The head and founder of “Machon Mordechai,” the chassidic Rabbi R’ Mordechai Felberboim zt”l, shared majestic memories a number of years ago in a special interview with “The Information Line – Shuvu Banim,” in which he spoke about his acquaintance with Rabbi Berland shlit"a and how he was his chavrusa in Volozhin for about a year • about the special instruction of Maran the Steipler, of blessed memory • about the “Shuvu Banim” yeshivah and about opening the path to Uman by Rabbi Berland shlit"a • good memories

The Chavrusa and the Instruction

“I was the chavrusa with Rabbi Berland in Volozhin, on Nechemiah Street in Bnei Brak. The Rosh Yeshivah and the kollel at the time told me, ‘There is a young man here with a great soul—learn with him.’ After a year of learning with him, he went to the Steipler and asked him what to do regarding bringing merit to the public: ‘My soul longs for Torah—and to bring the public merit through it.’ The Kehillos Yaakov, the Steipler, told him: ‘I am a Litvak, a Chazon Ish person—but you have the soul of a Breslover. Go to Jerusalem. Be a leader there. Try to raise the honor of Breslov.’ And indeed, with mesirus nefesh he went and established a yeshivah. And with mesirus nefesh he opened the building in the Old City despite all the provocations of Teddy Kollek, who was the mayor then. He (Rabbi Berland) said, ‘Here there will be a yeshivah.’ And baruch Hashem, I hear that until today there is a yeshivah there, and people return in teshuvah and do great things. I came there a few times—there is a first floor, a second. In the beginning there were Arabs there, and Kollek made them many problems, claiming that they took property belonging to Arabs. I myself spoke a few times with the Arabs there; I also gave them money. And afterward, the Arabs either left there or received compensation. But he restored the crown to its former glory—he returned the entire place to the Judaism that had been there.”

Opening the Path to Uman by Rabbi Berland

“He opened the path to Uman. He was the first to open Uman. This came from his inner strength and his mesirus nefesh. Today it has already become open—thousands travel all the time—but then they arrested anyone. Today they make millions of dollars from the Jews. But as they say—the first step—he was the one who did it.

And regarding the controversy and persecution against Rabbi Berland, R’ Mordechai said: “Sadly, informers from within our own ranks are not something new. In Chabad it was also like this: the Baal HaTanya was imprisoned because of Jews, until they released him—and then they made a festival of Geulah. It was a sign of Chabad’s breakthrough.

And so we hope that just as then it became ‘You shall spread forth westward and eastward,’ so today the release of Rabbi Berland will become a festival of Geulah for all of Breslov, for all his chassidim, and for all of the Jewish people”...