Listen to Rabbi Berlands attorney Sharon Nahari speak in an English interview about the Rabbi's recent arrest and acquittal by a Holland court against the Israel Police Authority

Monday September 15 Amsterdam Holland

The Rav is freed: Mass celebration at the kotel at 10:30

After being held for a couple of hours pending a court decision with regards to the extradition request from Israel, the Rav is a free man in Holland. The court has declined the request. After hearing both sides the Judge made this comment to the Rav "I am surprised to see how Israel treats such a great man like yourself", and said that there is nothing whatsoever which warrants an extradition to Israel, not only is there no reason for arrest, the Judge has not seen anything that even warrants an Israeli court hearing.

All are invited to thanksgiving prayer at the kotel tonight at 10:30. Afterwards celebration in the Yeshiva in the Old City.
Rabbi Berland will be speaking by telephone at the event.

Story of the arrest and liberation - Knishta Chada journal Issue 32 May 2014 (translated)

Note: this is a rough translation. Please check back later for the completed work. For the original hebrew click here.

BS"D BR"H ISSUE 32 IYAR 5774

The arrest and the redemption

In the article "the story of the arrest and redemption" the story is told about what happened over 200 years ago when the chassidus movement was just beginning and the alter Rebbe of Chabad R' Shneur Zalman of Liadi - the Ba'al Hatanya and Shulchan Aruch Harav brought thousands of people towards Chassidus and there therefore arouse fierce opposition against him. In those days a group of "misnagdim" (opposers) tried to stop him in every possible way from relating the teachings of Chassidus to the common people. The leader of the Misnagdim was Avigdor the Chief Rabbi of Pinsk who after seeing that all the efforts of the Misnagdim to stop the Rav and cool off the Chasidim was not succeeding and the Rav’s community just grew larger and larger, his influence growing and spreading to other villages and cities - Avigdor decided to take action. In the year 5559 he went to the Russian authorities with false accusations against the Rav in order to get him arrested. He said to his friends the misnagdim with content that this will finally destroy the Chassidus movement. Avigdor's intention was so-to-speak "leshaim shamayim” (for the sake of heaven) "a holy purpose", he argued that the Ba'al Hatanya is bringing new ideas into Judaism that destroy the “true” way of the Torah, new things that were never heard of in Judaism and he must be stopped at all costs. They therefore made up lies and accusations that he is rebelling against the King of Russia.

Sure enough the government took it seriously and soldiers were sent immediately to arrest the Rav, to bring him to the capital to investigate the story and to decide what to do with him. The soldiers arrived to the Ravs house and when they entered his room they found him donned with his Tallis and Tefilin in middle of davening. They went to the outer room and sat there to eat until the Rav finishes his prayers. In the meantime the Rav turned to a local Jew by the name of Rav Doober Litman who was inside the room with him and told him that he wants to flee and hide. The Rav took off his Tallis and Tefilin, took them in his hand and escaped through the back door. When they got to a river the Jew lifted the Rav on his shoulders and crossed him the river until they reached the cemetery and there in the cemetery the Rav hid. After a while the Jew was able to find a wagon and took him to a hotel called "sirakaratniya" where they both hid for a certain period of time. In that whole period the authorities pressured the students of the Rav tremendously in order that they reveal to them where the Rav is hiding. In the beginning they threatened that they will burn down the whole city, afterwards when they saw that the threat is not working they spoke to them with soft words and said "understand, eventually we will find the Rav so save aggravation from all of us. Reveal his hiding place for everyone's benefit and also for the benefit of the Rav's trial". Some of the rav's students went to the Rav and told him about all the pressure that the Government is putting them through in order to get them to reveal his hiding place. The Rav answered "I had to flee for a period of time like it says in the torah ‘And Yaakov fled’ but it is now time for my hiding place can be revealed”. The people did that and the soldiers came to the Rav and arrested him with iron chains and took him to prison in a special black wagon for people who rebelled against the king. The news of the arrest spread all over the country and in every city amongst the Chassidim there was mourning fasting and crying.

There is a special "Tikkun" (kabalistic term for specific acts which work to rectify the world in a spiritual sense) of "Yaakov fled" like we wrote about in previous Knishta Chada journals in the name of the Ramcha"l about the fleeing of Moshe Rabeinu and how through that Hashem appeared to him by the burning bush and that was the beginning of redemption even though the actual redemption itself only took place later on. We also mentioned about the fleeing of Rashbi (Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai) that the Ramchal says that only through the fleeing were the secrets of the holy Zohar which is termed ‘the beginning of redemption’ were revealed to him, like it says there "with this sefer the Jewish people will go out of galus”. But there is an even higher tikkun of "And he is bound in chains among all the exile of Jerusalem and Judah" (Jerimiah 40 1) like we will bring later.

On the day that the Ba'al Hatanya was released from prison, the 19^th of Kislev, the Ba'al shem tov and the Maggid memezritch who passed away a few years before appeared to him and told him that the reason of his imprisonment is because there was a kitrug (accusation) in heaven due to the fact that he publicizing Chasiddus which includes hidden secrets of the Torah, and ‘the honor of Hashem is to hide it'. So the Ba'al Hatanya asked his teachers, “Should stop publicizing the Torah of Chasiddus?” They answered, “Just the opposite! Continue on with greater strength because through your imprisonment you mitigated everything! Now permission was given from Heaven to reveal"! Therefore the period of time that the Ba'al Hatanya was imprisoned was 53 days which is like the number of chapters in his book "Tanya". Thousands of Jews around the world especially Chabad Chasidim celebrate the day of 19 Kislev as "Chag Hageulah" (Holiday of Redemption) because this was a great day in which the secrets of the Torah were allowed to be revealed, and through this the prophecy will be fulfilled "your wellsprings will spread outwards", which is what the redemption of the Jewish People depends on.

Also Yosef Hatzaddik when chains of iron were put on him after being greatly humiliated when witnessed him in the center of town in terrible shame after he ran away from Potifar's wife and was arrested without any clothes in middle of the city – a horrible scene! It was clear to all the Egyptians that Yosef Hatzaddik is the biggest adulterer in the world and certainly they wrote the whole story in the Egyptian newspaper that even his own brothers sold him and threw him out of his country and afterwards he was caught red-handed doing terrible sins. The whole Egypt said that if his brothers don't want him in their country then we don't either want him here! “Abusers should be deported” “Egypt is not a safe haven for fugitives”.  His brothers sold him just for a pair of shoes and the Egyptians thought that even that wasn’t a fair deal since he wasn't worth even worth a pair of shoes. All this was probably written in all the Egyptian newspapers together with his picture as he was caught there in the center of town in terrible shame and humiliation.

