Moving: The Holy Books of Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a Are Returning to Their Owner

After we turned to you to mobilize and join the rescue operation for the holy sefarim of our master, the gaon and tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, which were scattered across foreign lands—thank G-d, today we can share good news. As is being publicized throughout the world, in recent days a ton and a half of books have already arrived, out of a total of 10 tons.

The goal of the operation, launched by the Rav shlit"a’s students, was to gather the thousands of holy sefarim scattered across the many countries to which the Rav was exiled.

[caption id="attachment_5605" align="alignright" width="300"] The holy sefarim of the gaon and tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland at the Port of Ashdod[/caption]

Morocco, Holland, South Africa, and other countries as well are the destinations on which the collection-and-rescue effort is focusing. For this, they were assisted by many local Jews, including Chabad emissaries. These Jews gathered the books, packed them, loaded them onto ships, and sent them in containers to the Port of Ashdod.

Followers of the Rav shlit"a rallied in great numbers to travel to the Port of Ashdod in order to take part in collecting the holy sefarim. Now they are working to organize them in the Rav’s home in Jerusalem, in preparation for his release from prison. It should also be noted that even today, the Rav shlit"a has hundreds of books with him on a regular basis in his detention cell—books that must be rotated from time to time due to lack of space.

From the testimony of Rabbi Barak Barber, the one leading this operation, one can understand just how difficult the effort was. “When I saw how much these books are in the Rav’s very blood, I threw myself into it and took care of it despite the great burden and the high cost.”

[caption id="attachment_5606" align="alignright" width="300"] The holy sefarim of the gaon and tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland have arrived in the Land and are waiting for their owner[/caption]

“This was an especially complex, painstaking operation that costs a tremendous amount of money. It was crazy logistics with a very high price tag. We had to hire a local moving company to transfer the books to the ship, and Israel doesn’t have direct ships from Johannesburg. So we had to arrange a special ship that collects cargo from several countries. The shipment was stuck for a few weeks until we managed to raise the full amount.” Barak notes that for most of the books there is no room in the Rav’s home in Jerusalem, since there are thousands of sefarim. And now they are looking for places where the books can be stored.