Listen: Merciful and Compassionate Father

Nachman Shitrit, personal gabbai to our teacher, the great tzaddik Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a, was detained for questioning at the gates of the prison in South Africa, while arriving to bring food and medicine to the Rav, and was released after several hours of interrogation.

"I arrived at 10:00 AM at the prison gates to bring the Rav food and medicine that he must take," recounts Shitrit regarding the difficult experience he underwent. "Without this, the Rav's medical condition could become poor. Of course, I presented the guards with an ID card and authorization from the local court that permits me to bring food and medicine to the Rav shlit"a. Suddenly, without any reason, they attacked me violently as if I were a thief. They claimed the authorization was invalid, even though it is fully valid and signed by senior officials. The guards persisted, grabbed me, took me into an interrogation room, and began questioning me with strange questions, simply driving me crazy. They threw at me, 'You are not supposed to come and give the Rav food; there is no difference between an 80-year-old man and a young person, everyone will eat the same food. Beware - let us not see you here again!' they said."

"I answered them: 'At least give the Rav the medicine he needs for his healing.' They refused and only approved a dosage that would last the Rav until Thursday. They added that if there is a court hearing on Thursday regarding the Rav's case, they will consider what comes next. And all this despite the authorization; it is simply delusional and insane. Even the food that we do manage to get to the Rav," the gabbai adds, "the black prisoners snatch the food from his hand and bring him prison food. The Rav tells them it is not kosher; he is entirely surrounded by dangerous people. The black prisoners and the guards constantly mock me and lie to me, telling me that the Rav receives the entire package of food and medicine that I send him."

"Finally, I was released after hours of torture and interrogations, and the Rav only received the medicine. I fear for his safety. I do not know what he will eat." Alongside Shitrit was Natan Bezanson, the Rav's attendant, who remained in the vehicle. "He told me," says Shitrit, "that they came to look for more people in the car, but luckily he managed to escape, and thus was saved from the guards. The guard told me during the interrogation, 'We will break you until you give up and stop coming to give the Rav food,' he added.

It is told of the Admor of Ruzhin, who sat in prison, that for a period of time, the prison guard would see the Rebbe exiting through the wall to immerse in a nearby spring and returning to his prison cell. The gentile guard asked the Rebbe, 'If you are such a tzaddik that you can leave like this, then why do you return here?!' The tzaddik answered him, 'You fool, I return because it is a royal decree that I must be here!!!' This is not the first time that Nachman Shitrit, the Rav's gabbai, has been arrested. Furthermore, the previous time, Natan Bezanson, the attendant of our teacher, the great tzaddik Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a, was also detained with him for questioning. We are talking about two G-d-fearing Jews whose only 'transgression' is their self-sacrifice for the success of the tzaddik, the foundation of the world. There is no doubt that the Rav shlit"a is fighting great wars in the heavens, and what we see here is a manifestation appearing in the form of guards and large, hard-hearted prisoners. Nevertheless, we must not, under any circumstances, accept these things with indifference or as bystanders watching an interesting drama. We must protest, cry out, and ask Hashem to release the Shechinah from the house of bondage.