However, as the story reveals, after all of this, and specifically due to all this humiliation and him being placed in jail, Hashem brought it about that Yosef will become the king of the world and the verse says "And besides him no one can raise his hand or foot in the entire land". Everything turned around! He became the king over everyone! As it says “Yosef is the leader he is the sustainer of all the people”, and from all over the world people would come to him to receive sustenance. He then saved the Jews from hunger and paved the way for the future Geulah (redemption). This is what we wrote about in the previous Knishta Chada jounal in the name of our holy teacher Rebbe Nachman of Breslov that the more the tzaddik becomes degraded the more he will be raised up higher to greatness in the end (see there).

Also the story of King David that from the day he was born no one wanted him he was always shamed and distanced even in his own family and when Shmuel Hanavi said to his father Yishai that he came to anoint one of his sons as the king of Israel Yishai brought all of his sons and left Dovid with the sheep since it was clear to him that Shmuel didn't intend to anoint Dovid. After Shmuel told him specifically that there must be another child and Yishai denied that he has another child until he was forced to bring him. So the midrash says “Just as Yosef was rushed from the pit in order to receive the kinghip, so to Dovid was rushed from after the sheep”. Then Dovid praised Hashem and said "I thank You for You have answered me and become my salvation" and Yishai answered "the stone that the builders despised has become the cornerstone" and then all of Dovids brothers who all the time humiliated him answered "This emanated from Hashem it is wondrous in our eyes" then Shmuel said "This is the day Hashem has made let us rejoice and be glad on it". That's how Dovid received the kingdom. But Dovids entire life was filled with redifos (being chased by his enemies) as is known which continued until Dovid Hamelech was already old and only then did the redifos from all off his enemies and haters finally end and in his zechus and through all the redifos was the beis hamikdosh built and will be rebuilt in the future. Dovid the King of Israel lives eternally!

Moharant and his opposers

Our holy teacher Rebbe Nachman says (Likutei Moharan 228) that every tzaddik who is involved in kiruv rechokim, bringing people close to Hashem, must face lots of opposition, in his words "there necessitates that there be machlokes on the one who brings people to teshuva and makes converts, that he shouldn't have any peace whatsoever, so then whoever comes close, is doing it for real”. He says that Hashem himself makes sure that there will be machkokes on him. We see in all the past generations from the time of Avrahom Avinu (our forefather Abraham), that every tzaddik that was involved in bringing his generation close to Hashem suffered tremendously from redifos and humiliation and opposition; but the tzaddikim suffer it gladly for the sake of heaven.

It's known that Reb Noson the student of Rebbe Nachman was almost killed by his opposers and was literally in life endangerment. After the misnagdim saw that they weren’t successful in killing him since the minister appointed guards to protect him they went to the authorities and paid a large sum of money and made false accusations against him in order to imprison him. They told the authorities two reasons why he must be arrested: 1. He considers himself a prophet and messiah and is misleading people 2. He holds a printing press without a license. When the police arrived with a group of investigators to Breslov to Reb Nossons house and didn't find anything the misnagdim appointed from themselves 12 false pairs of witnesses who sweared falsely and gave a lot of money to bribe and strengthen the lies until they succeeded in their actions and the police handcuffed Reb Nosson in front of the chasidim and Reb Nosson went into jail in the worst cell possible together with murderers and thieves, who as soon as he got there all started to attack him and beat him until the officer heard his shouting and moved him to another cell.

In the second cell it was permitted to bring in some seforim  with paper and a pen and there Reb Nosson wrote one of the most amazing teachings in Lekutei Halochos (yayin nesech 4) there he refers to his arrest and explains in a deep way how there can be a situation in which people who are very religious and even Chasidim yet they can sink to such a low level that they permit themselves to kill another Jew and say it's leshem shamayim “for the sake of heaven”, and that it's a mitzva  to persecute him. How they say this especially about the tzaddik hemes (The true Tzaddik of the generation) who brings the light of Moshiach to the world they explain with all kinds of false explanations that according to the torah it's a mitzvah to persecute him to the ends of his soul. R Noson warns there that there is a danger for every person to fall in their trap if one is not shomer his bris enough (guarding the convent), because all the confusions come from not being shomer habris. Even people who keep the whole torah but in this area they leave off and they say just the opposite; that shmiras habris is not so important and you don't have to have extra holiness and they excuse themselves that for “sholom bayis” it's permissible to do what's wrong, and from that they come to switching around the whole torah and say about impure that it's pure and what's pure they say it's impure and it's a mitzvah to chase the tzaddikim as we saw in the past generations. This is the main reason why the galus is so long, because if people would believe in the tzaddik haemes of the generation everything would be fixed. He continues and says the secret of his arrest, and these are his words: "And because of our great sins in galus it is considered like Hashem himself is sitting in prison like it says 'and he is imprisoned in chains' and as it's brought in the Zohar (tikunei hazhor) many times that about him it is said ‘a prisoner cannot free himself from prison etc' and this thing is only with repentance etc' to break his own prison etc' because the main strengthening of exile g-d forbid is by this item that we spoke about a little that the main power of the yetzer hara which is the exile of the soul is by taking the light from above which is the light of the torah, and shaping it opposite from the truth and because of that all the paths become to him like a straight way since a he makes sins into good deeds, especially the sin of machlokes quarreling. Because this is the main bechinas galus hashchina (aspect of the exile of the divine presence) what each person causes with his sins and especially by this area when he is smart in his eyes and makes himself new mitzvos to permit spilling blood and similar things - Hashem should save us - which happens by shaping the light the opposite way which is considered as if he is holding and imprisoning the shechina in prison and jail literally, since he holds the simple heavenly light in his damaged mind and ruins and shapes the light the opposite way due to the great power of free-will that hashem yisbarach G-d gave to people. It's as if hashem yisbarach must let his holy light be caught in this persons mind against his will which is literally like a  jail and prison of the shechina as is mentioned in chapter 63 of Likutei Moharan on the saying of Rabeinu z"l  that R' Shimon said to R' Akiva when he sat in prison ‘Rabbi teach me torah etc' because when we form Hashem's light down into this world (teaching torah to the wrong minds) that's like imprisonment etc' as it says ‘your king is bound in chains etc' but when we shape the light in holiness in line with Hashem's will that is very pleasurable to Hashem. Learn that teaching (of Rebbe Nachman) well because when the torah comes to a student who is not good he receives the light of the torah in his damaged mind and shapes the light the opposite way. It comes out that he is holding Hashem's light against his will which is literally prison, and even more so these opposers who ruin very much and greatly turn around the light of the truth through there damaged minds which is full of impure thoughts until they shape the light of the torah exactly the opposite way which is literally jail and prison of the shechina the main exile of the shechina, and even more so when the opposers strengthen themselves even more and chase and deliver another Jew into prison, literally, G-d forbid. It's like the shechina is with him in prison since 'I am with him in sorrow', woe to those who cause all of this evil to their souls. This is what it says 'and his hand was holding the heel of esav' the heel signifies when esav will be stronger at the end of the exile, b’ikvita d’mshicha ‘at the heels of redemption’ and he will want to step with his heel on the heads of Israel as in ‘overpowered me has his heel’, then specifically "his hand" which signifies emunah (faith) tefila (prayer) as it says (of Moshe) 'and his hands were faith etc' - stretched out in prayer’, these hands are holding the heel (of Esav) to knock him down and lower him through this (through prayer) for ‘our only power is with the mouth’ to hold on to the profession of our forefathers, that is, to scream out to Hashem from wherever he is.

