Rav Berland 723h1h

The Fire and the tight

his trainingcourse,hehadgoodintenticnsu'henhetookajob in After Dennyfinished positivelyrvhile hewassurehe'dbe ableto influen.ce his colleagues a secularcompany; maintainingabarrierbetweenhimselfandthe openrl'orldarrund him. But asBenny u,eakened. rosethroughthe ranks,his strongconnectionto Yicldishkeit tallisof RavEliezer hehaddavened for hoursnextto thetear-soaked In hischildhood, Berland,the powerfulyet enigmaticleaderof the Brei;lovShrrvuBanimcommunity. Theboy'sfather,whowasborn into a nonobservanthome,w:rspart of this groupand wascloseto the manwho had ignitedthe flamesof enthusiasmfor Yiddishkeitin the heartsof thousandsof people. Evenashebecameddistancedfrom Yiddishkeit,Bennystill devotedfiveminutes a dayto putting on tefillin and recitingthe first chapterof Slrema.He kepthis small But onemorning, tefillinbagon his deskbesidethe computerandthe newspapers. Suddenly, his lipsbegarrmumtrlingthewordsofpsuke[ somethingunusualhappened. d'zimrahin a captivatingtunehehadonceheardRavlSerlantlsingin Breslov. "I couldn't control myself," he related. "I imagirne:d the llav's tefi.Ilahand found myselfdaveningthe way he does slowly,savoringeverywc rd, and with a tune that Iiterallymeltedmy heart.I hadn'tdavenedlike that for years,Theforcewasstronger than me,biggerthanme." away After hismothered his*'orlJ,u.ned d:rr,k. Yosefwasanrclderbochurwhen His an emotionalshell,hefelt enl'elopedirrperpetualsadness. andhis fatherbecame fatherwasshatteredby hiswife'singandcouldbarelyfu rction himseli let alone providefor his devastated son. Beforeher ing,betweencaringfor his mothrerin the hospitaland tendingto Yosefbeganli.steningl o shidduchsuggestions, mattersof the motherlesshousehold, the suggestions stoppedcorningandhe did nothing blackness, but in the enve.loping to pursuethem. Yosefbecamea shadowof his formersell until onedesperat:night,hefoundhimself on HaChomahHaShlishisStreetin Jerusalem,whereRavEliezerBerlandlived.The into his privatestudll The sleeping, sothe Ravtiptoedwith the,bochur Rebbetzinwas his Ravhowwretched young tellingthe spillingout his hearyload, manbegan miserable

46f^sFiPACHA "dIfrd *

26.1:

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R a v El yaLopi anw i th hi s i nnerci rcl e." C hassi dusi s real l yfor Li tvaks"

shoving to ;4etas close as they could to the Rar',rvhen ;uddenly, his eyes flxed on the bochur he'd never met. "By the v'eek of Shavuos,you will be eng&;g€,d," Rav Berland stated. The bochur heard, but'ras surprised; he hadn't asked for abracha,i- and he rvasn'teveninterested in ;gettingnrarried -vet. ,\ll plans aside,on the day after Shnvuos, the ltochur became engaged.That bochur

life rvas and hou'he wished he rvere dead. Rav Berlan(l u'as silent. "Come. let us cry together,"he said finiilill

wa,sme.

"Let us cr1',sinrplycr.-nHaKadosh Barucl'rHu will listen to our weeping."And that's 'uvhat

Firom Sccret Worlds At tt2 Kedusuburb in theJerusalem shasLeviStreert

they did. For a fuil hour and a hali Rav Berland held the hand of a 1'oungman he didn't

o f B e i t a r I l l i t - - l l a v B e r l a n d ' sn e t t ' h o m e - m a s s e sl l o c k f r o m a l l o v e r t h e c o u n t r l '

knon'.and thevrvepttogether. Rav Berlan
j u r ; t t o s t a r :d o u t s i d et h e b u i l d i n g . \ l o s t o f t h , : r n u ' i l l r r o t e v e n g e t t o s e e h i s f a c e ,b u t

