Another miracle: Rav Berland's pidyon saves Asher Elimelech's life

ANOTHER MIRACLE: RAV BERLAND'S PIDYON SAVES ASHER ELMELIACH'S LIFE

For the last two weeks, Asher Elmeliach - the security guard at the Jerusalem Bus Station, who was stabbed by a Palestinian terrorist while on duty - has hovered between life and death. Now, miraculously, he’s starting to wake up.

The scope of his recovery is so miraculous that even many of the news networks in Israel are covering the story, and they are even telling their audiences what lead to this remarkable turnaround: a pidyon nefesh that Asher’s family recently gave to Rav Eliezer Berland, shlita.

Over on the Hebrew Shuvu Banim site, you can hear the audio of the full story (in Hebrew) for yourselves HERE [https://www.shuvubanimint.com/%D7%90%D7%A9%D7%A8-%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%9E%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%97-%D7%A9%D7%A0%D7%A4%D7%A6%D7%A2-%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%92%D7%95%D7%A2-%D7%91%D7%AA%D7%97%D7%A0%D7%94-%D7%94/]. At minute 1:53 in the recording, you can hear the journalist say something that so many people within Israel already know about the miracle-worker, Rav Berland:

“Just now, they gave a pidyon to Rav Eliezer Berland, shlita, and when the Rav received the pidyon, he said: ‘That’s it now. Now he’s going to be healthy’ - and this is what is happening!”

Here’s the full story:

Rav Shlomo Elmeliach is the brother of Asher Elmeiach, the security guard who was seriously injured at Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station in a terrorist attack on December 10, 2017.  Rav Elmeliach recently gave the following interview to the Breslov HaOlami Line, and also shared some shocking photos of what actually occurred during the terrorist attack that critically injured his brother.

“The terrorist mamash dressed up to look like an Israeli,” begins Rav Elmeliach. “It was impossible to tell that he was actually a terrorist. He’d already successfully gone through the security check at the entrance to the Central Bus Station, but for some reason my brother grabbed his coat, and asked him to show his identity papers.

“The terrorist appeared to have gone into shock - we later found out that he’s a resident of Shechem (Nablus), and the son of one of the leading extremists in the Palestinian Authority. So, my brother asked him to take off his coat, which the terrorist did without revealing that he was carrying a long, thick knife that had been sharpened on both sides.

“When the terrorist saw that my brother was busy checking his papers, he dashed at him and evilly thrust the whole knife into his heart. Every single person that this happens to usually dies on the spot. (The interviewer on the Breslov line was shown graphic images of the attack, which we will not elaborate on here.)

“The medical experts and professors told us that one in a million people could survive from being stabbed in this way.”

Rav Elmeliach continues:

“From that point on, we’ve witnessed miracle after miracle, and behind them all has stood the gaon and the tzaddik, Rav Eliezer Berland, shlita. It all started a month before the stabbing, when my brother donated a large sum of money to me, to help me print and distribute the peirush (Torah commentary) that I’d written on the book “Etz Chayim” (the ‘tree of life’).

“He’d persuaded me to come to the bus station to get the money from him, and there he asked me that I should give him a bracha (blessing) that ‘the tzedaka should save from death’. In the merit of that tzedaka, there was a lady from Magen David Adom who was there at the time of the stabbing, and who stopped him from bleeding to death.

“When we told the Rav [i.e. Rav Berland] what had happened, he immediately wanted us to bring a pidyon, but at that stage the family didn’t understand the importance of giving a pidyon to the tzaddik. My son, Nachman, saw that paying the pidyon had got held up, so he told the Rav that he would give the pidyon himself, but because my brother’s condition had worsened, the Rav told him that this amount would no longer be enough.

"AT 3AM, MY BROTHER DIED"

“My brother had a punctured lung, broken ribs, and other things had been damaged in his body, apart from the terrible stab wound he’d sustained to the heart. At 3am, my brother died, and it was only the external respirator that was keeping him going.

“My son immediately ran over to Moranu Rav Berland, shlita, who told him: “Asher is in a critical situation, and you need to immediately bring a sum of money to do the pidyon nefesh, within the next few minutes.”

“My son and my son-in-law threw themselves into pulling the money together, gave it to the Rav, and then [Asher’s] situation started to improve. I immediately said to them that under no circumstances would I expect them to pay off the loan they’d just taken in order to do the pidyon, and that I would take responsibility for all of it.

“Afterwards, I found out that the amount my brother had given to me the month before was the same amount of money needed to do the pidyon nefesh with Rav Berland, shlita. The really amazing thing is that when I gave the money for the pidyon, I immediately felt a sweetness that is impossible for me to describe in words.

“I immediately contacted everyone [back at the hospital] and told them that Asher would live, but everyone thought I’d gone mad, because they knew his situation was very bleak, and that there was almost no hope.

THE WHOLE IN THE HEART MIRACULOUSLY HEALS

“The following day, the hole that the knife had made in his heart was somehow plugged, in a completely miraculous way. Another day passed, and there was another huge miracle: the hole in his lung also somehow closed up - and that’s when it started to get publicized all over the country.

“The doctors were in complete shock that he’d started to reconnect to us. The head professor [at the hospital] told me to my face that all the healing my brother had experienced was completely unnatural.

> “The tzedaka that my brother had given and all of his mesirut nefesh (self-sacrifice) really stood for him, in his time of need. But without any doubt, the merit of Moranu Rav Berland is what made the most difference of all.”

To hear the interview for yourself, please click HERE. [https://www.shuvubanimint.com/%D7%90%D7%A9%D7%A8-%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%9E%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%97-%D7%A9%D7%A0%D7%A4%D7%A6%D7%A2-%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%92%D7%95%D7%A2-%D7%91%D7%AA%D7%97%D7%A0%D7%94-%D7%94/]

To learn more about what a pidyon nefesh is, and how it works spiritually, please click HERE [https://ravberland.com/pidyon-nefesh/].