This is the aspect of the verse said about Shimshon 'who bites the horses heels and his rider falls backward, to your help, Hashem, I yearn 'etc' because Shimshon was the aspect Moshiach as is said in the midrash, and all this is merited through the aspect of ‘to your help Hashem I yearn’, by never giving up hope from the mercy of Hashem ‘even if a sharp sword is on his neck’ chas vshalom, only to hope to His help always and to cry out whatever the circumstance, and through this even if he is under the horses heels he will overcome and defeat the enemies as in 'who bites the heels of the horse and his rider falls backward'.” See this whole teaching, we couldn’t bring it call since it long, but it is very important.

    

The zohar (mishpatim 114) speaks about the secret of ‘the tzaddik in iron chains’ which is "to tie the 'samech mem' under the hand of Hashem, and his companion who is the bad maid under the hand of her owner, they and all of their companions and all of their helpers, will be chained in chains under your hands". The Ramchal  (who himself had a lot of opposition until he was imprisoned) explains  in the sefer adir bamarom part 1 "Hashem wanted the tzadddik to suffer affliction as it's brought in Chaz"al (Sanhedrin 98) and that is what he suffers the afflictions of the sitra achra “other side” for am yisrael The Jewish Nation. This is to do bad for the evil side and about this is said "where he bent over there he fell" because all of the places where the evil side have a holding when they rule, there they become trapped like a bird in a trap that cannot run away afterwards when the holiness is stronger, those levels themselves will become chains on their own necks to surrender them underneath the holiness and to take the revenge that must be taken. In this way will be found all the levels of the evil side that ruled over am yisrael and over Moshiach to close their light and to antagonize them tied and standing in the future. Also Moshe was put in the river since he was also in the shell of Egypt in order that Egypt will be tied up underneath him afterwards. The shechina never leaves the souls to drown in the galus and even more so these souls. It says "and she saw that he is good" that the sehchina was with him "because when the tzaddik is locked and closed in the klipos he takes from them all their power until nothing will be left of them and only through this will be their final downfall and am yisrael will go out of their ruling and this is the secret of Moshe in the house of Pharaoh and Esther in the house of achashverosh 'and afterwards they will go out with a big fortune" since through that will be the geulah.

Rabeinu says (sipurei masiyos) there are tzaddikim who take upon themselves suffering and the rulers lead them in chains" that is the cripple without feet. We saw in the story of the Ba'al  Hatanya that after he did the pasuk "and Yaakov fled" he wanted his students to reveal  his hiding place in order to do the tikun of "he is imprisoned in chains" which is higher and through that there became chag hageulah. Also the Ba'al Hatanya like R' Noson was in the beginning in the worst cell and suffered terribly until they moved him to another cell –it's impossible to imagine how much the tzadddikim suffer for us.

The Tosfos Yom Tov

It's possible to write a whole book about tzaddikim who were imprisoned by their opposers but since the Rav mentioned in the last lecture on Tuesday 13 Nissan about the Tosfos Yom Tov we will also tell about him. In the year 5389 his opposers bribed and put him in prison and he was chased from city to city and it was said about him that he is the biggest criminal in the world and in his trial he was sentenced to death and only through a miracle was he saved. In the merit of all these redifos he merited that in the end his seforim were accepted in am yisrael and his explanation is one of the main explanations on the mishnayos.

Today we are in the year 5774 and everyone thinks that the world is much more liberal than ever before -much more democratic but we see (even though many things are still hidden) that history repeats itself and just like those days 200 years ago the 'Avigdors' of our generation continue to chase the tzaddik emes in every place with all their power. As R' Matisyahu Deitsh the Rav of Ramat Shlomo said that only after it's written in history will we understand what really happened here but now we have to be careful that chas vsholom  we shouldn't fall to the fate of the 'avigdorim' even if now they appear as good and sincere people. Rav Dietsh said imagine to yourselves if the whole moetzes gdolei hatorah would place a cherem on the gerrer Rebbe chas vshalom and would forbid him to join a minyan and his wine is yain nesech that’s how it was in the time of the Ba'al Shem Tov that they put him in cherem.

In the past 50 years we see the Rav serving Hashem with such avodos that cannot be found at all in this generation and even in the previous generations we didn't hear from such avodos with such miseras nefesh and we saw that all the amazing things that Rabeinu and R' Noson did happened by the Rav even more so bechinas pi shnayim(twice as much) Rabeinu says in torah 66 that the student can reach the power of pi shnayim from his rabbi but it's all through the power of his rabbi as we explained in the previous letters about the tremendous power of Rabeinu hakadosh who said "I can make a sincere person literally like me" but one thing was missing to us all these years –that the Rav didn't have terrible opposition and redifos like Rabeinu and R' Noson had but now we see in the recent years that it happened to the Rav  because when R' Noson moved to a different city the opposition quieted down but the Rav continues to be chased throughout the world and he does everything with tremendous happiness with a happiness of mitzvah that can't be described at all. We will write a few stories that we heard what happened with tzaddik hador but the full story will be revealed and understood only in the future.