minutes later. bursting back into the room, this time encouraging and full of smiles. "Forget everything. From nolv on, Hashem rvill treat you rvith great kindness." I hearclthir; from Yosef hirnself',todav a happy father of three little children. a Severalyeal'sagoon Chol HaNIoedPesach,

rvill suffictr rvith being in close proximity'. When neighbors began to complain a b o u t h a r es s m e n t , R a t ' B e r l a n d i s s u e d a u ' a r . n i n gt t L a tn o o n e s h o u l d d a r e d i s t u r b the other r:sidents. Rav Eliei:el Beriirnd is a m1'ster1"and his l i f , ei n r e c e n t ) ' e a r sh a s b e e n f r a u g h t u ' i t h rumors anc intrigue surroundingthe power strulggleover his institutions. Yet u'rapped in

a cftassrdrshebochur davening at the Kosel suddenlyfelt e.crush and commotion behind

his tallis is a porverful.esoteriersonality hidden frori thoservho seekhirn, the secrets

him. RavBerlandu,asconductinga ceremonY I'zecher alit,ohI'regel,u'ith a large crorvd of

of his lif'etoo elusiveto be decipheredeven b1'thoseu-ltoare closestto irim'

his falmrdrm.The crou'd u'as pusi'tingand

' l i L : . : - - :

> - . a . . . : _

' - _ - -

his thoughtsseemto t'oam \\'hen he speaks.

in otller spheres.He thinks so fast th:tt f-ew can kr-'ellup rvith him. Conceptsfrom the secretworld of soripepper his conversations- evenrvhendiscrussing day-to-day matters. When he speaks, his entire body moves rvith his lips as lris eyesseemto rise to the Heavens.In Bt'eslov they call this nlshmospeleh.chiddushL"e'oro, a n'on,droussoul that is an innovation irr his generation. He was born in Haifa in 1937 into a nationallreligiousfamily, spendinghis yo.rth in of the state.He Bneir\kiva in the earlyS'ears later r;lakedhis thirst for Torah in the Lithuanian Torah u'orld, as he spent entirerclays b e n t , c v e rh i s s e t o r i m i n Y e s h i v a sK n e s s e s Chizkiyahu in Kfar Chassidim,and later in Kollel Ponevezhand Kollel Volozhin in lSnei Brak. His influenceswere RoshYeshivahRav Eliyahu Eliezer \{ishkovsky, MashgiachRav Elil'ahu Lopian, the SteiplerGaon,and other leadingTorah giants in Bnei Brak of ttre last generation. And then he discoveredthe teachi ngsof RebbeNachman and the endlessfounl:from ri'hich he rvasable to draw a different s;ortof rvisdom. It was through this path thttt Rav Berla'ndhas drarvn thousands of pele to mitz','ah observance.It began rvith a ,r:rndful o1talnt[dint,rvhichbecame a yes]til'ah, ri'hicl-rbecermea community, which glew into a mor,ement.

r , ,si r P A C "^47

,:#i.-

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c .. .t

It's 5:30a.m'Ahandful of chassidimare standingoutside,yawning,battling their "What areyou doinghere?"I exhaustion. askedthetn."N{ayberve'llbe zochehto see faint the tzaddik,"they replv'And for that spendstreet' the theYsleepin possibilitlr, learningout of ingnightsunderthebaresk-v' smallseforimunderthe streetlights' jourRavBerlandhasjust returnedfrom a preneyto Am.ukahin the Galil,andin this dawntimt:,hasgrantedustwo hours'during rvhichrverlrepermitteda fleetingglanceinto he his rivetirrginnerrvorld'Uponhis return' - there Amukah at people the said,"I tc'ld - 'Don'tyou werehundredsof peoplethere are seethe fire and the light? Tzaddikim There iife' in are they greaterin deaththan awesomeIighthere''" is a tremt:ndous, Thedoorto RavBerland'sroom opens;he in tallis andteflliin' It's is alreadlzrvrapped obviousthat he hasbeenfastingfor manl' he hours.Br:tat 74,ma1'heIiveandbe rvell' rituthe of any in doesn'ttry to getoff easy brrchos alshe'stakenon himself'He begins grows that a captivatingtune hashacharin one steadilyiouder."RabbeinusaYSthat up must sirrgthe tefitlosforthem to ascend shoulon High,"RavBerlandteaches'I{is entire his and closed are e-ves his swity, ders sert'e to amh'ere I message: the bodycoltveys youv,it,\mt,entiresoul.

