Rav Berland Taken on a Stretcher from Police Investigation and Hospitalized in

It is a time of trouble for Jacob - a severe deterioration in the condition of the holy tzaddik, Rav 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 Rav's followers, as well as masses of the House of Israel who feel the religious persecution, are gathering for a mass prayer at the pre-planned rally at Kever Rachel.

Since the brutal and outrageous arrest of the holy tzaddik, Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a, when at dawn dozens of masked thugs entered the house of prayer and arrested him in front of hundreds of students, we have cried out and warned, along with thousands of his students, that this arrest is scandalous and that severe damage has been caused to Rav Berland by the way the police conducted themselves. However, the judicial system, represented by Judge Bavli, as well as the police, chose to ignore it.

Just to understand the picture, Rav Berland is a well-known and respected rabbi in Israel and throughout the world, with tens of thousands of students, including those who are not counted among his recognized followers. There is malicious harassment against the Rav by a handful of people numbering less than a minyan, but they are doing everything in their power to harm Rav Berland and his community. These things are known, familiar, and public, but unfortunately, the police themselves are fed by these same persecutors, and therefore they have no desire to do anything about the matter.

Rav Berland shlit"a is an elderly Jew who has passed 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 were not enough, Rav Berland has had a pacemaker installed and suffers greatly from his heart. Despite all these facts, the Israel Police chose to carry out the arrest in the harshest way possible, while their investigation had been conducted openly for two months, and hundreds of people were asked to come and provide testimony.

Needless to say, the result was severe; immediately upon the arrest, Rav Berland's condition deteriorated, and he was rushed to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, where he underwent a cardiac catheterization. And behold, what a wonder: if we thought the police would naturally understand that they were simply killing Rav Berland and would ease the unnecessary and terrible conditions, the Rav lay in recovery from the surgery in handcuffs for 12 hours. According to the testimony of the lawyers, no person was allowed to enter to see Rav Berland, and he was not given any food - these things are accurate and were verified before the writing of this article.

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

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

At the same time, the Israel 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 using harsh and cunning tactics to try to induce Rav Berland's students to serve as state witnesses. Just yesterday, articles were published in the media about threats made to one of the detainees, that his only son would be transferred to welfare authorities if he did not cooperate. This is how the police expect to back themselves up and achieve something from the sterile investigation they are conducting.