A war in Hashem

The main goal of the tzaddik's enemies is that people should stop doing tshuva and coming close to Hashem yisbarach as Rabeinu explains (sichos Haran 38) that really they are fighting against Hashem yisbarach himself but since they are ashamed to speak against Hashem instead they speak against the tzaddik. Those bad people saw hundreds of students of the Rav who came to be with him on Pesach in Zimbabwe and since Purim there was every day long prayers and wonderful shiurim and tremendous burning to Hashem. 50 years since the Rav opened the yeshiva we didn't see such things and those enemies that saw that all their efforts that they're moser nefesh (self-sacrifice) to stop the tzaddiks influence in the world but nothing helps. In the beginning when they expelled the Rav from yerushalayim people walked to Beitar every Shabbos 4 hours by foot and when they made the false accusations about the Rav it didn't either help them since everyone continued to come to him and when he was expelled from Israel to Morocco it didn't either help them since also there they came and they worked very hard to expell him from Morocco and it didn't either work since people continued to come in middle of the African jungle with even greater amounts from ever before even people who they succeed in furthering in the beginning through all their lies and accusations now they came to the Rav to ask forgiveness. Because of all of this the students sang on Purim the song "Utzu eitza vsufar". But those bad people don't give up and like in the time of the Tosfos Yom Tov and the Ba'al hatanya  R' Noson and the rest of the tzaddikim ,they are fighting against the `Rav with mesirus nefesh as if it's lshem shamayim a jihad war and they paid thousands of dollars to the top people in the Zimbabwe government and went to the big journalists in Africa to place false accusations against the Rav in order to arrest him and they looked for an excuse to arrest him so they said that his visa was expired. Since when did we ever hear that a person is dressed with prisoners garments and handcuffed only because the date of the visa expired a couple of days ago (even though that was also a lie) but with money you can do everything as is known to everyone the way things work over there. So the police came to the Rav like they came to the Ba'al Hatanya who was with tallis and tefilin and when the Rav heard that they came to arrest him he made a bracha shecheyanu since until now the Rav did the tikun of vayivrach yackov and now he felt the big zechus to fulfill the pasuk "and he is bound in chains among all the exile of Jerusalem" in order to atone for am yisrael as it's written "Now that he has been released from captivity and judgment…for he had been removed from the land of living an affliction upon them that was my people's sin". But "He submitted himself to his grave like wicked men" since through that there will be a downfall for the wicked ones as we explained above because "he would see offspring and live long days and the desire of Hashem would succeed in his hand"(Yeshayahu 53)

We brought in the previous letters the Midrash in yalkut yeshayahu about the tzaddikim who suffer for am yisrael and even though they take upon themselves all the suffering of the world and all the generations they do it with such happiness and tremendous love like we see by the Rav. We wrote this before they arrested the Rav and then we skipped what's written there that the tzaddik goes also in to prison in order to atone for  am yisrael as we wrote above in the name of Rabeinu in Sipurei masiyos.

We wrote about the wanderings of the Rav  that when he left Morocco and arrived in South Africa and we explained the pasuk" and Yaakov went to Charan" that Rabeinu z"l had intentions with all his wanderings and travelling to repel Hashems anger and we wrote that exactly in those days of the Ravs traveling there was a meeting of the leaders of countries in Geneva to make an agreement with Iran to let them finish building the nuclear bomb and in a wondrous way exactly then the Rav landed and finished his wanderings in the world everyone was shocked that the French president said that he is not signing on the agreement and because of his refusal to sign the whole agreement was cancelled and is was postponed for another 5 months to April 8-9 in Vienna and on April 7 they sat to write the agreement and that was exactly the day the police came to arrest the Rav in  Bulawayo .The Rav sat in interrogation for long hours and  the next day went to court and on April 9 left Zimbabwe and when he arrived in the airport in Johannesburg they held him for a couple of long hours and wanted to send him back to Israel and at the same time there was mass prayer at the Kossel for the Ravs success. We were in contact by telephone with the people who were with the Rav and miraculously the second that we finished the last Kaddish at the Kossel they let the Rav in to Johannesburg! And there was great happiness even though we want the Rav here in Israel we were happy that the will of the Rav was done that he wanted to continue his galus and tikunim. It was also known at the same time that the meeting between the leaders of the world in Vienna ended.

A nuclear bomb landed in Israel

This time it isn't so simple like last time as we wrote in letter 30 the Ravs words in the shiur from 3 in Adar 2 and on 10 Adar in the notice of the atzeret (mass prayer) that the Rav said that already in another month a nuclear bomb will land in Israel and in the zechus of the prayers and the tikun hakllali it will transform to candies. And in letter 31 we brought the tefila that the Rav wrote a few years before his galus that we should daven for him that he should emerge from" the decree of the terrible expulsion from the holy land" and we saw that the Rav sees everything upfront and arouses us to tear heavens in prayer and if that won't be enough he will take upon himself everything as it's written (moed katan 16) 'Hashem decrees and the tzaddik nullifies the decree '. Therefore the atzeret was also for the Ravs success and also to nullify the decree of the atom bomb because one is tied up with the other one. A   month after the Rav said these words on the 7 of Nissan the Rav took upon himself hamtakas hadinim (to mitigate the judgments) through his arrest to turn everything into candy. Exactly 30 days afterwards on the 10 of Nissan in Israel the horrible picture of the Rav with handcuffs was shown. There was no one with a Jewish heart that wasn't shocked when he saw that picture. We heard of people that when they saw the picture they did kriah and some sat on the floor and cried. Literally a nuclear bomb landed in Israel and the Rav took it upon himself.

We spoke with one of the Ravs students who came back from Johannesburg and we didn't tell him what we wrote about the Rav that through his arrestment he stopped the decree of the nuclear bomb and he alone told us that he heard from the Ravs daughter who was with the Rav when he left Zimbabwe that the Rav said to her "when I was handcuffed and dressed with the prisoners clothes I felt like I'm holding the atom bomb in my hand".

Everything turned into candy

From the beginning, the intentions of the evil misnagdim was to publicize such a picture and they planned how to do it that the Rav will be dressed like that for 10 minutes and for a second they will take of the kippah from his head and someone will stand at a certain angle in order to take a picture of the Rav in that second. They paid a lot of money in order to bribe the police and the media in order to get such a picture which they can show to the whole world and say look who are your rabbis –the biggest criminals since they know that people are chozer betshuva just from seeing the Rav therefore they wanted to dirty his name that people should stop becoming religious. But it did just the opposite! It had a boomerang effect because people became religious just from seeing that picture. Now people see the truth. It's clear who the people are who are chasing the Rav everywhere and the Rav takes everything with love. The Rav once said that when Iran will throw an atom bomb towards Israel all the torah learning that’s learned in the yeshivas in Israel will disrupt the winds and the bomb will return and land on them. The same thing happened here they wanted to throw an atom bomb on the torah world and dirty the Rav figure in order to damage the tshuva movement but in the end it fell on them and the tshuva movement is growing and multiplying itself from minute to minute. Rav Chaim Ness told us that he goes around in Tel Aviv and all the non religious people come to him and want to know what's happening with Rabbi Berland they want a word of chizuk a small story and are very aroused from everything. He does gatherings in Tel Aviv with hundreds of participants and gives out kippot that has the Ravs name printed on it and these people take upon themselves to wear the kippah for the Ravs success they come in the masses to become religious! And it's all in the zechus of those people who distributed the picture and chase the Rav nonstop. Its years that the Rav is shouting there are no chilonim(non- religious) in am yisrael! There are no rishaim(evil people) in am yisrael! because only the outer appearance looks like that but everyone are believers the son of believers and the light of the torah is found in them as it says the "the eternal life he planted in us" but a drop of truth has to be given to them  and then they awaken. The anti religious media denies that and continues together with Lapid to try and stop the stream of the tshuva and torah learning in Israel since they see that soon all of am yisrael will be religious but it doesn't help them at all because everything that they do stop it only helps us because when everyone sees that they are throwing young boys in to jail because of the terrible crime that they are learning torah and also they saw when Rav Yoram Abargel was handcuffed for no reason and everyday they see Rav Berland being chased by them in the whole world that gives tremendous power to the tshuva movement because the truth is now revealed to everyone. This is what we wrote in letter 28 on the pasuk tzadiK katamaR yifraCh "the tzaddik will blossom like a palm tree" that it's the sofei teivos KoRaCh because through Korach himself will the truth be revealed.

