New Revelations: Rabbi Shalom Arush Speaks About His Journey to Judaism and

Rav Shalom Arush shlit"a, head of the "Chut Shel Chessed" institutions, continues his amazing story of drawing near to the holy tzaddik, Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a. "At that time (after I began drawing near to Rav Berland shlit"a), the desire to study in a yeshiva was awakened within me, and therefore I left the university. Rav Berland shlit"a sent me to a yeshiva to be strengthened with Dadi Ben Ami (David Refael Ben Ami). Although I still had long hair and it took me time until I got a haircut, I had already begun to study and pray. During that period, our teacher Rav Berland would give a lesson every Thursday at the home of Gabriel Grossman in the Sanhedria neighborhood of Jerusalem. In the meantime, I got married."

The First Trip to Uman - Unable to Leave the Country

"I remember sitting in a lesson at Gabriel Grossman's; Rav Berland would give a lesson throughout the entire night, and not everyone could hold out. I found a corner to rest, and suddenly they woke me up and said, 'The Rav asked us to tell you that you received a visa in your passport.' I prayed very much to merit traveling to Uman; in my mind's eye, I pictured that whoever travels to Uman is someone elevated above the masses. In truth, one must believe that whoever travels to Uman is something very high, which is why I would pray a lot about it. However, in the end, I did not merit to travel on that first trip; it is impossible to describe the sorrow I felt from that."

The First Trip Where I Arrived in Uman

"In the year 5745 (1984), I traveled for the first time to Uman via Vienna. During that period, I merited to be close to our teacher Rav Berland even before he was known to the public. I merited to drive him in my car; every night we would travel to Hebron to the Cave of the Patriarchs. Whenever we would go together to the field to perform hitbodedut (secluded prayer), I would take books with me, because when the Rav would arrive with other people, he always said, 'We will meet in an hour and five minutes,' but when I was with him alone, it would last much longer. Whoever merited to see the Rav during Shacharit prayers—these are things that cannot be understood."

Rav Berland Has Not a Drop of Fear

"Rav Berland is the only person I have known who does not have a drop of fear; he can enter places alone that no one else is capable of. Once, he was ill with pneumonia; of course, he did not take medicine, but he also did not want to go for check-ups. His wife (Rabbanit Tehila Berland shlit"a) called his mother, who convinced him to go for an examination, and I accompanied him to the hospital. At the examination, they said the situation was difficult and he required hospitalization, but he told the family that Rav Shalom Arush is a medic, so they would give him the medication and he would ensure that I would give them to him on time."

"I traveled with the Rav shlit"a alone to Arad; of course, he threw the medicine into the trash, and not only that, he would only immerse in a mikvah of cold water. He would not dry himself off. I said to him, 'Kavod HaRav, at least now that you are sick, dry yourself off,' for I know that the Rav never dries himself off after immersion (one of the holy customs of the tzaddik according to the Arizal). Immediately from there, we would go out to perform hitbodedut in the mountains. I would perform hitbodedut and see the Rav going to perform hitbodedut among the tanks; he does not see the world around him—he has not a drop of fear; it is impossible to understand this."

"We would travel night after night to Halhul, to Hebron; he never had a drop of fear; it is impossible to describe to someone who has not seen it. He revealed to me the reason for the illness; he said that he wanted to stop the work of bringing the distant closer and to engage only in the service of Hashem, but immediately he fell ill with severe pneumonia. Afterward, he promised Hashem that he would return and engage in bringing the distant closer, and Hashem healed him."