Hair-Raising: The Miracle Story of Yaron Yamin and His Subsequent Spiritual and

This week, in the portion of Tetzaveh, our teacher, the holy Gaon Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, revealed another miraculous story regarding a pidyon nefesh (redemption of the soul) he performed. It concerns the famous businessman, Yaron Yamin, who is close to the Rav shlit"a, and with whom the Rav stayed during his period of exile in Zimbabwe. The Rav shlit"a began after the Shacharit prayer and said, "Someone bought a device that identifies diamonds for fifty thousand dollars; that same person now wants 10 thousand dollars in order to be released from prison in Johannesburg. There is a man who already has connections with the King; every diamond there is worth 50 million."

The car will lift out of the pit, do not worry

"Everything there (in Mozambique) is pits; all the roads are from a hundred years ago. You can drive a car after it rains and drown there. Yaron Yamin fell with his car into a pit and the whole car fell apart. He called me, I performed a pidyon for him, and I told him, 'Now you will lift the car and it will rise.' He connected the parts that had fallen off the car and drove the broken car for another 30 km. Yaron arrived at an inn, where he found a semi-trailer and sent his employee seven hours away to the capital city."

Suddenly everything turns for the better - precisely there he receives a diamond almost for free

"There (in Mozambique) everyone drives a car with a double wall filled with gold and diamonds, and Yaron had four million there. He had to keep the locals at the inn where he arrived so they wouldn't rob him or harm him for 36 hours until his employee returned. Every moment he bought them another can of beer. 30 hours passed and the employee still hadn't arrived. He was distressed about everything that had happened to him, and suddenly some local brought him a diamond. At first, it looked like just a regular stone, and he said to Yaron, 'You are an honest man, I know you, take the diamond with you to Johannesburg and see how much it is worth.' Yaron indeed took it to a laboratory and discovered that it was worth half a million."

"It is a red diamond of 12 carats; 17 carats is already a billion. Once, a man found a 17-carat diamond and fainted on the spot. That was a hundred years ago; he gave it to Queen Elizabeth and it is on the royal crown. People walk there all day with devices, looking for stones and picking them up."

"Yaron Yamin, who understood that it was a very expensive stone, gave him six thousand dollars on the spot. When he arrived in Israel and discovered that it was worth half a million, he added another six thousand for him. With those 12 thousand, he can live for a hundred years."

The story of Yaron Yamin's drawing near to Rav Berland and his economic success

After the holy Gaon Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a mentioned the story we brought above, we felt it was appropriate to bring the story of the businessman Yaron Yamin as he told it himself. This is a special interview brought on the global Breslov line, in which Yaron returns to describe the amazing events.

"In the past, senior people from the country (Zimbabwe), ministers and chiefs of staff, met with Rav Berland shlit"a; even today they call for him to return," Yaron begins, describing the respect that the leaders of the country held for Rav Berland. "In my eyes, Rav Berland was always the tzaddik of the generation; this is the greatest person I have ever seen. Especially after what happened (the humiliations and the arrest that his pursuers forced upon him), I saw how he behaves. He personally took upon himself these humiliations; he planned how the humiliations would come to him. You could really see the joy and love with which he accepted the humiliations; in my eyes, this shows everything."

Already on Rosh Hashanah, the Rav prepared me for what was to come

"As I have said in the past, I have been with Rav Berland for 20 years already," Yaron says, turning to tell of his connection and drawing near to the holy Gaon Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a. "I met the Rav in Uman, and truly, at first, only the Rav's gabbaim knew me, as they saw me entering and leaving his house dozens and hundreds of times. Just so you understand who the tzaddik is, only this past Rosh Hashanah, the Rav sent me a message through one of his veteran students that he needs me soon for one of his missions. At the time, I didn't yet understand what the Rav meant, but I trust him; when the Rav says, I do, so I waited. After Sukkot, things became clear; the Rav called me and told me to come to him in Morocco, and from there we continued together to Zimbabwe."

One must understand that with Rav Berland, everything is planned and precise

"If some of the public has questions about Rav Berland, then they should know: with Rav Berland, everything is planned and known in advance. The Rav is meticulous in every action of his; you see it to a precision that is hard to describe in words."

After an economic crisis, the Rav sent me to Zimbabwe

"Four months after Rosh Hashanah, Shuvu Banim representatives arrived at my house and had me sign a standing order for the benefit of the holy institutions. They showed me a picture of the Rav, and I told them, 'Yes, this is the Rav who blessed me in Uman.' They asked if I wanted a blessing from him; I answered yes, I went up to him in Jerusalem, and since then, for 20 years, I have been with him."

"I have been a businessman for decades; after a business crisis in Israel, I came to Rav Berland and he sent me straight to Zimbabwe. The Rav told a number of people to go to Zimbabwe and they didn't do it, but I immediately packed my belongings and moved there. It is a very long story, but I will try to shorten it. From Israel, I left with 20 thousand dollars, and when I arrived in Zimbabwe, I only had 14 thousand left. There, they offered me a number of mines for purchase, but the prices ranged from millions to tens of millions, and I only had 14 thousand in my pocket. I said, 'If I have come this far, then at least I will see what it is about.'"

The Rav's words seemed completely illogical to me

"They connected us with a 95-year-old mine owner, but inside, I was really embarrassed to drag a man of that age out into the sun to show me the mine, while I had no money at all and he was demanding 14 million dollars. The tour ended and I told him that I was sorry, but I didn't have the amount. I called Rav Berland and explained the situation to him; the Rav told me, 'Don't worry, this is your mine.' I said to myself, 'What is the Rav even talking about? Where is reality and where are the words of the Rav?!'"

The Rav closes the deal of my life for me over the phone

"I ended the call, and that elderly mine owner approached me and asked me, 'Are you Jewish?' I answered yes. 'Who is your Rav?' he continued and asked. He didn't know Rav Berland, but he invited me to dinner because he is also Jewish, according to him. After dinner, he asked to speak with the Rav, and while my English is completely broken, the Rav has fluent English and he became my translator. He told the Rav that his wife had passed away, he has one child who became a gentile, and he hasn't seen him for decades."

I didn't believe it - the Rav closed a deal with him for a 14 million mine for 14 thousand

"The Rav closed a deal with him that I would recite Kaddish for him after he passes from the world, and in return, he sells me the mine for the 14 thousand dollars that I had. The Rav explained to me what he had closed with him and told me to go tomorrow and transfer the mine to my name, but I still thought the Rav was joking with me. I will reveal another secret to you: this man is still alive today, I visit him every few months, and the Rav is careful to ask about his well-being. All the time."

"This is the wonder of the tzaddik; I am too small to understand who the Rav is and what he does. Even today, when I am very connected to the Rav, I make sure to keep a distance from the tzaddik, because it is impossible to be near the Rav 24 hours a day; a person would certainly be burned by the fire of the tzaddik."