The Rav Asked for All the Knives

Rabbi Berland's assistant was asked by the Rav to bring him all the knives in the kitchen, but he decided to hide one small knife so he could continue cutting a salad. Immediately afterward, he suffered a deep cut to his finger, and realized that the Rav had foreseen the danger with his ruach hakodesh (divine inspiration) and had tried to save him.

"One time, I was standing in the kitchen of the Rav's house preparing a vegetable salad for the household," relates Mr. Shai Neged, who served as the personal assistant of Rabbi Berland shlit"a during the years 5761-5762 (2000-2002). "Suddenly, the Rav entered the kitchen and asked me for all the knives in the kitchen." I did not understand why the Rav needed to use all the knives, but one does not ask questions about the tzaddik, nor do I strain to understand. I brought the Rav all the knives that were in the kitchen, but I secretly left one small knife hidden so that I could continue cutting the salad for the approaching meal.

Incidentally, at that moment, the Rebbetzin tlit"a (may she live a long and good life) entered the kitchen. She too asked the Rav what he was doing, and the Rav answered her that he urgently needed all the knives in the kitchen right now. The Rebbetzin also did not ask any further questions about this conduct.

The Small Knife from the Hiding Place

After the Rav left the kitchen with all the knives in his hand, I took out the small knife from its hiding place and continued cutting the salad. However, within a few seconds, I cut my finger instead of the vegetables. Since the small knife was sharper than usual, it was a deep cut, and a piece of flesh was severed. I gripped my finger tightly to somehow stem the bleeding, and I looked around for something to stop the blood. At that exact second, the Rav passed by the kitchen, stepped in for a moment, and looked inside. He looked at my bleeding finger and the small knife that I had hidden from him, and then left the kitchen.

I felt as though the Rav was saying to me: "I wanted to save you, which is why I took all the knives, but you had to be a smart aleck..."

From the book "Pele Elyon, Part 3"