This is one of the responses we received after the picture was publicized "I'm not a Breslover Chassid and until today I had no opinion in the matter but when I see such a picture I begin to understand that the Rav suffers for us. "Our sickness he takes upon himself".

Also many Rabbis who didn't speak until now about this subject suddennetaly say their opinion and support in favor of the Rav and they themselves come closer to the Rav. We heard stories of people who were considered big opposers of the Rav who completely changed. When they saw the picture they called up the Rav to obey their support and to ask forgiveness.

We saw something very interesting recently. The few people who still oppose the Rav fell into such despair that they put out their own "knishta chada" with the same logo and headline that everyone should think that it's us but it was full of lies and bad language against the Rav and whoever saw their letter immediately saw without a doubt who these people are. And how far down do they go to use the headline of a known paper and fill it with lies and blasphemy in the name of rabbis. The first who called us were the rabbis themselves and their students who said that it's all lies and things that were never said and now they understand who are the people who are persecuting the Rav. They say that from this they see the greatness of the Rav and how much people are fighting against him and he suffers everything quietly as it's written in Yeshayahu 53 "He was persecuted and afflicted but he did not open his mouth like a sheep being led to slaughter or a ewe that is silent before her shearers he did not open his mouth. Now that he has been released from captivity and judgment who could have imagined such a generation? For he had been removed from the land of living an affliction upon them that was my people's sin" but even so we are beginning to see also "He submitted himself to his grave like wicked men…for he bore the sin of multitudes and prayed for the wicked (yeshayahu 53. It came about also tzaddiK katamaR yifraCH (the last letters KoRaCH) that through korach himself will the truth be revealed and in the end they will say we have all strayed like sheep each of us turning his own way and Hashem inflicted upon him the iniquity of us all".

Rabbi Akiva's hand washing

 In the pictures that were shown after the arrest you can see the Rav holding bottles of water even when he is handcuffed. Everyone wonders about this and ask since when is it so urgent for the Rav to drink water? Whoever knows the Rav knows that that the Rav never asks for something to eat or drink ,only if it's given to him he eats a little and drinks a few sips and there are known stories that the Rav went for days without eating or drinking because no one brought him any food and he was busy with avodas hashem and learning so what are those bottles of water that he is holding with such care? We investigated and heard that the Rav was concerned that he should have water for washing his hands since the Rav is very strict about washing his hands before every prayer and at his arrest the Rav didn't know where he would be and for how long so the first thing he made sure that he would have water for washing his hands. It's exactly like the gemara tell about Rebbe Akiva how he was moser nefesh  for the mitzvah of netilas yadayim when he was imprisoned and didn't even think of drinking even though it was life endangered since he didn't eat or drink for a couple of days and when the chachamim heard  and how he was concerned even in such situations to keep the halacha  they said if in his elderly so –in his youngness even more so and if in prison so –when not in prison even more so . The same thing we saw by the Rav.

Simcha of the mitzvah

Recently the Rav spoke in the shiurim a few times about Nachum ish gamzu that his greatness was that in every situation he was in he said it's the best that can be! It's different than what Rebbe Akiva said "all for the best "that in the end it will be good but there is an even higher level to see that now it's the best! We saw this by the Rav. He was in such happiness and hislahavus when they arrested him and afterwards when they persecuted him in Johannesburg he looked as if he is doing the biggest mitzvah and he is doing it with his whole heart with happiness of the mitzvah. The Rav left Zimbabwe like a king wearing his tallis and tefilin and the whole plane received him with great honor and with tremendous happiness and they sang si'u shearim rosheichem

The zechus to suffer for the tzaddik

When they were forced to leave Zimbabwe close to Pesach most of anas"h  who stayed in Zimbabwe from Purim travelled to Johannesburg by bus men women and kids . It's was very close to Pesach and literally like yetzias mitzrayim(leaving Egypt) they left in a hurry but this time not only did they not have time to bake matzos there wasn't even time to take them along and they left all the 600 kilo of matzos over there! They rented 4 buses and left for the long journey. One of the buses got stuck on the way and they were delayed in Africa 24 hours with almost no food or drinks in tremendous suffering. It's brought in the reishis chochma in the name of tana dvei eliyahu that the passuk says "he is suffering from our sins "meaning that just like the tzaddik suffers from our sins since we cause him to suffer so to whoever wants that the tzaddik shouldn’t suffer from our sins should suffer himself. This is brought also in sefer Chasidim that one Chassid suffered  for his sins and said this reason. We won't know until the next world how much these people helped the tzaddik with all that he goes through for us but it's clear that it's a very big zechus to each and every one that was stuck there just like every person who comes to the tzaddik with mesiros nefesh that it's impposible to describe the zechus. R' Noson once said that even if the whole way was full of knives I would crawl on my hands and feet in order to get to Rabeinu. In the time the bus was stuck the Rav was held up in the airport. Anas"h called up the Rav and told him that their stuck and there isn't any food or drinks and there are small children so the Rav said to dance and in an hour everything will be okay. Sure enough afterwards a few blacks came with bananas fruit and drinks and an hour later another bus came to take them.

People think there is a limit to how much can a person persecute the tzaddik and afterwards they will give up but one thing we can learn from them –never to give up! Just like they continue to persecute the Rav everywhere and cause him anguish so to we have to follow the Rav and his advice with mesiros nefesh. Before the Rav and his students arrived to Johannesburg the enemies already worked hard to cause him anguish over there and in the airport they didn't want to let him in. The Rav was delayed for long hours and the whole time was extremely happy and calm and the Rav prayed with anas"h mincha and maariv with songs and they danced. In the meantime the border police checked up about the Rav since the enemies told them that they shouldn't let him into Johannesburg and they brought them all the articles from the media where it's written that the Rav is wanted in Israel and is thrown out from every place. They didn't succeed and the Rav was let in to Johannesburg but even there the enemies weren't quiet and kept on chasing the Rav and they sent letters to all the rabbis and advertised in the local newspaper all those false accusations that the Rav was accused of in Israel and they tried to cause that the local Jews would not take in anyone. But this also didn't help them since Jews are rachmonim bnei rachmonim and they opened up their homes and put up a huge tent for everyone and cooked all of the meals for Pesach and all this only a few days before Pesach. Besides a few local people who believed the lies and tried to cause a commotion no one paid attention to them. After Pesach the local newspaper revealed the truth and wrote everything- that the Rav is a real tzaddik and it's all false accusations. It was a big Kiddush hashem and those who at the beginning believed the lies and didn't let anyone in to their homes completely changed and came to help those who stayed in any way they could. The evil enemies worked hard to stop the Ravs students from being with their rabbi on Pesach and they hired the services of the "hawks" who are like the secret police in Israel and are higher ranking than the regular police and are above the law and the locals told us that they are corrupt people and it all works by them with bribery. They searched the Rav the whole holiday. In the meantime some of the rabbis in "shuvu bonim gave shiurim to the local people on Pesach in their homes and they were very impressed from them and wanted them to stay after Pesach.

