The Escape Story from One of the World's Worst Prisons

The hair-raising story of Gavriel Dadon, the escape from the infamous 'Los Teques' prison - one of the most dangerous prisons in the world.

"No one knows who Rav Berland is - he is beyond any comprehension, he is an angel of Hashem."

Among the many stories of miracles associated with the name of the Gaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, the story of the avreich Ronen Dvash, who managed to escape from one of the toughest prisons in the world - 'Arthur Road' in Mumbai, India, in the merit of Rav Berland shlit"a, became very famous. Recently, a story that was previously known only to a small circle has been published: the harrowing escape story of Gavriel Dadon.

Before Gabi begins to testify about what happened to him, the avreich Nachman Levy shares at the beginning of his words about the past of the story's protagonist, Gabi Dadon: "We are talking about a person who, whoever was in his presence, felt fear and trembling. He would sit as a judge in arbitration between criminals from the underworld and would rule and decide between them. He was indeed a good friend, but when he was not a friend, it would become a big problem for everyone around him. Today, after he did teshuvah (repentance), we know him in the world of Torah, but we prefer not to know him in any other world."

"I did teshuvah (repentance) together with my wife about a year after our marriage," Gabi Dadon begins his story.

On drawing close to Rav Berland

"I purchased two pairs of tefillin from the Religious Council, Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam. I had a dream in which I saw someone with a tallit whose head tefillin were positioned slightly to the side; he moved his hand in front of my face and three pillars of fire appeared. I did not know who it was or the meaning of the dream."

"At that time, there were classes given by Rav Berland in Eilat, and I entered that class. Immediately upon entering, I said to my friend, 'This Rav (Rav Berland) is the one who came to me in the dream.' I understood the meaning of the dream after I checked the tefillin; both pairs of head tefillin, both Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam, were invalid."

"Another story I had with Rav Berland was when my mother was dying in the hospital. I told my brother that I wanted to see Rav Berland personally. He told me it was difficult at the moment, but I traveled anyway with self-sacrifice. I entered together with my father and brother-in-law. Rav Berland immediately began telling us a story: 'A girl is lost on Shabbat, what do you do? Is it permitted to call the police or is it forbidden?' The Rav finished his words by saying, 'In the end, the girl returns.'"

"On a Shabbat, a few months later, after my mother had passed away, I arrived again at Rav Berland's, and with me came the brother of the neighbor from downstairs, who said to the Rav, 'My daughter Miriam was kidnapped. She was on the swing, someone picked her up and ran away with her.' I ran down the stairs, and the words were running through my head: 'Is it permitted to call the police or is it forbidden?' In the end, it turned out the whole thing was a misunderstanding, but the words that Rav Berland had said to me a few months earlier were like a prophecy of what was to come."

The story of Gabi Dadon's capture

"I traveled to bring drugs from Venezuela, I was caught there and sentenced to ten years. In prison, as an act of defiance, they shaved my beard and peyot on Shabbat. They told me, 'If you don't sit, we will force you to sit.' This prison, 'Los Teques'—if I didn't have faith in Hashem, I wouldn't have lasted there. There is no reality of surviving there without Hashem. I would find myself reading three books of Tehillim every day, and all the bosses and the prison staff loved me. There, there is no arguing with the bosses; everyone is a murderer. I was in a relatively good wing for people with money, but there are wings where there is nothing to eat. Whoever dies in that prison is dragged by his feet, and you hear his head bouncing on the stairs; no one investigates who killed him, there is no law and no judge."

"Rav Berland called me in prison twice. My wife would transfer pidyonot (redemption funds) to Rav Berland, and he told her that I was in the category of Yosef HaTzaddik, and the miracle was that I was released during the parashah of Miketz - I felt that Rav Berland was with me the whole time, and he would also tell me that."

"The Rav would tell everyone about Gavriel Dadon in Venezuela, but I was ashamed of it. Someone asked the Rav, 'Why do you keep talking about him? After all, the man went to bring drugs?'"

"Rav Berland replied: 'Who could I have sent there? Only him! Only Gavriel could survive there, only he could travel there.'"

"Suddenly, someone from the prison says to me: 'There are a few books here in Hebrew, I think it's from your religion.' It was a set of the Zohar, and I studied the entire Zohar there. Hashem grants grace and kindness; I kept kashrut there, I did things with self-sacrifice."

Gavriel continues to describe the difficult and complex atmosphere of prison life, the interaction with people from the underworld, and the way he managed to survive there. And then he returned to tell about the connection with Rav Berland and the way of his rescue.