48

havefourrdthe mi ssi ngsol d ier s? bon bed-outLebanon,coul dthey F'irst a LiWak RavBerland'sschedule he transc,:ndstime and space'Oneminute can he canbe at home,and a momentlater the North be en route to A'ivreitzaclctikimin hours or in tlLeShomron.FIesleepsonlvtrvo finishing after usuallv periocl, in a 2'1-hour Nighttimeis for Torahstud'v'His Shach,rris. pages- personal tableir;piledrvith,vellorved ator'and tefiltosh*.o*po,td, Iettersto l'risCre he hasrvritten down' chiclclr-'shimthat Eliezer From the time he waslittle' Rav "I lived spirituality' to Berlard u'asdrawn school m-v in one only in Ha.fa,andrvasthe up if me beat to rvith it hat.Thel''threatened wearing kept I but i kepl con'ringin m1'hat' at me'why did I insist it. Th: menahelyelled I told on berngdifferent,it rvasn'ta d'Oraysa'

hrimI insisted on wearing the hat' the "My brother Rav Yechezkel Berland' started artd' me ra, in Nehorah, followed l;ookhim rvearing his tzitzis over his shirt' t RavYaainto put him out of high school and lJaSharon' Hod in IcovEdelstein'syeshivah life' but lrle had never learned Gemara in nis ',,vhenRav Edelsteintestedhim' he nderstood mind; to .itall. He had abrilliant, analytical this daYhe still does'" years Rav Berland spent three and tt half he There in Kfar Chassidim, from ageI"7' Mishklearned under Rav Eliyahu Eliezr:r how ovskyztz"/. Yeshivah oid-timers;recall almost rn as a bochur,RavBerland would lt:a 20 hours a da1''

toldmet hadto take "ButRavMishkovsky

\-_. i

The Fire and the Light

entire year L pretendedthat I u'as learning Bresloverseforim. Only a year later, on Chol Halt{oed Pesach,as we traveled on a train back from Flaifa, did she discover my ruse. She began eLskingme questions about the sefer Srppurei Maasz-vos.She was shocked when I told her I wasn't familiar i,r'ith it. So I had no ch
1: .r

there, all th,r rvisdom in the rvorld. "One can say of my' Rebbetzin that shelr all that is mine and all that is v'shelachem, yours is rea lly hers."

Lost in liidort It wasthe summerof 1 9 8 2 ,d u r i n g t h e F i r s t L e b a n o n W a r . T h e s m e l l o f f i r e ra n d s u l f u r h u n g o v e r S i d o n a s a g r o u p o f t 2 B r e s l o v e rc h a s s i d i m l e d b y Rav Berland made their rvay''through the narrow alleyways in a dilapidated van. Just a ferv rlays earlier, soldiers Zecharl'a Baumel, Y,:hudah Katz, Tzvi Feldnlan, C h e z i S h a i .A r i e l L i e b e r m a n , a n d Z o h a r Lifshitz had been captured in the battle o f S u l t a n Y a k u b ,s ' h e r e t h e i D F f a c e d o f f rvith the S1'rianarm\'. Trvo of the missing - Ariel Lieberman and Chezi Shai - were returned from captivity after two and three years, respectivel-t', rvhile it was learned only in October 1.983 that Zohar Lifshitz had been killed in the battle. But the fates of Yehudah Katz, Tzvi F e l d m a n ,a . n dZ e c h a r v a B a u m e l r e m a i n a

t.ookpart in the daring mission offeredbits and piect:sof infbrmation. And nou', three
"I told him, 'If you don't defend trs;here, 'I they'li'ill capture Metullah.'He said, don't care,letthem capture\{etullah.' I re,pliedto

sharethe details. "We tr.ed to cross the border into Lebar:rcrn secrotly. It was ParshasEikev,where it

him,'Theylvill getto Haifa.'The commande:r didn't care. Even when I said theyrvould get 'Why sh
:;ays'Kol makom asher tidrof raglechem bo ,!a':hemythyeh, min l'tamidbor v'haLevQnon - every-'lllace your teet tread rvill be vours.