On chol hamoed the Ravs students succeeded in reaching him. In the morning he was in a hotel in the city and the hotel owners gave them a big hall and they prayed shachris with the Rav.  Even one minute to see the tzaddik and to pray with him was worth the whole effort and mesiros nefesh to reach him as we mentioned in the previous letter the passuk "it's better one day in your courtyard then a thousand" that it's better to do avodas hashem with the tzaddik even one day than to serve hashem in another place a thousand years. They said that the prayer was literally "olam haba" for a couple of long hours and the Rav was the whole time in tremendous happiness- they danced and jumped and sang and said hallel and read from the small sefer torah that goes along with the Rav to every place and they prayed musaf and started to say tikun haklali and all of a sudden the Rav disappeared! No one knew where he is. They went outside and saw the Rav go in to a car and the car drew off. He saw in ruach hakodesh that the "hawks " are coming to search him as we saw in the story of the Ba'al Hatanya that the soldiers came in middle of the prayer and he ran out through a side door so to the Rav left the prayer and went down the emergency steps because the Rav decided to do "and Yaakov ran away".  This is what happened. One of the Ravs students was staying by one the wealthy Jews of Johannesburg and when the Jew heard that he is going to the Rav he said take my Jaguar car since I want to have the merit that you will travel with it to the Rav and maybe I will also merit that the Rav will travel in my car. But the student didn't want the responsibility to drive with such an expensive car in a country that he is not familiar with and the roads are in the opposite directions like in England so he said that he will take a taxi but the person was the stubborn until the guy agreed. So he took the jaguar and right when he arrived there the Rav walked out to him and went in to the car and told him to drive. Whoever drove once with the Rav saw a wondrous thing that anywhere in the world the Rav knows all the directions as if a map is spread out in front of him and sometimes the Rav directs the driver without looking up and his eyes are in the sefer and he says when to turn right or left (as it’s related in the book uman-the yearning that destroyed walls) So the Rav told him exactly where to go. In the meantime all of anash when they saw that the Rav left they thought the Rav drove to the shul since it was planned that there the Rav would give a shiur so everyone took taxis and when they arrived there was a Jew standing outside and warned them the "hawks" are searching for the Rav over here. So they said we are also searching for the Rav and they went in and saw a group of "hawks" waiting for them and they started to ask questions if they know Rabbi Berland and if they know where he is staying. They had with them a booklet with pictures of the Rav from different stages in his life which they received from those people in Israel who hired their services to search for the Rav. They looked at one of the rabbis of the community who looks similar to the Rav and they thought that it's the Rav so they asked him for his passport but it wasn't on him it was at his house so they took him in to their car and drove to his home to see his passport and in this time the Rav succeeded in escaping and traveled far away from there. In middle of the way all of a sudden another car came and the Rav went in to the second car and that happened a few times. The whole time the Rav was tremendously happy and lively and danced like at the weddings with bridge dance that the Rav does at weddings and said a lot of jokes and sang songs with joy of the mitzvah of "Yaakov ran away" unbelievable! We heard that now the Rav sits in his room and learns the whole day and night and the Rav said to one of anash how happy he is that he was arrested in Zimbabwe since he received such lights  from that and he said that on hour of his learning is like 50 years that he previously learned. On erev shvii shel pesach he learned the whole day and at 10 o'clock at night there was a blackout and the Rav was in big sorrow that he couldn't continue learning he said I wanted to learn until 12 but probably hashem wanted me to sing songs.

On Tuesday isru chag Pesach there was a mass prayer in Shuvu Bonim on Ido Hanavi Street in Jerusalem with hundreds of participants. The speakers were Rav Matisyahu Deitsh shlit"a the Rav of Ramat Shlomo and the son in law of Rav Moshe Halbershtam zt"l and Rav Moshe Menachem Kluger shlit"a the head of mosdos kever Rachel. Afterwards we merited to hear a wonderful shiur from the Rav through the telephone for an hour and a half. The shul was jam packed even though only a day before it was notified and hundreds were still in Johannesburg.

Rav Deitsh said "I had heard that the community had fallen apart and when I came here I thought I would find here 20-30 people. I'm very happy to see such a holy community. We literally see here "eternal Israel won't lie"!

Rav Matisyahu Deitsh spoke and said "I am very moved to stand and speak here when in front of my eyes is the holy and beloved figure of the Rav and it's possible to say that is a concept of the shechina in galus. Afterwards he spoke about the way the torah was transferred in the course of the generations to klal yisrael starting with Moshe Rabeinu who gave us the torah at mount Sinai and later on Rashb"I who revealed the secrets of the torah  and afterwards the Ari Hakadosh who brought it closer to our minds and then the Ba'al Shem Tov and his students and Rabeinu who brought it even closer to avodah masit for instance there is the holy heichal(chamber) very very high and no one knows about it until someone comes and reveals to us that there is such a heichal which is what Rashb"I revealed. Afterwards someone comes and brings a picture of the heichal and then we start to understand how is looks (that's the Ari) and then comes someone and he shows how the heichal is built and then another one comes and simply starts building the heichal and says here is the heichal!...Then Rav Deitsh said try to imagine the fierce opposition that the Ba'al Shem Tov had and the worst things were said about him and all of the gdolei yisrael said it! For instance if today the moetzes gdolei hatorah were to go against the Gerrer Rebbe and would put him in to cherem and say that his wine is yayin nesech(a non Jews wine) and it's forbidden for him to participate in a minyan that’s how it was by the Ba'al Shem Tov! And also by Rabeinu that they burnt his seforim!  That’s how it is in all the generations- every tzaddik that brought more of am yisrael to hashem there was a terrible decree on him! But today who remembers those misnagdim? Almost nothing was left from them! But the words of the tzaddikim are alive and standing! Also by us all those who speak against the Rav in the future it will be history just like all those who spoke then     against the Ba'al Shem Tov and against Dovid Hamelech and all of the tzadddikim in the course of the generations. That’s how it will look when the truth will come out and in the meantime we have to be strong.

