Rav Michael Gol shlit"a

The third part of the story of the moving drawing near of the Gaon Rabbi Michael Gol shlit"a, Rosh Yeshiva of 'Maginei Eretz' in Jerusalem and one of the veteran and famous students of the Gaon and Tzaddik Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a.

Rabbi Shalom Arush pulls my brother to 'Shuvu Banim'

"All this commotion created cracks in my brother, and the family took advantage of this to pull him to a class by Rabbi Chashin zt"l. Immediately after the class, my brother approached Rabbi Chashin and told him everything that had happened. Rabbi Chashin said, 'Stay away from fire, stay away from fire.' That same evening, Rabbi Shalom Arush (then still Shalom Arush) arrived there, and after hearing Rabbi Chashin's words to my brother, he approached to inquire. A conversation developed between them, and he took my brother to 'Shuvu Banim' that very night. They went out at night to the field for hitbodedut, and when they returned, he studied with my brother the Torah that the Rav had studied with them."

"During that period, Dror Tzanani (today – Rabbi Moshe Tzanani) also drew near, and our teacher Rav Berland studied with him Torah 65 from Likutey Moharan – 'My daughter, do not go to glean in another field,' the Torah that speaks about the importance of drawing near to the Tzaddik, the owner of the field. And Rabbi Shalom, who remembered that this Torah had captured Tzanani, therefore studied this Torah with my brother. They studied all night; afterwards, my brother prayed Shacharit there and stayed with them all day."

So far is the end of the things we brought in the previous part; from here, the continuation of Rabbi Gol's words.

Becoming acquainted with the true Tzaddik

"In the evening, when my brother returned home, he entered with a kippah on his head and Likutey Moharan in his hand. He had a point of truth that if he believed in something, he was willing to fight for it against the whole world. He told me that he had been at a Breslov Chassidic yeshiva and that there they spoke to him about what we have been talking about all these years - 'That there is one who is unique, a Tzaddik who rules over all the worlds.' I asked my brother for his name, and he answered - 'They told me Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.'"

"I, after all, studied in a religious school, and there I had a grade of 100 in history. I knew the lineage of Chassidut from the Baal Shem Tov well, but I had never heard the name of Rebbe Nachman. Apparently, I was protected from above so that my first acquaintance with Rebbe Nachman would not come from school. When my brother told me the name of the Tzaddik, I got chills all over my body; I went to the closet, took out a large kippah, and put it on my head."

"He elevated the level of the Tzaddik to second to G-d"

"I said to my brother, Aryeh, we need to look in the encyclopedia and clarify who this Tzaddik is. There were good expressions there (in the children's encyclopedia) about Rebbe Nachman; I remember to this day that it was written that he elevated the level of the Tzaddik to second to G-d."

"We sat down to study Likutey Moharan. I remember that at three in the morning, Mother got up and saw us sitting hunched over the book with a kippah on our heads. She was surprised; after all, just yesterday it was impossible to talk to us about Judaism. For example, the Rabbanit of the neighborhood, the wife of the Gaon and Tzaddik Yehuda Zrachia Segal zt"l, came to convince us. When she left, she told our parents that there was no point in talking to them, but Rabbi Segal said to my mother, 'Don't worry, you will yet derive much nachas from your children.'"

"The sergeant asked what those bristles were"

"When Mother saw us studying, she burst into tears, and with excitement, she went back to sleep. Already in the morning, I asked her to buy me tzitzit, and in addition to that, I did not shave, even though I went to the base. At the morning roll call, I told the sergeant that I was doing teshuvah. To him, it sounded like a joke; after all, just yesterday during lunch break we played soccer together, and now I am saying that I am doing teshuvah. I removed my beret, and he saw a large kippah on my head. He said, 'Soon you'll tell me you're going to grow peyot too.' I will also grow peyot!"

Arriving at the Shuvu Banim Yeshiva

"In the afternoon, I already took a bus to Bnei Brak, and according to my brother's explanation, I started looking for the Shuvu Banim Yeshiva. I remember it was a Thursday, and when I entered, Rabbi Shimon Teichner was in the middle of a class between Mincha and Maariv on Sichot HaRan. When I entered, he was exactly at the words speaking about, 'Yochanan the High Priest - do not believe in yourself until the day of your death.' I remember that at my Sheva Brachot, I said the things I heard from him on my first day at the yeshiva."

"They went to sleep after Arvit (because they would wake up at midnight), while I traveled to my home, but already that same day I told everyone I met that I was studying at the Shuvu Banim Yeshiva. Until then, I was in an environment where my school principal would pray the Amidah in three-quarters of a minute, while the counselors would take a minute and a half."

To be continued, with Hashem's help