The Final and Emotional Part: The Gabbai Yosef Asulin with Touching Stories about the Righteous Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a

After we have presented on the site all parts of the words of Rabbi Yosef Asulin, who was the legendary gabbai of the righteous Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, we are pleased to conclude the series with the final and emotional part of revelations from the house of Rav Berland shlit"a.

"We took the Rav and the Rebbetzin to Ashkelon to a hotel designated for the ultra-Orthodox, the entire van was filled with hundreds of books," continues Rabbi Asulin in his story. "The Rav told us, 'I can't, without books I have no life, we worked for several hours to arrange the books. All this was on Thursday, when already the next morning I receive a phone call and they tell me, 'Return immediately and take us from here.' It turned out there was a Shabbat of teshuvah (repentance) with Rabbi Amnon Yitzchak and many new people came in immodest clothing, the Rebbetzin left the room and after seeing this immediately requested to return home. Afterwards, our teacher Rav Berland praised Rabbi Amnon Yitzchak and said, 'Another one like this and it would be good for the people of Israel.'

"The Rav once spoke about Rabbi Akiva and said, 'Everyone sees the honor that this holy Tanna received with all the tens of thousands of students he had, but no one remembers all the slaps and humiliations he received when he was in the room learning with the children. So it is with all the tzaddikim, everyone from the side sees their greatness, but they do not see what they go through.'

"The absolute truth is that our teacher Rav Berland shlit"a wants to speak with everyone, to give the same attention to every Jew whether small or great. There is no such thing as the Rav treating a wealthy person better than the most humble Jew. However, the reality is that the Rav is physically limited from the ability to meet and speak with everyone always, yet, it is a great merit to come to the tzaddik even if one does not merit to speak with him."

"Between the years 1985 - 1988 every ticket to Uman cost $2,500 and despite investing all this great sum, there were people who were sent back and did not reach Uman. And our teacher Rav Berland said, 'Whoever made all this sacrifice and did not ultimately reach Uman, our Rebbe will repay him more than if he had ultimately arrived, because in truth he was with our Rebbe even though physically he did not arrive.'"

"The face of the Rav is like an angel. I was with the Rav for 11 years and still I am very afraid of him, he is the person I have the most awe of in the world. When the Rav would enter my car, people had to tell me, I was afraid to lift my eyes to him."