Then Rav Deitsh said that we have to know that the Satan himself is fighting with us! Since such a holy community like Shuvu Bonim with true ovdei hashem one of the most illustrious communities that am yisrael has and the satan looked for different ways that no one imagined in his mind to ruin it. Only the satan who is a angel of hashem could do such a thing! But we have powers against the Satan! He said that he remembers his father in law the gaon hatzaddik R' Moshe Halbershtam zt"l  who was a member of the badatz eida hachareidis and one of the greatest poskim of the generation and one of the biggest tzaddikim of the generation who was  myuchas (lineage)  to many of the tzaddikim of previous generations and was a grandson- son after son to the 'Divrei Chaim' of tzanz  and a grandson of the 'Noam Elimelech' the Belzer Rebbe and the Rofshitz Rebbe …and was close to all gdolei hador and had connections with all of them but when he would mention moreinu harav shlit"a it would be with special admiration and with great honor! He said that it's known how his father in law was so given over to the community and always was amazed at the special avodas hashem  of shuvu bonim. He brought the pasuk "Thus said Hashem I recall for you the kindness of your youth the love of your nuptials your following Me into the wilderness into an unsown land"  and said we are now in the period of time of "your following Me in the desert "and that time is most beloved before hashem when klal yisrael were in the desert in complete darkness and didn't know what's going to be but came about the pasuk "your following Me" with closed eyes and with true  faith in Hashem and true faith in the tzaddik emes and in that zchus we will see "the love of your nuptials". About this time can be said "it's a time of distress for Yaakov" but "from this will he be saved". He said we have to learn from Napoleon who said that the secret of his success is that his army started off with the victory song already at the beginning of the war. We have to start singing the victory song! The Satan is not looking  for the Rav he doesn't want to put the Rav in jail or in handcuffs. Nothing! He knows that the Rav nothing bothers him whoever knows the Rav knows that nothing bothers him! I had the zechus to learn with the Rav hour after hour and in the future I will also merit with Hashems help and I saw that all the rough things that happened to him didn't bother him at all! But here in the holy community the Satan wants to break each and everyone and that we can't let him do! He ended off saying" I have no doubt that the day will come in hashems help very soon and we will meet here and we will have a big reception for the Rav and there will be tremendous happiness! The happiness will break all the walls! In hashems help there won't be any more anguish! We will then sing a new song and we will understand the kindness that Hashem did with us" I recall for you the kindness of your youth the love of your nuptials" with Hashems help there won't be any sorrow! Everyone will have a salvation for what he needs! From this will sprout a big salvation for all of klal yisrael! And very soon we will merit to the coming of Moshiach with great pity and kindness Amen V'Amen!

After Rav Kluger spoke Rav Deitsh stood up and added" I sat here and remembered whole nights that I merited and will future merit that I learned with the Rav the holy torah. I think it's forbidden for us to talk about the greatness and holiness of the Rav. All the words just reduce since the Ravs greatness is not fathomable! The power! The great light of the Rav! I can say that even in torah learning -baruch Hashem I grew up my whole life between sages and gdolei yisrael- the tremendous power of the Rav in the revealed and hidden torah and avodas hashem is impossible to speak about! I wanted to say that we have to leave here with kabalot"afterwards Rav Deitsh requested from someone to go around with a paper and everyone will write what good thing will he take upon himself to nullify the decree such as hours of learning tikun haklali hisbodedus etc'. Rav Deitsh himself said he is taking upon himself  an hour of learning for the Ravs success. Whoever wants to add on his name to the list with the item he took upon himself can e-mail us knishtachada@gmail.com or by mail or call 0548407573 and we will pass it on to the Rav.

Rav Moshe Menachem Klugers words

"it's with awe and fear to stand here in this holy place this holy of holies  the house of prayers of the Rav shlit"a the house of the holy community it's literally awe and fear to stand before the public to speak. We are very very small to speak at all to whatever's concerning the Rav shlit"a. Whoever's connected to the community and to the Rav knows the avodas hashem the holiness the spirit of holiness that the Rav put in to am yisrael the mesiros nefesh the concern of the Rav for am yisrael and for the holy shecina (divine presence)"it's frightening to even open the mouth to speak. He said that recently he was by a few gdolei yisrael "I saw how the true tzaddikim those who truly fear Hashem how they have fear and honor and great respect for the Rav shlit"a. When I was by one of the great tzaddikim at the yartzeit of R' Aharon hagadol of Karlin he told me 'you should know we are talking about someone that’s similar to R' Aharon hagadol of Karlin who is known to have been machzir betshuva 80000 ba'alei teshuva'. Who is like the Rav- may hashem extend his days and years peacefully- who gave his soul and didn't care about anything only this –to bring Jews to their father in heaven'. Just as R' Ahron hagadol had upon himself great wars and he was expelled from the city with humiltaion and curses as it's known. You should know that that's what happening here. Moreinu Harav is involved in this item with mesiros nefesh and the yetzer hara went out to war against him and wants chas vesholom to quiet this power! R' Kluger continued and said" I’m not saying anything new everyone understands this and feels simply that what's happening here it's not for no reason that the whole world is turning upside down all the media is turning upside down about some rabbi that some thing not reasonable is said about him –it's certainly that there is a war against him! Against this whole holy community! But as R' Matis shlit"a said in hashems help we will win. It's correct that there is a power here that it's like stronger than us but we have a power that with this we will win with Hashems help since all of the angels in heaven and all of the tzadikim are waiting that Jews will come and serve Hashem truly and will redeem and raise the honor of the tzadikim and the honor of holiness. We have to be smart to leave here with great wealth like we learned when we left Egypt that am yisrael when they fall down afterwards they go out with great wealth not to go through this like just another thing that we went through rather the opposite to leave with great wealth! Who doesn't know? Everyone knows that the holy chabura of shuvu bonim is a chabura that in the whole world there isn't such a chabura! I can't forget tens of years ago when I was a young teenager and then a married man when you would see a teenager or a young married man from shuvu bonim come to the Kossel it would look like a contingent from the army not like some poor guy coming to say a chapter of Tehilim –and leaves. They would march like soldiers going into battle. I'm not exaggerating that’s what it was whoever saw it with a true eye always saw that. Who doesn't know this secret? It's a special avodas hashem that can't be found in the whole world if it's the long prayers if it's the intense learning if it's the long steady hours of learning gemara ktzos hachoshen and all the things that the Rav puts in. Such success such things the Rav succeeded in bringing in here! But the yetzer hara wants to weaken that he wants to quiet it in such a way…our job is "and afterwards they went out with big loot" everyone from the holy and pure community has to take responsibility what can I do that the holy goal of the Rav will grow bigger? What can I do in the chabura? How can I strengthen myself and the guy sitting next to me and my neighbor and my son and those who I have influence on him? There is no doubt that everyone in this community has the power like the gdolei hador in other places! It's not exaggerations! It's clear as the sun! he finished off with these words" when a tzibur comes and scream 'we want the Rav we want the leader of holiness we want the bitul to the holiness' there is no power- not for the media and not for the police and not for anything else that wants to damage. In the power of these prayers and the chizuk that we strengthen one and other and we are strong in every holy thing in Hashems help we will tear the decree and we will continue that it will be "for the Jews there was light and joy and happiness "bracha vhatzlocha in the most revealed and successful way to the Rav and his followers Amen.