soldiers get killed here in Lebanoni" "l told the commander,'If you don't rlef'end then us herethel'rvill getto Jerusalem.'A.nd he said,'Jerusalem?Oh, no, we won't giiv'e

fr,]m thr: rvilderness and Lebanon,"' Rav Berland t'e."We entered Lebarnon and reachedSidon,driving through villages tooking lor Yehudah Katz. The driver was orreof th: tqlmidimof the yeshivah, Baruch Strarvit. "The entire area was full of roadblocks. At: flrst, :hey thought rve \\rere diplomats. \&'hen \\;e celme closer to the roadblc,cks lve donned the kaffi1'ehs.Then, u'hen lve

m1'steryto this da1'. \'IIA YehudaKatz'sfather \bssi Katz calne to Rav Berland in tears.They had gotten to

aJlproac.redSidon, rve changed to regular clothes.'fhey thought we \\rereclergymen. \&'etd all the roadblocks.Suddenlythey

knorv each other after Yossi'sother son becameclosel:oRavBerland.Noiv.ire neededto

re'alizedthat rve rvere Jews and the terroristsbegar shootingat us.It \\rasA miracle n'e

exercisee\or)'connectionhe had to Hashem

gotout ofthere.

to locatehis son Yehudah. "Colneruith me to Lebanon and u'e'll rescue Yehud:rhKatz," Rav Berland told some of his closechassidim.But he qualified one

"We v,'ereable to reach the lookout at Rashia.\l Fuchar, ttl'o kilometers from r.vhereKatz and his friends rvere captured in northeast Lebanon. And from there u'e w'ere ab.e to see the exact spot rvhere the

condition:"Believervith alll'our hearts that ein od lvfilvado;' !Vhat happenedtvhile thel'n'ere in Sidon But s']'ratis remaineda secrettor man1,')'ears. knorvn is that to this dal',Katz, Baumel,and Feldman have nel'er been found. Over the vears,those 12 Bresloversrvho

up Jerusalem.' "The next day',when we tried crossi.ngthe border back into Israel, IDF soldiers caught us and wanted us prosecuted.They handed us over to that same commander. B;utthe commander gaveother orders.'Giuethese peopleirnmunit-v.Don't do anythin$ to thern' thern, Let them into the dining room, f'eerd and let them sleep.Give them thtl best of rvhat \\'e have."' Does Rav Berland think any of the MIAs are still alivetoday?"Ron Arad is certainlv n,ct alive," he saysof the IAF navigatorwho wils shot dori'n in 1986.And the others? "Yehudah Katz - it's been 30 years since f,rr hi s capture.YosefHaTzaddiku'asm..sr;ing 22years.I told his parentsthat until22 years there'shope.Today,after 30 years,there'sno

abductic,ntook Place. "That nighrt.we were in the Rasiria camp, a.ndI gare a shturfor 50 soldiersin the dining

hope anymore. "But I'nt sure that when we crossed the border, he rvas still alive. When Chezi Shai u'as returned on a plane from Letlanon to Gernanl', one of the soldiers guartiing him

roonl. The contmander,rvho rvasaiso listen'l ing, said to rne: don't knorv rvhl'lt'e hat'eto fight thir; ri'ar.Soldiersare killed everv day''

askedhis friend,'Is this YehudahKrltz?'Tltre s o l d i e rr e p l i e d , ' N ot h i s i s C h e z iS h a i ' B a s e d on this exchangerve know that he \vas alive.

