The Escape from India

Ronen Dvash's story, as we brought previously, has reached the news. After becoming a book at the instruction of The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, and even being publicized in many lectures, Ronen Dvash is now being interviewed on Channel 10. We edited the video for you and adapted it for the website's audience, and Baruch Hashem, it is possible to watch it and discover new points that have not been published until now.

Ronen Dvash, who was put into one of the toughest prisons in the world and managed to slip away in a crazy way, as he himself defines it in the film, is interviewed and reveals how a Pidyon Nefesh (redemption of the soul) to Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a and a prayer he received from him achieved the impossible.

"In India, everything is possible until you get entangled," Ronen Dvash opens his words in the interview he gave to Channel 10. "They told me that from now on I am no longer called Ronen, but Number 563, meaning that I am no longer a human being. My entire personality disappeared in a single second, erased, like a dead man; Ronen was and then vanished."

Ronen entered 'Arthur Road' prison in Mumbai, India, one of the hardest and most dangerous prisons in the world, a prison known for its extreme conditions. He, who was known then as 'Ronen Rasta' and was a trailblazer in the electronic music scene in Tel Aviv and a well-known personality on the street, suddenly changed direction and decided to return in teshuvah (repentance).

"I didn't think they would cheat me and hide drugs in my bag, but then a policeman comes to me and says there are drugs in the suitcase and asks me to accompany him. A black screen fell before my eyes; getting into trouble in India is forbidden because there is no way out of there." Ronen was taken to a prison where the most dangerous prisoners in India are found, a prison where one who enters knows he has no chance of leaving.

"As soon as I entered the prison, I saw a rat the size of a dog running among the Indians. I was disgusted and even afraid. Then I understood that I was entering detention with Indians who live in the streets and shower in sewage, so in reality, this prison must be worse than that. There is nothing there, just a floor, walls, and a ceiling; that is how I lived there. I reached a weight of 46 kg, the body was damaged, but specifically then, the soul strengthens."

"On Friday nights, we would sing 'Lecha Dodi' in a loud voice until all the Muslims and Indians would wait for Friday to arrive so they could hear it; they simply fell in love with this melody."

"After eight months in this terrible prison, a friend arrived from Israel who had been with Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a and passed on a message to me from the Rav who said: 'If you transfer a Pidyon Nefesh, everything will end like a white dream.' The words were fulfilled exactly as Rabbi Berland shlit"a wrote to me in a prayer and requested that I read it like medicine, three times a day."

The text of the prayer that Rabbi Berland shlit"a wrote: "Master of the World... and just as You smuggled Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our Teacher) away from Pharaoh's jailers at the hour when he was already standing on the gallows, so too, blind their eyes and cut off their hands and legs so they cannot catch me. And may I merit to see myself in Israel in the blink of an eye, Amen, Netzach, Selah, Va'ed." "I read the prayer with simplicity, just as Rabbi Berland said. After a year and a half of my imprisonment, I became ill with malaria and they evacuated me to a clinic. When I went to relieve myself, I suddenly found myself alone in the restroom."

"From there, things rolled quickly, as a narrow window that I pushed led me," in the merit of the Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, "outside and eventually back to Israel, of course, after many miracles that visited me on the way. Exactly as the Rav said and wrote to me in the prayer."

The full story of the miracles that visited Ronen Dvash is in the interview before you.