Rav Eliyahu Ifargan shlit"a

It was told to Rav Eliyahu Ifargan shlit"a all that’s happening recently with the Rav that he was taken in handcuffs and afterwards was expelled from Zimbabwe and that in the end it turned out that the ones who caused everything were the enemies of the Rav who instigated against him and all that happened with him and his students on the way to Johannesburg and in Johannesburg etc'. When he heard all this he sat down on the floor in middle of the shiur to participate in the galus and sorrow of the shehcina and said" Rav Berland took upon himself exile and humiliations again before Pesach like Rebbe Eliezer Hagadol that when he was put into cherem it was before Pesach. Everyone has to participate in his sorrow and the sorrow of the shechina. According to Kabalah and Rabeinu opposition and exiles and humiliations that the tzadik takes upon himself is to take off the fierce judgment when the evil side persecutes with different persecutions and not every tzadik can dare to take such an exile and humiliations in such a way therefore we have to know that the tzadik suffers because of us and his galus is for our good and we shouldn't sit each one under his vineyard and fig tree and not participate in his exile and sorrow. When the Creator of the world will ask in the next world the tzadikim what did you do for am yisrael? Everyone will say this and this etc' and then Hashem will explain his question and will say to them but who took upon himself exile for them who agreed to suffer for them who agreed to take from his bread for participating in the sorrow of the shechina. Such a big tzadik who is the breath of our nostrils moshiach Hashem which is the soul of Rebbe Eliezer Hagadol is rolling in dirt all because he chose that himself and Hashem does good through a good person and bad through a bad person as it's known may Hashem save us. So who can stand in the anger of the big kitrug of those who bloat themselves with pleasures and false publicity and eat plenty at the time that the shechina is in exile and the tzadik emes is rolling in dirt. Woe to that shame that they don't try to participate in the sorrow of the shechina in the sorrow of the tzadik. I have a kabalah from my forefathers that the evil side is growing in these days and getting more powerful from day to day as we see with our eyes. Therefore all those who participate in the sorrow of the shechina and the sorrow of kneses yisrael and the sorrow of the tzadik in this hard time causes to ease up from the sorrow and with this he gets more power to bring the geula(redemption). This is what's said in tikun chatzos "the nations have entered into your inheritance they have defiled the Sanctuary of your holiness they have turned Jerusalem into heaps of rubble. They have given the corpse of Your servants as food for the birds of the sky the flesh of Your devout ones to the beasts of the earth". Therefore we will pray and ask from the Creator of the world that he should ease the sorrow of the tzadik and through that the sorrow of shechina and we should merit in seeing him quickly and Hashem should tell him to return and the big tikkun that this pure and awesome person took upon himself should end. All the participants will take upon themselves a good deed and extra torah learning in order to ease this holy person's sorrow and I'm warning all those that listen to me and all those who came to the shiur no one should dare to open his mouth against this holy of holies. And whoever dares to do that it's literally like he 's speaking against the shechina. Woe to him and to his children and praiseworthy to that one who closes his mouth he will merit to bounty of holiness and PESHA(sin) will become SHEFA(bounty) through "forgiving the sin Amen Vamen.

When the Rav was in Morocco Rav Ifargan travelled to him and they spoke for an half an hour.

Rav Shalom Arush shlit"a

20 Nissan 5774 the fifth day of Chol Hamoed Pesach Rav Shalom Arush spoke in a shiur to his students in yeshivat chut shel chesed after shachris and said" woe to him who has bad thought about my Rabbi woe to him I'm not jealous of him not in this world and not in the next world". Even if he just has a bad thought about him woe to him. A person has to be completely stupid to have bad thoughts about a person who opened the way to Uman a Jew who built up Breslov. All Breslov would be nothing without the Rav! Nothing! Without the Rav there wouldn’t be anything in Breslov I know that he did everything. I know very well what he did. Why did he decide to take upon himself exile and opposition and humiliations we don't know. He decided to take it upon himself so that’s it. How can we interfere with the avodah of tzadikim?! That’s not our job. But to question him woe to that one who has bad thoughts about him woe to him! In my yeshiva it's important to me that everyone should be in peace with all of am yisrael and for sure with all the tzadikim of the generation…we can't understand what the tzadikim go through. What do you understand?! You understand in tzadikim?! You don't understand in tomato salad (laughs) you understand in tzadikim?! It's very important to me that in the yeshiva they will use the middah of peace to be in peace with all of am yisrael also with those poor people who oppose us we are at peace with them also those who oppose us and degrade us we also love them-they just don't have knowledge. Thank god a little knowledge we got from Rabeinu Hakadosh who said "peace is according to the knowledge whoever doesn't have knowledge is in opposition. Opposition comes from lack of knowledge and peace comes from knowledge. I'm asking everyone to pray for the honor of my teacher my Rabbi Eliezer ben etya. He's going through many humiliations and opposition. I have tremendous sorrow what this tzadik is going through so much humiliations and opposition that it's not understandable at all!! It's forbidden for us to stand aside we will pray that Hashem will redeem us …(it's possible to hear this at this number 0583287777 ext.43)

R' Dovid Abuchatzera shlit"a

We wrote in previous letters the words of R' Dovid Abuchatzera who said great words about the Rav shlit"a and his exile. Recently someone was by him and again asked him about the Rav and what's said about him so he said "Rav Berland is number 1 in shemiras habris and certainly there is no point in paying attention to all those words".

Rav Mordechai Gross shlit"a. One of anash was lately by the big posek Rav Mordechai Gross shlit"a the Gava"d of 'chanichei yeshivas' and told him thay he is a student of Rav Berland and immediately Rav Gross said how is he feeling? All the time I pray for him"!in 5771 on yesod shebyisod the Rav and Rav Gross went to the grave of Yosef hatzadik in shchem together with 3000 Jews.

One of the rabbis in Johannesburg called up the chief rabbi Rav Yitzchok Yosef and asked him if he should take in anas"h so he said it's a mitzvah to give them all their needs so he asked and what is your opinion about Rav Berland? So Rav Yosef answered him if my father (Rav Ovadya Yosef zt"l) honored him I rely on my father. They also asked him' but Rav Berland has strange things' so Rav Yosef said every tzadik has strange things. We previously wrote the words of Rav Ovadya Yosef zt"l who told his grandson when he came to ask him about the rumors against Rav Berland and when he entered his room Maran said "you're going to speak now about an angel of Hashem! Be careful! Whoever speaks against him is playing with fire!