Rare and Moving: Rav Shalom Arush Tells About His Journey to Judaism and Rabbi Eliezer Berland - 2005 Part 1

Rabbi Yitzchak Witzindler reminds Rav Shalom Arush shlit"a of forgotten memories, asking him if he remembers how he and Rav Berland shlit"a would study together in a chavruta with the Likutey Moharan in shouts. Thus begins the fascinating and rare conversation of Rav Shalom Arush shlit"a, in which he recounts his journey of drawing closer to Judaism, to Rebbe Nachman, and especially to the esteemed Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a. These are the words.

"I remember how I entered the room of our teacher Rav Berland shlit"a and you (Rav Arush) were sitting on one side, and Rav Berland on the other, and you were shouting the Likutey Tefillot. Neither you saw the people around you nor did Rav Berland, for several hours it was like this, do you remember it?" Rabbi Witzindler asks Rav Arush. "I remember it, but I don't remember you seeing me," answers Rav Shalom Arush.

"My closeness began at the end of 1974, everywhere I went was directly to Breslov. Initially, I had an awakening within myself to start speaking with Hashem. It was truly an immense gift. Many questions arose within me, what is this world? Why must one eventually die? And this led me to reflect on life, and in general, why live."

"Because my closeness was through prayer, I prayed for everything that was before me. At that time, my sister had a problem with her son and she was referred to Rabbi Shlomo from Givat Shaul. She told me she met a rabbi who drew her very close, I took his details from her and went to him. In the meeting, he told me I needed to buy the book 'Hishtapchut HaNefesh'. I went to look for the book in bookstores in Tel Aviv, I thought to myself that if Rabbi Shlomo said it, then surely everyone knows the book, but no one knew of it."

"At Rabbi Shlomo's, I met a Chabad chassid who introduced me to Rabbi Yitzchak Ginzburg from Chabad, and he studied with me from the books of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. No matter which path I took, I eventually drew close to Rebbe Nachman. There I met Moshe Shvili, who wanted to introduce me to a special rabbi, in his words, so he used the phrase - 'This is a rabbi that even if you come to him in the middle of the night and say - 'Come', he will go with you'. Shvili could not explain to me that it was a completely selfless rabbi."

"I reached this rabbi, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, and as soon as I arrived, the rabbi said to me, 'Come, let's go'. We got into the car (I didn't understand how Rav Berland even knew I had a car) and we drove to an orange grove where Rav Berland said Tikkun Chatzot with lights. I didn't know what Tikkun Chatzot was, but I was happy with the hour of Hitbodedut that followed. The rabbi didn't speak to me at all, Rav Berland shlit"a has divine inspiration, he immediately took me to do Hitbodedut and it made me very happy that there are Jews who do what I do. Seeing Jews speaking with Hashem without a book is something that drew me very, very close."

"Since then, I started coming to Rav Berland's house a lot, even though I still didn't look like the Jews, but with very long hair."