The Devotion of Rav Pinto and Rav Kook to Rav Berland is Beyond Comprehension

We continue to bring you strengthening facts regarding the connection of R' Don Alberto with the holy Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a.

"The story of how I became acquainted with the holy Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a is beautiful and interesting. About 32 years ago, when I had only been doing teshuvah (repentance) for three months, I was constantly dreaming about Rav Berland. One day, there was a brit in Meah Shearim with the Rav shlit"a, and Shmuel Philos, one of the veterans of the yeshiva, called and told me to come see Rav Berland. I arrived there with cameras in order to film the Rav; at that time, I had never seen the Rav before."

"The moment I saw the Rav, I lost my bearings. They told me to take my hands off the Rav, but I couldn't. The Rav sat on the chair and I was behind him. Suddenly, the mohel, the late Rabbi Frank, arrived. Rabbi Frank placed the baby down, and I ran to stand behind Rabbi Frank. Immediately upon the conclusion of the brit, the baby began to cry in a truly abnormal way, until Rav Berland held his legs and pulled them; in an instant, the baby became silent. As I watched the baby looking at the Rav, I received the chills of my life."

"I left with the Rav. There were some people there arguing with the Rav's gabbaim, and in the process, I entered a corner there alone with the Rav. I asked the Rav for a blessing, and the Rav said to me, 'Do not think about any other woman.' I didn't understand at all what the Rav was talking about. Later, there was another incident in Uman where the Rav was happy about something I had done and said, 'From today, this young man is attached to me.' Since then, I was truly attached to Rav Berland for five whole years; I traveled with him to Los Angeles, Switzerland, and many other places. Every day, the Rav would call me, and I came down from Eilat and joined the Rav for the sake of the merit of the many."

"On one occasion, someone came to the Rav and said, 'Rav, they want to kill me because I owe the gray market a million dollars.' One could see he was terrified. The Rav asked him, 'Who are they?' He answered, 'I don't know, I only know that in conversations with them, they mentioned Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto.' We traveled with Rav Berland to Ashdod to Rabbi Pinto. Mordechai the shamash opened the door and received a warm welcome; he went to Rabbi Pinto and said to him, 'Rav, good news, Rav Berland is here.' Rabbi Pinto came out with joy, and immediately, they began hugging and kissing."

"Rav Berland began to tell the story to Rabbi Pinto, who understood who was involved, picked up the phone to them, and asked them to come to him. Around 2:00 AM, they arrived and didn't understand what was happening; on one side was Rabbi Pinto, and on the other was Rav Berland. Rav Berland said to them, 'Listen guys, you have two options in this case of debt collection: 1. I promise you an abundance you have never seen before, or his debt transfers to me and I owe you.' The lenders became confused, kissed the Rav's hand, approached the man who owed the money, and said to him, 'You owe us nothing.'"

"Not two weeks had passed, and I arrived at Rav Berland's and saw those two entering the Rav's room. Rav Berland said to me, 'Sit, stay inside,' and I saw the two of them giving the Rav an envelope full of money. They said, 'Rav, what an abundance has come to us.' In addition to that, I heard from the Rav's gabbai that for months afterward, they came to the Rav every week."

"In that same situation, I witnessed the self-nullification that Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto shlit"a had before Rav Berland, no less than the self-nullification that Rabbi Dov Kook of Tiberias had before Rav Berland. I was with Rav Berland a number of times by Rabbi Kook in Tiberias, and I saw that the self-nullification that Rabbi Kook has toward Rav Berland cannot be understood by the intellect. I have never seen in my life pidyonot (redemption offerings) like those Rabbi Kook transfers to Rav Berland—it is a self-nullification that is simply impossible to comprehend."