R' Shmuel Tzchik zt"l on Rav Berland shlit"a - "I Have Never Seen Such a Servant of Hashem"

In honor of the 17th of Adar 5779 - 20 years since the passing of Rabbi Shmuel Tzchik zt"l, one of the great Breslov chassidim of the previous generation, we present to you the testimony of Rabbi Aharon Lebel shlit"a. The words were published on the global Breslov line (the full interview is available at number 9148* extension 11) where R' Lebel recounts a rare expression he heard firsthand from Rabbi Tzchik zt"l about our esteemed teacher, the righteous Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a.

Before the interview, it is important to remember that the words of praise about Rav Berland are spoken by Rabbi Tzchik zt"l, who was a descendant of a lineage of exalted servants of Hashem who were in the city of Uman, and who later established the honor of Breslov chassidut in the Holy Land.

"Rabbi Shmuel Tzchik zt"l used to say that he had never seen a servant of Hashem like Rav Berland shlit"a." Rabbi Aharon Lebel recounts words he heard from R' Tzchik zt"l. "We once spoke about the servants, we said that Rabbi Hirsch Leib was one of the great servants in Uman, but when he came to the Land he was already old and was not so much of a servant. But like R' Leizer (Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a) there was no such servant."

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"Rabbi Tzchik was once in Kashinov (later in his words he corrects and says it was in Bucharest) at the time when Rav Leizer returned from Romania and we were not allowed to travel (this refers to the first trips to Uman during the Iron Curtain period of Russia, when the chassidim left Israel with self-sacrifice not knowing at all if they would succeed in penetrating the Iron Curtain and reaching Uman), Rav Berland was awake all night on the way back. He was awake with self-sacrifice and arranged everyone's travel tickets, afterwards Rav Berland recited the order of Tikkun Chatzot slowly, word by word until morning. It was in Bucharest, morning came and instead of resting his head on one of the benches for a short nap, Rav Berland continued and recited the 'Modeh Ani' prayer in the same way, again, word by word. Rabbi Tzchik said, 'I have never seen such service of Hashem'."

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