a break, go out a bit to the fields,be myself'" This u'asperhapsa hint of things to come' although the Rav says he knerv nothing of Breslov or the iCea of hisbodedtLsartthe time. "I didn't knorv there was any such thing as Breslov.I camtl from other places'i didn't even knorv there tvas such a thing as Chasgo out sidus. But my roshyeshivcfttold me to you to the fields every day for tr'vohours' If u'ill don't do that, he said' either.vourhead explode or a t'ein \\'ill PoP' ;Peopi. make :rmistake and think Breslov

personri'horepeatssomethingin the name of the originator lrrings Geulah to the rvorld refersto HaKarioshBaruchHu' Aperson has to knon'that everl'thingbelongsto Hashetn: evervmv u,isdou1.m,vbrains' tttS-strength' ri'ith Iives and thing. Someonts'ho recoguizes

People think that it's enough to just go tc) Uman. but the bad thoughts don't go awa\i i f o n e d o e s n ' tl e a r n G e m a r a . "\\:iren I traveledto Unian on forgedpalis-

that constantll brings about a rederl'rptionfor hin..s,:ll.and fbr the rvorld." R a ' u , l l e r l a n ,cl a m e t o K f a r C h a s s i d i m a mont.h after the ingof Rosh Yeshivah Rar')ioachSh motton'\lzztz"l' "I never nlet longingll',evenafter him.'' FLavBer and sa1''s so nlartYyears' "IJe edarval'on 5 Ivar' anclI u'asin Kfar l{aRoeh at the time' It u'as

A is dancing in therstreets'That's not true' get Yom Haatzmilut, and ever.vonett'ent to b'i1'1171' Gemara learn person rvho does not - I just just couldn't I but rvild and drir k; kishRebbe Nachmarr says,is called afessel had t.osta]'in sideand learn while the-v-rer'Sarfei Sraclr in It says kes,abarrel of innards' eled outside. Iq'as in the sftrrrrroom in tl-re 2:257)that RebbeNachman Kodesh,(Volume yeshivah in Iifar HaRoeh u'hetr the neu's 'Ich t'il mein zoch zoltl gein oiJ litt'ishe said, tirat lav Noach shimonou'itz had x11ir,'ed is rehertzer,'or in other \l'ords,Chassidus I beganto cr)'like a srlall chiid' eda\\:a\j. ally for Litvaks. even knorv him' To this altl'rotrghl rl cin'1. ;th. lltggid lof ]Iezritchl rvaslirst a Litvak da1,'I clon'tkltorv u'hy I cried"" Everl'tinre you and then a chassid'Everyonervas'After I rernember it, I start to crv' Everyone else are /i/t'tsh,RebbeNachman says,then conle rvent out to party'and I stayedto learn and grerv to me. Rav Mencielof Nemirov,who first to crv about tleb Noach'sing"' jacket before up in a.ndrvorea short Rav Berlandstal'edin Kfar Chassidillrunu'ith .o.ning closeto the llaggid and davening t i l h i s m a r r i i t g ea t a g e2 1t o T e h i l l a h S h a k i ' enthusiasmthaI raisedhim to greatheights' 'What did the \'laggid do for dauglrter of the late Rabbi Shalom-'{r'ra\\'asonce asked: hanr llhaki, ,vho served in the Knesset as I rvasin Germanl" I 1,ou?'Hereplierl,'When a National Ileligious Part,vmember in the hadto hold my stluldown to makesureit didn't 1 9 6 0 s .H e t h e n r n o v e dt o B n e i B r a k ' t o t h e \Iagfl1'off [she/o f ifroch);whenI came to the y e s h i v o s o f P o n e " ' e z ha n d V o l o z h i n ' " I n ' gid, my soul blossomed[parcch]'"' Ponevezh there were the geonim Rav BenL Rav Berland'svoicetakes on a note of longZion llanlbe'ger,RavYechezkelLevenstein' ing rvhenhe spr:aksof his closereiationship andiFlavCh: im Freidlanderztz"l' I learnecl to the mashgiach,Rav El1''a(Eli1'ahu) Lopian b'cltovrttsar','ithRav Chairn and slept in hir; ztz"l."Forthree:and a half 1'earsRav E'h'arvas house. Rar' ,shmuel Heller, one of the rabin Kfar Chassidim' He drerv me nt.vmcrshgrach 'You'll becomea big banirnof H:tifa. re that they told very closeand predicted, I me on Puri m f 6rgo out and dance' I said roshyeshivah"I rvasjust 2O then' Gemara'' the leave to coulclnot bring myself "Rav Elya was a very humble, modest perI The5'u'antr:d to spill tt'ater over nre' but u'ith son. I rvill never forget horv he davened' l t h a t Gemara"' couldnot close power,',vith tears. He rvould literall5;crv' At teachestirousandsthe Beriand Ra,' lfodal' bencl't first the musscr sederlwould sit on the path of ReboeNachman' Is anything left of bonear him, and Lnbetrveenus rvasanother those years in the litt'isheyeshivos? When churrvhose name I don't ' iLs lForRav lleriiind, the intense learning iach he learned Shuare[Teshuvah,the mashg l8 learns hir; lr:Sacyf rom that time' He still The rvould sob loudl-v.Irvould cryu'ith him' hours a da1""If a person \\Iantsto mitigate rvholeYeshivahtrembled' he tnustlearn Gemara' iris negativetl-ror-rghts. "Rav Ell''aorrcctoid me''The ChazaI that a

