"He Opened the Way to Uman and Sacrificed Himself for All of Us"

We all know that our holy teacher and master, the tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, truly practiced self-sacrifice for each and every one of us. The matters are grave and have reached the point of a long and agonizing imprisonment. Here is the painful call and request of Rav Shalom Arush shlit"a, piercing words that must not be ignored. "Rav David Yitzchak Grossman shlit"a, the Rav of Migdal HaEmek, spoke with me and told me about the pidyon shvuyim (redemption of captives) that he is leading," begins Rav Arush shlit"a.

"Even if it were the simplest Jew in the world, the mitzvah of pidyon shvuyim is very, very great. All the more so when it concerns my master, teacher, and Rebbe, Rabbi Eliezer ben Atiya shlit"a, for anyone who has traveled or will ever travel to Uman, it will be in the merit of him. I am a witness to this unequivocally; he opened the path to Uman in a clear way, truly with self-sacrifice. One day I will tell the story; these are things I truly saw with my own eyes, self-sacrifice. Therefore, we must help by donating to the pidyon shvuyim, for we are talking about a great tzaddik who took sufferings upon himself for our sake, and there is also the matter of hakarat hatov (gratitude) here, for we reached Uman in his merit; he opened the path. And not only that, but he opened all the matters of our Rebbe (Rebbe Nachman) with self-sacrifice. And whoever cannot donate a large sum, let them at least donate 99 shekels for every soul in their family. And as I spoke with Rav Grossman, whoever wants to can transfer the donation through me; the money goes one hundred percent only to pidyon shvuyim."

"I myself went and collected from my students in the yeshiva. And I ask each person personally to transfer the money for the pidyon shvuyim for our teacher, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a. This is a huge mitzvah and we must not lose it. The expenses are truly great, and I ask everyone to participate in this great mitzvah."

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