The Journey to Uman: An Amazing Story of Wondrous Navigation and Self-Sacrifice in Russia

In the days of the Iron Curtain, our teacher Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a navigated a Russian driver with his face covered by a tallit, all to fulfill a promise and save a Jewish woman from Communist Russia.

This wondrous story was told by the gaon and chasid Rabbi Shlomo Elmalich shlit"a, author of the book "Ateret Shlomo," who heard it from the chasidic Rav, Rabbi Yehoshua David Rubinstein shlit"a. The event took place on one of the first journeys of our teacher Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a to Uman, in the days when Russia was still completely closed off under Communist rule. Rabbi Yehoshua David merited to participate in this historic journey together with another chasid.

After they merited to reach the holy tziyun in Uman, to prostrate themselves while reciting the "Tikkun Haklali" and pour out their hearts, the passengers returned to the vehicle to make their way back to Kiev. Suddenly, the Rav shlit"a turned to the Russian driver and asked him to drive to a certain city. The surprised driver replied that he did not know the way to that city at all. The Rav shlit"a immediately calmed him and answered that he himself would guide him on how to drive.

Wondrous Navigation Under the Tallit

Here a wondrous sight occurred: The Rav shlit"a covered his head with a tallit, took the book "Likutey Halachot" in his hand, and immersed himself deeply in study. The driver began driving, and every time they reached an intersection or a crossroads, the Rav shlit"a guided him precisely. "Drive here, turn right, now left," the Rav directed the driver along the entire way, and all this without lifting his head from the book even once. It was evident that the paths of the earth were as clear to him as the paths of the heavens, truly like an angel of the Lord of Hosts.

Thus they drove until they reached a large city. The Rav shlit"a instructed the driver to drive to a specific street, but the driver again claimed he did not know the place. This time too, with his face covered by the tallit, the Rav continued to guide him street after street, until they stopped in front of a tall, multi-story residential building. The Rav shlit"a exited the vehicle, while the two companions remained waiting in the taxi. He went up to the eighth floor and lingered there for some time.

A Promise Beyond the Iron Curtain

After a short while, the Rav shlit"a came down from the building. Following him was an elderly Jewish woman, agitated and shouting in Yiddish: "Meshugener! Meshugener!" (Crazy! Crazy!). The Rav shlit"a calmly entered the taxi and told the driver that they could continue the journey. Rabbi Yehoshua David shlit"a, who was very curious to understand what was happening here, saw that the Rav was immersed in his holy thoughts and was not saying a word. He asked the Rav to wait a few minutes, got out of the vehicle, and approached the woman to find out what had happened.

The emotional elderly woman told him the background to the strange scene. About half a year ago, on one of the Rav's previous and wondrous journeys to Russia, she had met him by chance. For her, seeing a Charedi Jew with a beard and peyot in the heart of the Communist regime, where no trace of Judaism was visible, was a shaking event. Tears stood in her eyes then over the terrible situation of the Jews in the country, and out of the bitterness of her heart, she approached the Rav and begged: "Please, bring me up to the Holy Land too!".

The Rav shlit"a, in his immense compassion that breaks all boundaries, promised her then: "Certainly! Hashem will grant you the merit to ascend to the Holy Land, and I will do everything in my power to come and take you as soon as possible". The elderly woman admitted that she never imagined this promise would materialize. "And suddenly," she recounted in shock, "this Jew appears now at my doorstep with an Israeli passport and all the necessary documents, and tells me there is a vehicle downstairs and he has come to take me to the Land of Israel! Tell me, is this person normal?!". She was simply very afraid to travel to the border with a passport that might be forged.

This amazing story is just one of many stories about the supreme self-sacrifice of our teacher, the Rav shlit"a. A tzaddik who sees nothing before his eyes except Hashem and His beloved children, the people of Israel. He literally sacrifices himself, in all sorts of ways and with unimaginable pure faith, to save every Jewish soul. And no matter how much we tell, we will not even touch the very edge, like a drop in the ocean, of the greatness of the holy tzaddik, that we are fortunate to have merited to take shelter in his shadow.

From Issue 80 — Parashat Vayakhel-Pekudei

From the series "Tzaddik Moshel Yirat Elokim" — "Shapir Amar Nachmani" publications