p o r t s . i n t h e y e a r sb e f o r et h e I r o n C u r t a i r t fell, I met the heads of the government itr 'We knos'ri'hyyou Je'*'s Kier'. rvho told me: are tl-resmartest nation in the rvorld' It's becauseI'ou have the Talmud' That's rvhy \:ou are so strong.'" After his u'eddin$, Rav Berland becalne closeto the Steipler Gaonztz'? and to his srn' Ilav Chairn Kanievsky sh1l/a."We learrLed btftcyruso e\rerv da-vfor an hour. \Vs r:)iin u'riting' Btrt it changedsheilosand feshut'os all got lost."At the end of the shivah for lLebbetzin Kanievskyiastyear,RavChaim rvaited for Rav Berland. u'ho had just arrived on the planc from Anterica.beforegetting up. "The Rebbetzin o"h \\'asa teacher in the Ohr HaChaim high school,and m1''rebbe'lzirt tbl"cltalsotaught ther:e.RebbetzinKanievsllv' u,ho rvoke her children up at three in the morning ancltook them to Lederman [Shul] and ther-rtaught high schoolgirls from eight in the morning untilfour in the afternoc'n' said she got chiztrkand I'trcsShamaJ'imf rc'm RebbetzinTehillah Berland." Rav Berland'sfirst rvith the Ste:pler \\'as\l'hen he rvas still in Ktar Chassidirn' "l sent him letters and he ri'ould anslt'er rne' I asked hirn u'hat was more important' to cut offthe tchup forehead bangs].or to grrl\v a beard. I had a huge rchup.no one could compete u,ith it. The Steipierrepliedthat I should' first cut offthe tchup'andthat I should [lro\\' erbeard after m1'u'edding."

.\ll of This Is Hers Hou'didthir; of Litvakturn into the leaderof mass:s; Breslover chassidirn? Rav Berland sa.vs h e o t r , e sh i s t r a n s f o r m a t i o n t o h i s r v i f e' "Wher-rthe Rebbetzinu'as 15,she began learning some Breslover seforim that her brother received for his bar mitzvah'- Before we married she askedme if I kneu"'r'heLt 'it Breslovwas. doesn'teven interest me" I told her. But she u'as adamant that I start learning the seforim"" "We got nlarried on 28 Adar' and lor an

) * t r : -: ^ 1 9 t

* =

o \\,'edid a lot to bringJhimback.\!'e got the Red

X

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this arvakening."RavBerlanddivulgesanother pieceof infbrmirtion: "The planet Pluto has

o

a)

C r o s s o n t h e c a s e ,m e t r v i t h t h e A u s t r i a n prin-reminister. We did a lot."

just drau'n closcr to Earth. This is a rare oc-

Drivingaclunker

currence that only happens once every ferv hundred years,irnd has ramifications in the

o O

spiritual spheres."Fle continues a complex

-q)

