Chai Kampo: An Amazing Story of a Convert Who Drew Close to the Tzaddik in a

"My name is Chai Campo and I am from Tel Aviv. My mother is from the Philippines and my father is from Thailand; I was born in Israel," begins Chai Campo, sharing with us the amazing story of his drawing closer to Judaism and to our teacher, the holy Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a.

"I grew stronger while I was in the army during officer training; I saw what Judaism is and I feel Jewish. I am now in the process of conversion. When I arrive for prayer and tell people that I cannot complete a minyan, my heart aches. I cry, I truly cry, crying that I am not Jewish. Sometimes they remind me, 'Chai, you are not Jewish, you cannot keep Shabbat,' and I cry sometimes."

"At first, when I tried to pray the Shema, I couldn't succeed. I cry, I cry out, 'Master of the World, give me the strength to pray so that I can say the words properly.'"

Interviewer: "With Hashem's help, the conversion process will be quick."

Chai: "As long as it takes."

"I was far from Judaism. My mother is a Catholic Christian, my father is a Buddhist, and both my brothers are atheists—far from Judaism!"How did you begin to draw closer to Judaism?

"I always felt that I was Jewish in my soul. I enlisted in the army and there I saw for the first time what Judaism is—holidays, songs—I said, 'Wow, how beautiful this is.' And then they drew me closer; they told me, 'Come with us, come pray with us, see what this is, see these holidays, this is how we pray, this is how we bless.' See, they make blessings on the small things, they make a blessing for waking up in the morning."

"I said, 'Wow, how beautiful this is,' and then I started a conversion process in the army. I reached the end of the process when I was 18; now I am 26.""I am now standing outside the house of the holy Rav Berland."

How did I get here?

"One day I was praying Shacharit at sunrise in Tel Aviv. After the Priestly Blessing, I remembered Rav Berland and began to pray for him with true intention of heart; I was on the verge of tears. And then I see Rav Berland before my eyes—and he is shouting at me, saying, 'Come, come, come... come.' And I am trembling all over, my soul is trembling."

"I get up from prayer, I cannot continue, I say, 'Wow, wow—who is this?' I started asking about him, 'Who is the Rav?' I understood that he is a tzaddik, a holy of holies. That same day I sleep and again I dream of Rav Berland, and he says to me, 'Come, come here.'"

"The next day I dream of him again, but a longer dream. I see Rav Berland in a very large, illuminated room, and there are many people there like at a Torah class, but the Rav is sitting in the middle. He tells me to come to him, I come to Rav Berland, and he asks me, 'What do you want?'""I tell him, he starts shouting at me, 'What do you want? What do you want?' And I tell him, and he continues to ask, 'What do you want? What do you want?' And I tell him with all my heart."

"And then my alarm clock starts beeping. I say to my alarm clock, 'Wait a moment, I am with Rav Berland.' Inside the dream, I say to the alarm clock, 'Wait a moment,' and the Rav continues to ask me, 'What do you want? What do you want?' I tell him, and then I wake up."

"The next day I dream of Rav Berland again and he says the same thing to me. 'What do you want? What do you want?' I said: 'That's it, the third time is from Hashem—Rav Berland is calling me.'"

"I said, 'If Hashem wills it, I will meet him.' I go to the kiosk where I always buy things, I say to myself, 'Let's ask the person, in Tel Aviv, let's ask a random person, maybe he will bring me to Rav Berland.'"

"I ask him, 'Do you know Rav Berland?' 'Yes, he is holy!' I continue to ask him, 'So how do I get to him? Do you know how?'"

"He answers: 'Yes, I have the number of someone who I think will help you.'"

"I take the number, I call, the person doesn't answer. At night he calls me back and asks me what I want?"

"I want to meet with Rav Berland!"

"He asks me what is your reason? Why do you want to? I start telling him the story and he is really excited, moved by the story, and gives me the address and the time.""Now I am here, I came to pray with Rav Berland!"

Is this the first time you saw Rav Berland?

"Yes!"The obstacles on the way to the tzaddik do not end with leaving for Jerusalem

"And then I arrive here at the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem, I try to catch a taxi, I don't succeed. For half an hour no one will take me, they say, 'We don't want to drive there.' After half an hour that I don't give up, fighting, fighting, finally someone took me, I arrive here."

"Here at Rav Berland's, I meet Rav Nachman Horovitz, I tell him the story. He helps me, we walked around here, he brought me to eat lunch. There we opened a table, and I start telling everyone just like I am telling you here, I tell everyone the story, everyone is in lights, everyone is happy."

"It was fun, it was lights, the very fact that I arrived here, I feel that I have drawn closer, I feel at home!"You don't want to leave this place and return to Tel Aviv?

"No!"So you are coming tomorrow to see the Rav, you are staying here?

"Yes, I prayed so hard that I would meet him!"Chai returns to tell about the conversion process he began at age 18, but did not finish, and now he is completing it:

"So I did the conversion process, but I didn't finish until the end, I was missing the Beit Din, apparently my faith was not 100%."

"I am a Muay Thai coach and I always relied on my hands, and then after 5 years I had an accident. I am walking in the street and I get run over, they throw me, I cannot move my hand or my shoulder, nothing. And then the Master of the World revealed Himself to me, placed religious people before me, everyone around me was religious."

"I said, 'Wow, what is this?' I started drawing closer to the Creator of the World. I am walking around at night, suddenly I see a synagogue. I said, 'What is this? How beautiful!'"

"I arrive to pray and suddenly I found a synagogue and everyone is helping me, strengthening me, the Rabbis are helping me, 'Come to Torah classes.' Now, thank G-d, I go to Torah classes every day, I want to, but I still don't put on tefillin, but I pray 3 prayers a day."How do you feel that Rav Berland drew you closer from afar, prayed for you?

"Amazing! Unbelievable, I don't believe that I managed to come here, you saw me, I prayed hard so that I would meet him!"Can you describe what you saw when the Rav gave the lesson? In what room was it? How did it look in the dream?

"A room exactly like what is here!"The Rav's house?

"Like the Rav's synagogue in the prayer hall, exactly! And he sat in the middle."