace, peace in all the worlds.
And when we merit universal peace, all business transactions
will disappear from the world, for all business transactions arise
from a lack of peace, since it is impossible that the desire of the
buyer and seller be the same – one wishes to sell and the other
to buy. If their desires were the same, it would be impossible to
make any transaction.
“Hence, all business transactions and trading arise only from an
aspect of dissent, of a lack of harmony between wills….
But in the future, when there will be wonderous peace in the
world, as the verse says, ‘The wolf will dwell with the sheep, and
the leopard will lie down with the goat,’ business transactions
will then disappear.”
– Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, writing in Likutey Moharan I:14.
375
I
n one of his more recent shiurim from 2023, Rav Eliezer
Berland said the following:
“Everyone says, we want Moshiach now! We want

Moshiach now!
How is Moshiach going to help you? You still need to

do the same work, and to walk around guarding your
eyes, and to have the right intentions when praying
Shmoneh Esrei.
Moshiach is just going to teach you how to guard

your eyes, that’s what Moshiach is going to do for
you. He will teach you how to pray the Shemoneh
Esreh with kavana. Rabbenu says that Moshiach is
going to teach people how to pray the Shemoneh Esreh
with correct intention, and how to distract your mind
from everything that’s going on around you.
Regular life will continue with Moshiach
When Moshiach comes, people will continue to build

houses, and to build cities, and to make tables and
cupboards. Just, the Rebbe says, everything will be
distributed for free. The ‘buying and selling’ will be
nullified, in the secret of: ‘Until the last person leaves
the marketplace.’
Whoever can’t learn [Torah], they’ll tell him, so make

cabinets...”
376
Glossary
R
abbi Berland’s teachings contain many references to lofty
kabbalistic concepts and to numerous texts. For the sake
of brevity, we have focused on translating just the main
terms and have not included more esoteric concepts and refer-
ences contained within the lessons translated in this book.
Ain Literally nothing, or ‘nothingness’.

Aliya Literally ‘going up’, to the Land of Israel (moving
country).
Banim zchorim Male sons.
Beit HaMikdash The Temple.
Brit Literally, ‘covenant’, but often used to refer to man’s
sexual purity.
Chametz Unleavened bread that is forbidden on Passover.
Chatan A bridegroom.
Chatzot Also called, ‘Tikkun Chatzot’. The midnight
lamentation.
Chevruta A learning partner for the study of Torah.
Chuppah The wedding canopy, under which the bride and
groom are married.
Chutz La’aretz Literally, ‘outside the land’. Outside Israel.
Davening The daily prayers.
Elul Hebrew month.
Gan Eden The Garden of Eden.
377
Gemara The Talmud.

Elokim A name for G-d.
Emuna Trust, faith, belief in G-d.
Halacha Torah law.
Hashem G-d.
Hashem Yitbarach ‘G-d who is blessed’.
Hatzlacha Success.
Hitbodedut The practice of talking to G-d in one’s own words.
Kallah A bride.
Kohen Gadol The high priest in the Temple.
Lashon Hara Speaking negatively about a person.
Melavah Malkah The fourth meal of Shabbos (which takes place after
Shabbos finishes).
Mikva A ritual bath or pool that gives purity to one who
immerses in it.
Mishna The Oral Law, forming part of the Talmud.
Mishkan The Tabernacle.
Mitzvah A commandment or good deed.
Mizbeach The Altar.
Moshiach The Messiah.
Neshama Soul.
Nissan A Hebrew month.
Rabbanit The wife of the Rav.
Rabbenu Literally, ‘our teacher’, but used mostly in reference
to Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.
Rav Another expression for Rabbi. When used in the ex-
pression “the Rav”, it is a reference to Rabbi Berland.
Refuah Healing.
Rosh Chodesh The new moon, new month.
Rosh Hashanah The new year.
Shabbos The Sabbath.
Shalom Bayit Marital peace/harmony.
Shavuot Jewish Festival.
378
Shechina The feminine aspect of Hashem’s Presence.

