Rav Berland Taken on a Stretcher from Police Investigation and Hospitalized in Intensive Care under Sedation - Urgent Prayer Gathering at Rachel's Tomb

A time of distress for Jacob - a severe deterioration in the condition of the esteemed tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, who was rushed on a stretcher to Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem, where he is being treated in intensive care under sedation. The chassidim of the rabbi and many from the House of Israel who feel the religious persecution are gathering for a mass prayer at the pre-planned rally at Rachel's Tomb.

Since the brutal and outrageous arrest of the esteemed tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, when early in the morning dozens of masked officers entered the prayer house and arrested him in front of hundreds of students. Already then, we cried out and warned together with thousands of his students that this arrest was scandalous and that Rav Berland suffered severe harm from the police's conduct, but the judicial system, represented by Judge Bavli, and the police chose to ignore it.

Just to understand the picture, Rav Berland is a well-known and respected rabbi in Israel and worldwide with tens of thousands of students, even those who are not among his recognized chassidim. There is a malicious harassment against the rabbi by a small group numbering less than a minyan, but they do everything they can to harm Rav Berland and his community. These matters are known, recognized, and publicized, but unfortunately, the police themselves are influenced by these pursuers, and therefore they have no desire to do anything about it.

Rav Berland shlit"a is an elderly Jew over the age of 82, a Jew who donated one of his kidneys, and in recent years has undergone three surgeries to remove malignant tumors from his body. If that weren't enough, Rav Berland has a pacemaker and suffers greatly from his heart. Despite all these facts, the Israeli police chose to carry out the arrest in the harshest way possible, while their investigation was conducted openly for two months, and hundreds of people were asked to come and testify.

It is needless to say that the result was severe, right with the arrest, Rav Berland's condition deteriorated, and he was rushed to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, where he underwent a heart catheterization. And what a wonder, if we thought that naturally, the police would understand that they are simply killing Rav Berland and would ease the unnecessary and terrible conditions, the rabbi lay recovering from the surgery with handcuffs for 12 hours. According to the lawyers' testimony, no one was allowed to enter Rav Berland, and he was given no food - these facts are accurate and were checked before writing the article.

Since then, the police have continued actions that can only be defined as despicable abuse. Immediately after the catheterization, Rav Berland was transferred to detention in Nitzan Prison, while the police were aware that only the next day they would return him to Jerusalem for a hearing at the Russian Compound.

Since then, Rav Berland has suffered daily harassment, as despite his severe health condition, he is interrogated every day for at least 12 hours and even confronted with his gabbaim.

Meanwhile, the Israeli police, realizing they have climbed too high a tree and that they actually have no backing for the media boom they tried to create, are cunningly and deceitfully trying to persuade Rav Berland's students to serve as state witnesses. Just yesterday, media reports were published about threats against one of the detainees that his only son would be transferred to the welfare authorities if he did not cooperate. This is how the police expect to back themselves and achieve something from the futile investigation they are conducting.