A special visit to the treasure-house of sefarim in the holy home of The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a • What kinds of bookmarks does Rabbi Berland place in his books? • What is the meaning of the underlined passages inside the sefarim? • What is stored in a cabinet that looks like a wardrobe? • And why is there no upholstery on the chairs in the living room? • Part One of a captivating journey into Rabbi Berland’s immense greatness in Torah learning

The Constant Table

If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for the immense love that The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, has for Torah, they would utterly scorn him. “If people would feel the sweetness and pleasantness of Torah,” says the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh, “they would go out of their minds and burn with longing for it, and a whole world of silver and gold would be considered nothing in their eyes—because Torah includes all the goodness in the world.” Whoever wants a living, tangible example of this need only look at the Rav—like an angel—The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a. His boundless love for the holy Torah knows no limits: not the limits of time, and not the limits of the body. “For they are our life and the length of our days”—literally so—“and in its love he will always be enraptured”… Every sefer, compilation, journal, or leaflet containing words of Torah is seized by The Rav, Rabbi Berland, and absorbed with thirst and delight.

In order to taste even a drop of the sweetness of Torah and what true hasmadah looks like, about a year ago we made our way to the holy dwelling of The Rav, Rabbi Berland, on HaChomah HaShlishit Street in Jerusalem. Accompanying us was the esteemed chassidic dayan, R’ Yosef Man shlit"a, who for decades has merited to be responsible for the treasure of sefarim in The Rav’s home—and for producing refined editions of dozens of sefarim especially for The Rav, Rabbi Berland, at his request. We entered further inward, into the living room with the legendary table that we all merit to see on those occasions when we are privileged to enter and appear before the King—when the entire table is overflowing with holy sefarim from every area of Torah. As mentioned, we made this visit last year, when—because of our many sins—the Shechinah was in exile, and the Tzaddik who took upon himself countless humiliations for all of Israel was exiled from his home. At that time, the table here was free of any sefarim. In Hashem’s kindness, we merited to witness the tremendous miracle of Rabbi Berland’s return to his home, and the return of light and majesty—doubled and redoubled. Once again, we merit to see here piles of holy sefarim, and the blazing love of Torah bursting forth from this sacred house.

And now, for the special tour:

Along one side of the wall stands an enormous, long, expansive bookcase packed with holy sefarim. On the other side there are several more bookcases, also filled. We approach with awe and love, gazing at the many sefarim. In each sefer there are numerous bookmarks—sometimes the Rav’s well-known yellow pages of prayers, sometimes white tissues, and even kvitlach from people…

Bookmarks from Prison

“After The Rav, Rabbi Berland, came out of prison,” says R’ Yosef, “I saw a different kind of bookmark… These were prison sheets with the inmates’ meal times written on them and the like, green wrappers from tea bags, and more…” We notice that in many places the shelves have gaps where sefarim are missing, and Rabbi Man explains: “Those are the sefarim we took from here and sent to The Rav, Rabbi Berland, to where he was staying—at his request.”

The Room of Kabbalah Sefarim

From the living room we move to another room, also filled with sefarim. A bookcase stretching along the wall is packed tight. “Here it’s mainly sefarim of Toras HaSod,” R’ Yosef tells us. Indeed, we find a wide variety of Kabbalah sefarim of every kind and type—and there too, the sefarim are full of bookmarks. Across the width of the room stands a cabinet that looks like a wardrobe, but it too is filled with holy sefarim. “The sefarim that The Rav, Rabbi Berland, is interested in and occupies himself with,” says R’ Yosef, “are so numerous that there’s already no room in the house to hold them… We were forced to fill cabinets like these as well.” Among the sefarim we also discover the works of the mekubal, Chacham Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri zt"l, with a photograph of his holy handwriting on one side of the book.

Another room we enter is essentially the “waiting room.” Here, people would wait during kabbalas kahal to enter The Rav, Rabbi Berland. This room too is packed from every direction with bookcases and holy sefarim… The fire of love for Torah—the longing and thirst for what is “more precious than gold and much fine gold”—is palpable in this sacred home.

Lines of Fire

In many sefarim we come across underlined lines. We close our eyes and try to imagine the flaming torch immersed in the fiery blaze of Torah—reaching passages where the flame intensifies and grows: fire consuming fire. He takes the pen and marks them—black fire upon white fire—until the letters seem to fly in the air…

“There are many sefarim here,” Rabbi Man brings us back down to earth, “that were produced especially for The Rav, Rabbi Berland. These are sefarim whose print is small, crowded, old, and extremely difficult to read. We saw The Rav’s discomfort, and we decided to produce refined editions.” More on that at length later.

When Rabbi Berland Asked to Change the Chairs

We return to the living room, take a few more photos, and R’ Yosef draws our attention to the wooden chairs surrounding the long table—chairs without upholstery. “There was a period when there were upholstered chairs here, but Rabbi Berland demanded that they be replaced. Rabbi Berland argued that an upholstered chair can lead to sleepiness, unlike a chair without upholstery… and Torah is acquired with little sleep…”

The Pillar of Torah

As we speak, we understand that R’ Yosef is the one who merited, for decades, to be responsible for all this “true good.” At the request of The Rav, Rabbi Berland, he is the one who purchased, organized, and also produced the refined editions—meaning he is aware of countless stories in which he witnessed Rabbi Berland’s love for Torah and his greatness in all its hidden treasures. Indeed, Rabbi Man shares with us a small glimpse of the exalted greatness of The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, which he merited to witness:

“I want to begin with a small introduction,” R’ Yosef opens. “It is written: The world stands on three pillars—Torah, avodah, and acts of kindness. Rebbe Nachman reveals that there is another pillar—anavah and lowliness—but it isn’t written, because anavah and lowliness are ‘nothingness’; it’s not something you write. Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz zy"a says: ‘Few are the people who truly engage in Torah; even fewer are the people who engage in true avodah—service of the heart, which is prayer; and fewer still are those who engage in gemilus chasadim.’ When we look at The Rav, Rabbi Berland, we see how he took each of these pillars in complete perfection, at the very highest peak. Therefore we must understand that right now we are focusing on one pillar—the pillar of Torah—and even that is only at the outer edges of the Tzaddik’s ways. For example, there is no way to define what “Torah lishmah” is; we have no grasp and no language to describe The Rav, Rabbi Berland’s Torah lishmah… And as I said, we are focusing only on one matter—his Torah learning—whereas if we were to take, for example, the avodah of prayer of The Rav, Rabbi Berland, the stories would never end. I remember, for instance, the first time I came to The Rav, Rabbi Berland, in his home in the Old City. The Rebbetzin said: ‘Wait—the Rav is in the middle of davening.’ How long did I wait? Four hours! Four hours of Shemoneh Esrei of Shacharis on an ordinary day… from eight in the morning until twelve noon. And all this after the day before, The Rav, Rabbi Berland, had been fasting—it was the days of Shovavim, and Rabbi Berland fasted on Monday and Thursday. The Rav did not break the fast at night, and now he was still in Shacharis. So here we see what avodah shebalev is—and despite that, his Torah learning was not diminished…” And about his tremendous hasmadah and the breadth of The Rav, Rabbi Berland’s knowledge in Torah—in the next chapter.