"One day, Rav Berland told my wife that there was no longer a need to transfer pidyonot. She said to the Rav: 'There is an escape plan with a fake passport.'"

"Rav Berland: 'But he must arrive with an Israeli passport.'"

"My wife: 'But Rav, we paid a lot of money for a fake passport!'"

"Rav Berland insists: 'Yes, but it should be good, he should arrive with an Israeli passport' - and that is exactly how it was!"

And Rav Berland continued: "I will disrupt all their computers, everything will go wrong there, don't worry, he will arrive here safely."

"My wife: 'Rav, I want you to tell me exactly when Gavriel will come. Put him on the phone.' The Rav said to me: 'Within 30 days you are home, on the second candle of Chanukah.'"

"I paid a bribe to a doctor so that he would invent documents stating that I needed to go to the hospital, and to a doctor who would testify in court that I needed to be hospitalized. On the day of the trial, I was informed that there was no trial because of the Christians' holiday. Even on such difficult days, I would lift my eyes to the heavens and say, 'Father, thank you, I accept this with love, and I deserve this and even more.' At six in the evening, I gave a bribe to a guard so that he would let me go out to speak with my lawyer."

"The lawyer told me about a miracle: 'It is good that we didn't go to court today, because we wouldn't have been able to use the doctor we bribed; the judge brought an expert of his own. When I entered the trial with my kippah, the judge asked me if I was Jewish. I answered yes, and he said that he also has Jewish roots. The judge's clerk came and asked the same question and said, 'Do you know that I am in the process of conversion? Wait, I will speak with the judge!'"

"At the trial, I said that I was terminally ill and that my whole family had come from Israel to say goodbye to me, 'Please, let me die with dignity.' The doctor also testified that if I stayed in prison, I would die. The doctor went for consultation, and in the meantime, everyone told me that there was no chance this judge would release me. And here he returns and announces to me that he is releasing me for hospitalization without guards, without escort, without anything."

"Someone from the community took a hotel room in Venezuela in his name so that they wouldn't be able to track me. I waited there for two days, we traveled 12 hours to the border of Colombia, but there it was difficult for me to speak Spanish at a level appropriate for a person with a Venezuelan passport. With immense Divine Providence, I crossed the border, but in Colombia, they told me that my passport was old and that I needed to return to Venezuela and get a new one. With what I had, I could fly to Bogota, the capital of Colombia. I called a Rav who ruled that it was permitted for me to fly two hours before the start of Shabbat because of the pikuach nefesh (saving a life) I was in."

"Unfortunately, the same policeman who told me that I needed to replace the passport was now standing at the airport. He saw me, snatched my ticket, and told me to get out of there. The person who was with me said, 'Let's get out of here,' but I, with boldness, entered his room, pulled out a stack of dollars that looked like hundreds, but were much less. He took them and said to me: 'Try to leave Colombia through Bogota, and if you don't succeed, come back here and I will get you out of here' - he knew my passport was fake."

"I arrived in Bogota, and a few people with Jerusalem-style kippot and black suits were waiting for me, and they took me to the hotel just before Shabbat. I made contact with the Israeli consulate; they told me to come even without an ID, but when I arrived, they gave me trouble. Finally, Guy Nir, the investigation coordinator for South America, came down to me and said: 'You are entering an Israeli consulate with a fake ID?' I answered that I had no other choice. He played a trick on me and wrote on the passport, 'For Spain and Israel only.' In effect, these countries do not have to extradite you; you serve your prison sentence there."

"Somehow, I reached a situation where I found myself sitting on the plane; I looked for a stamp on the passport and didn't find one. In such a case, if I had arrived in Spain, they would have asked me where I came from and where the stamp was?"

"We landed in Spain, all the passengers were directed to the stamping counters, a few Israelis I knew from Colombia passed through there, and I passed with them. Every moment I waited for a voice to tell me to stop, but to my joy, it didn't come - I continued on the flight to Israel."

"In Israel, I was sure I would have a big mess, but they only asked me how many years I hadn't been in the country. I answered three - they stamped me, and on the second candle of Chanukah, I was home, exactly as Rav Berland said!"

"I went through a series of miracles and great Divine Providence. I am the only one out of 300 prisoners who was brought before a judge. Suddenly the clerk is converting, the judge discovers his Jewish roots, everything turned for the better. It worked as Rav Berland said: it is the category of Yosef, 'And they brought him hastily out of the dungeon' (Genesis 41:14)."

"No one knows who Rav Berland is - he is beyond any comprehension, he is an angel of Hashem."