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HaGaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Nachman Rosenthal, who was formerly the Mashgiach at the Breslov Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, was also the one who brought our teacher, the holy Gaon Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, to Breslov Chassidut about 50 years ago. In the 'Knishta Chada' 26 bulletin, we mentioned the moving story of how Rav Berland shlit"a, who was already a great servant of Hashem and a tremendous Torah scholar, drew near. It was during the holiday of Purim, and in honor of the exciting publication of items related to the Rav shlit"a, we will present the main points of the story of his drawing near below.

This concerns a copy of 'Likutey Eitzot' which was printed by Breslov Chassidim in the United States, and which HaGaon HaTzaddik Rav Berland shlit"a dedicated to the Breslov Yeshiva in Bnei Brak. Over time, the book was entrusted to the care of R' Nachman Rosenthal, who even added and wrote his name on the title page.

And also, a dedication letter that Rav Berland shlit"a sent to R' Nachman Rosenthal.

The story of how our teacher, HaGaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, drew near to Breslov Chassidut - as published in the Knishta Chada bulletin, issue 26.

Our teacher, HaGaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, had a chavruta with the Steipler zt"l. It is well-known and famous that the Steipler zt"l respected him and even stood up for him, etc. Many ask, if the Rav was previously a Litvak and studied in Ponevezh, then how did he arrive at Breslov?

Even sixty years ago, when the Rav was a young man at the Knesset Chizkiyahu Yeshiva in Kfar Chassidim, he was already known to many as a genius and a great diligent student of Torah. Our teacher Rav Berland shlit"a would study twenty hours a day without stopping. Once, when he was seventeen, the Rosh Yeshiva, HaGaon R' A. Mishkovsky zt"l, told him, "You must go out to the fields, to practice hitbodedut (seclusion)." He added, "Go every day for two hours to the field [to release yourself]."

The Rav had not yet heard of Breslov Chassidut and did not know what hitbodedut was according to the teachings of Rebbe Nachman, but in order to fulfill the command of the Rosh Yeshiva, he went every day and practiced hitbodedut in the fields surrounding Kfar Chassidim. He felt such pleasantness in hitbodedut that instead of traveling back and forth from his home in Haifa to the yeshiva by bus, and in order to guard his eyes, he would walk on foot for two hours in each direction. At the time, the entire way was only fields and orchards. But his entire being was immersed in the holy Torah. There in Kfar Chassidim, the Rav became very close to the Mashgiach R' Eliyahu Lopian zt"l, and when he was a twenty-year-old young man, the Mashgiach told him, "From you will come forth a great Rosh Yeshiva."

When the Rav became engaged to the Rabbanit Tehilla tlit"a, he moved to Bnei Brak to the Ponevezh Kollel, where he studied with the Torah giants of the previous generation, R' Ben Zion Bamberger zt"l, R' Yechezkel Levenstein zt"l, and R' Chaim Friedlander zt"l, and he would sleep in R' Chaim's house. The Rav was so immersed in his studies that nothing else interested him. Rav Shmuel Heller, one of the rabbis of Haifa, remembers that they told the Rav on Purim: "Go out to the dancing." And the Rav said: "I am not capable of leaving the Gemara." They wanted to pour water on him - but he could not close the Gemara.

After the wedding, the Rav and the Rabbanit lived in Bnei Brak and the Rav studied at the Volozhin Yeshiva. There in Bnei Brak, the Rav attached himself to the Gaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky zt"l (known as "the Steipler"), and studied with him daily in a chavruta for several years. When the Rav was still in Kfar Chassidim, he would write many questions in Halacha to the Steipler, and afterwards, he continued to ask about everything until he had collected entire notebooks of responsa from the Steipler.

On one of the occasions when the Rav studied with the Steipler, the Rav told him that he longed to discover the inwardness of prayer. Then the Steipler told him, "Go pray with the Chassidim." One Purim night, about fifty years ago, the Rav went from Chassidut to Chassidut in Bnei Brak to look for a place where they truly serve Hashem, until he reached the Breslov Yeshiva, and when he entered, he saw that everything was quiet and there was almost no one there. Our teacher Rav Berland met the Mashgiach Rabbi Nachman Rosenthal shlit"a and asked him why it was quiet there. Is there no Purim here? Rav Rosenthal told him, here everyone goes to sleep, wakes up at midnight, and goes to the field to prepare for Purim, to cry out 'Save me from the klipah (husk) of Haman-Amalek and merit me the holiness of Mordechai and Esther,' because how is it possible to waste such a holy night on revelry and drunkenness, when it is written about it that whoever extends their hand [in prayer], it is given to them. The Rav was very impressed by the answer and from then on, he drew very close to Breslov.

Rav Nachman Rosenthal, who was a Mashgiach at the Breslov Yeshiva in Bnei Brak at the time of the yeshiva's founding 50 years ago, once told that one day a Jew came to the Steipler with a request that the Rav bless his wife, who needed an urgent salvation. The Steipler told him, "Turn to my neighbor, Rabbi Eliezer Berland, and ask him for a blessing." The Jew went to the home of our teacher the Rav shlit"a, but he was at that time in hitbodedut in the field. "Leave the note and your name and I will pass it on to him," the Rabbanit said.

After a few days, that same Jew returned to the Rav's house with an envelope containing a very large sum of money and gave it to the Rav as a gesture for the salvation his wife had received. The Rav refused to take the money, but the man argued and pleaded with him, left the envelope, and went away. The Rav consulted with the Rabbanit and decided - "This money does not belong to me!! I will go out to the street and the first Rosh Yeshiva I meet, I will give him the envelope." The Rav left his house and immediately met by chance the Rosh Yeshiva of Breslov, R' Shimon Bergstein zt"l, and with joy, he gave him the envelope. And Rav Rosenthal adds that later, R' Shimon Bergstein told him that this was the money that sustained the yeshiva.