Alone in Shech€rt van into the heart of the Lebanon battlefield might be cc'nsidered foolhardy for

astrononricalexplanation,bringing sources

most, but R;tv Eliezer Berland and his Shuvu Banim chassidim are knorvn for

fronr the,Ramba11,Zoher,and Kabbalahas to

l i v i n E d a n g e r o u s l y .T h e i r m o n t h l y e x cursions to Kever Yosef in Shechem hat'e

bodesfrorthe na -ionsand the Jeu's. 'Am Y;israel'sheart is awake.and it is on

been a thorn in the sideof the IDF since Israel gave up Shechem in accords with

the rvay'backto i -sMaker.The rvaythe media portrays the secular public as hating those

the PalestinizLnAuthority'. Rav Berland saysthat the extent of mesrrus nefesh one must have for kivrei tzaddikim is

rvho obsen,emitzvos is an absolutelie. " T h e r € ri s a c h a i n , c fr e s t a u r a n t s A , roma,

to travel once a month, on Friday'.Achassid quoted him as sarling,"The moment you

Court ruled thal tliey could sellchometzon

the sigrLificance of th is positioningand hou'it

and in the past JusticeProcacciaof the FIigh

rvhich rvcluldbe against the laut The owner

dik on a higher level." Rav Berland re how he u'ould travel to Shechemafter the cit5rrvascaptured in the 1967 Si:xDayWar. "I rvould go everJ-

rvould bring dorLationsto our 1'eshivah,but he felt bad and :Lskerlme, 'How can you acct donationsfrom a placethat sellschometz

of severalArom a franchises,Oren Sasson,

day'.Then, there u':rstremendous fear of the Jews. I lived in Bnei Brak at the time, so on Jabotinsky Stneett d get a bus to Kfar Saba.

o n P e s a L c l i ?t o ' I l Ch i m , ' I n t h e m e r i t o f t h e s e donaticrnsyou'll stop sellingchometzon Pr:-

It cost me three liras. From there,I continued to Kever ltinyamin ben Yaakov. I rvould

branches were li oshered and in the last tu'o

sach.'ltn.d that s what happened. Twenl.y vears their reve rues tripled." a The s;unis alr:ad1'shining as I take learre

often made signso1.slitting their throats and I did it right back to them. "I rvould wallkfor five minutes through the

of the Ftal,.He accompaniesme outside,his hand holding nrine.His hand is thin, but warm ancioverflrlu'ing rvith a spiritual energy

Casbah in Shechemuntil Kever Yosefalone, alone ...today I come and I seepeoplervith N{16s.I ask th,emvrhy they need it.... "'Lelamed esbnet'YehudahA'ashos,to teach

that's u.nbounded.He still has much to say, as he jum.ps frorr one topic to another, from

the sonsof Yehudahto use a bou'fand arrori'].' The MiclrashSihocherlot'says that everl'arrorv should havethe ShemHaNleforashvu'ritten on it and each one r,l'ouldpenetrate one thousand enernies.If we have faith,ll'e don't need such weapons.Then, rvhen they'd seea Jew they'd see a tank in front of them." he has one matn tr\ ake L)p Rav Berland sa"vs mission in the u'orld:to bringAm Yisraelto do feshuyah.".NorvAm Yisrael is in a state of awakening,"he says."It is impossibleto stem

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Pesachbr:cause,sheruled, chometzinside a 'in public,' restaurantis no1consideredto be

undertake a practical endeat'orthat entails a certain risk, it connectsyou rvith the tzad-

spend an hour alone there, and then travel to Kalkilya in a taxi u'ith se\IenArabs. They

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apasukin Tanachto a Rambam to the Zohur to the t','ordsof liebbe Nachman. I u'onder if an\/one'cankeep up. " Xt[ei'o:;oshoshamal,im al teic]tosu,ki ve'ichasulrugo1,ipn',eiheirnah-Do not be frightencd b5't.tresign; of the Heavens,though tire nations are frig;htenedby them," the Rav concluclesrvith a comforting quote from Sepr "Evr:rything that we said about Yirmiy,:tl,ru. Pluto coming closer has an effect only c,n the gentiles.An Yisraelis abo"'enlazel,"he explairrs.For Rirv Berland it is another sign that thc 1:imehrrscoln€ to drarv thousands more to lesftulah.

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