Shuvu Banim History Corner for the 28th of Nissan • This Is a Day of Miracles

Today is the 28th of Nissan, forty-one years ago. On the 28th of Nissan 5742 (1982), the Shuvu Banim yeshivah moved to the Old City. Below is an excerpt from a shiur in which The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, recounts how they entered the yeshivah in the Old City on that very day, the 28th of Nissan:

So today—Koach Nissan, “koach” (strength)—the 28th, the day of the evacuation of Yamit. This is the day we received the building in the Old City. From Heaven, they arranged for us Chaim Shaul Duek, who renovated the building. Then Rabbi Simcha HaKohen Kook came from Rechovot, and he said that the building belonged to Chaim Shaul Duek; he had received it from Ateret Kohanim. He handed it over to Shuvu Banim.

He had “Shavu Banim,” and we are “Shuvu Banim.” He had a building without students; we had students without a building. And then the two things connected together.

That whole morning of the 28th of Nissan, the building was completely empty—except for seven bochurim. We arrived—forty facing seven—with ten Sifrei Torah, up to the entrance gate. And then there was no choice: they had to climb over the gate. Tzuri Geter climbed the gate, and Yisrael Polpfager fired a shot into the air.

That shot saved us. Because the moment they went to complain about us—that we had broken into the building, that it was against the law—the chief commander of Jerusalem said, “You are not evacuating them.”

Then a commando unit arrived and broke into the building and removed everyone—with sniffer dogs. And everyone chained themselves with handcuffs to the iron bars on the roof.

And then, at the most critical moment—when they already wanted to evacuate everyone—at that very moment, the civil court ruled that since Yisrael Polpfager had fired into the air, then [the other side] lost his right. And we dropped the lawsuit about the shots, and he dropped the lawsuit about the break-in.

But in the end, everything was transferred to the Badatz. After a year of hearings in the Badatz, they decided to evacuate us—it took a year. And David Frenkel, who is the best lawyer, the best rabbinical advocate in all of Jerusalem, was on behalf of Ateret Kohanim against us. But Hashem performed endless miracles—Hashem is for us. David Frenkel is against us; Hashem is for us.

And then they saw the miracles and wonders: one day before the final ruling of the Badatz about the evacuation—exactly one day before—he informed Yisrael Polpfager, who was the head of Ateret Kohanim, that it is impossible to evacuate yeshivah bochurim like these—such scholars, such diligent learners, such tzaddikim who in their lives don’t even open their eyes—he didn’t have the heart to evacuate them.

And the day before that, he withdrew the entire claim. And baruch Hashem, we are here until today—already forty exactly; today completes forty years. And all those who arrived forty years ago remember every detail of the miracles.

This is a day of miracles and wonders now—a day when it’s possible to remember all the barren women and all the shidduchim. And this is Techiyas HaMeisim—Amen, forever and ever!