Sheva Brachot The seven marriage blessings recited under the ch-
uppah, and on each of the seven days following the
wedding.
Shidduch A proposed marriage partner.
Shmirat haBrit Lit: Guarding the covenant, a reference to sexual
purity.
Sitra Achra The ‘Other (dark) Side’.
Tammuz Hebrew month.
Tehillim Psalms
Teshuva Repentance
Tikkun Rectification (plural ‘Tikkunim’).
Tishbi A reference to Eliyahu the prophet.
Tzaddik A righteous person.
Uman The burial place of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.
Yetzer Hara The Evil Inclination.
Yishuv HaDa’at A settled mind, peace of mind.
379
Additional Resources
I
f you would like to learn more about Rabbi Eliezer Berland,
you can read One in a Generation, Volumes I and II, which
contain hundreds of hours of interviews, stories, and first-
hand sources about who he really is.
There are many additional books available in both Hebrew and

English, including collections of Rabbi Berland’s Torah lessons,
miraculous stories of the people he’s helped and compendiums of
his advice and prayers. A good place to start is the www.ravber-
land.com bookstore, which you can access here:
https://ravberland.com/product-category/english-books/
With God’s help, we hope to be translating many more of Rav

Berland’s works into English in the near future.
LEARN MORE ABOUT RAV ELIEZER BERLAND AND

SHUVU BANIM
For the latest news and updates in English about Rabbi Eliezer
Berland and Shuvu Banim, please visit our website at:
www.ravberland.com
381
You can also listen to real-time updates, announcements, and

stories in Hebrew by calling the Shuvu Banim hotline.
THE SHUVU BANIM HOTLINE (in Hebrew):
In Israel, please call: *9148 or 02-800-8800

ext: 82 for English
In the USA, please call: 845-640-0007
In the UK and Europe, please call: +44-203-807-3333
THE SHUVU BANIM HOTLINE (direct in English):
In Israel, please call: 02-301-1995
To join the WhatsApp Group in English:
wa.me/972583327618
If you would like to send a name for a blessing from Rav Berland,
or for information or queries, please contact us at: ravberland.
com/contact
To make a donation please visit:
https://ravberland.com/donation/
382

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The Footsteps

Jerusalem 2023 / 5783

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated, reproduced,

Cover Design / Typesetting: Jose Pepito

One in a Generation Volume 1: From Haifa to Uman

One in a Generation Volume 2: Into Exile

Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Advice

Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Advice for Success and Happiness

Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Advice for Shalom

Rabbi Eliezer Berland on the Parsha

Rabbi Eliezer Berland on Jewish Holidays

Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Conversations

Rabbi Berland’s Miracles

Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Prayers

Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Prayers for Health

Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Prayers for Holy Children

Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Prayers for Shalom Bayit

Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Prayers for

Avraham ben Yitzhak Eizik, z’l

SALEM BEN HAMAMA

And for the merit and ilui neshama of:

Livia bat Batya

Danny and Heidi Shwer

And their children:

Dedicated in appreciation to Hashem for

May this dedication, be”H, be a zchus for

May it, be”H, also bring about an iluy

Reuven Pinchas Ben Sara Naomi

And in honor of our parents:

Azriel Ben Chasya

To B’H, bring the revelation of Mashiach, the geula

And in particular, dedicated in the zchut of:

David, Hannah, Dvorah and David bnei Avraham

Yaakov Shalom Ben Rus, and the whole

Josh and Yaffa Moorvitch and family

The Midrash says in Parshat Shemini, that before Gog

Rabbenu brings down1 that it’s possible to cancel all

– Comments made by Rabbi Eliezer Berland

Nobody knew then what tremendous secrets, surprises and suffer-

But in the meantime, despite the censorship and legalities in-

Completed in Jerusalem, on the day of ‘Yesod

But when we revisit some of Rav Berland’s statements from that

“Tomorrow is the prayer gathering, and we’re going

“They want to do the most terrible things in the world,

In a huge political upset, the ‘New Right’ Party of Naftali Bennett

The prayers of the holy congregation apparently had their effect,

While the politicians continued to fight amongst themselves, in

‘DNA’ and health information with Big Pharma companies, who

This was part of the State of Israel’s billion-dollar investment in

When the second volume of One in a Generation II was pub-

A few days’ later, on April 21, Sri Lanka’s commercial capital,

In many ways, 2019 was a strange ‘in-between’ year for Rav

At the beginning of May, someone ventured to ask Rav Berland

The questioner asked, “Honored rabbi, why are so many young

Rav Berland replied:

“[It’s happening] because of the opposition to the Rav.

As happened so many times, when May 4th rolled around, it be-

“Be strong and strengthen others.