The Rebbe of Amshinov Said to Cling Strongly to Rav Berland

"The message of the Admor of Amshinov was clear: You have Rav Berland shlit"a, and you must not leave him for a moment. Do everything according to his guidance, whether in a great matter or a small one."

An awe-inspiring conversation with Rabbi Eliyahu Merav shlit"a regarding the wonderful visit of the veteran students and rabbis of the Shuvu Banim community to the Admor of Amshinov shlit"a. During the conversation, Rabbi Merav shares wonderful stories from the past and discusses the impact of the severe persecution of Rav Berland and the difficult situation in the world.

"They told me: The Rav of Amshinov is waiting for you. Waiting for me? Truly, my acquaintance with the holy Rebbe of Amshinov began many years ago when I was the head of the Immanuel council; unfortunately, we experienced quite a bit of controversy there. There was a difficult dispute with various figures whose names I will not mention now; he assisted, he strengthened us, and since then the city has been on the right path."

"Since then, I have had an acquaintance with him, and I have appreciated that he is a wonderful man, truly something special. I have a warm spot in my heart for this holy and pure Jew who is an exceptional servant of Hashem. I have heard from knowledgeable people that he is called the Great Rebbe of the generation."

"Therefore, when they called and said that the Rav of Amshinov is calling for me, I said, 'Why all of a sudden?' He is calling for you and for several of the senior students of our holy Rav Berland! The Rav of Amshinov wants to give you a talk of encouragement. It was 12:00 at night; we traveled to Bayit Vegan. With me were Rabbi Tzanani, Rabbi Stern, and Rabbi Ofer Erez."

"At 12:30, exactly according to winter time, the Admor entered. I noticed that his clocks remained on winter time—it is known that he is a person who is above time. We stood in his honor; his humility and modesty are a wonder. He told us: 'You do not need to stand,' and he waited for us while standing until we sat with him."

"The Admor of Amshinov began and said: 'Your community is going through difficult things.' He said: 'I have come to strengthen you.' The conversation lasted about two and a half hours. Everyone was amazed at the time he allocated to us, as the Admor usually receives people for only a few minutes, especially after the catheterization he underwent. There is almost no public reception at the Admor's at all—I emphasize this so that you understand the magnitude of the matter—and if there is, it is for a few minutes. Here, he had all the time in the world, and even with the conduct he told us, everything was measured and precise, very precise in his words. With his permission, we filmed and recorded it in order to know what was truly said."

"The message of the Admor of Amshinov was clear: You have a Rav. He asked if we could communicate with him. 'Can you ask him questions? Is it possible? This is your Rav, and you must do everything according to his guidance! Do it in your own ways, but this is your Rav, so do not move from him!'"

"This is the wonderful guidance we heard from the Admor: You do not do anything without him; learn from his books, form groups to speak of his words!"

"He asked if our teacher Rav Berland has books on the revealed Torah; we said he has many books. He asked if it is possible to study his books in depth. We answered that we have study from the Rav on Ketzot HaChoshen and more; although it has not yet been published as a book, the Rav wrote mainly the conduct necessary for daily life."

"Form groups and study his words. He wanted us to cling to our Rebbe, so that we would not, Heaven forbid, feel that the Rav is far away, and instead, the 'Sitra Achra' (the Other Side) would become the head. I was a Litvak for many years, and when I became a Breslover, one of the arguments of my Litvak teachers—whom I respect—was: 'You are Breslov and you have no head, so the Sitra Achra will be the head.' I heard this from the holy Rabbi Daniel Frisch; I merited to study with him in chavruta many years ago, even before I knew about Chassidut. I would wake him up every night, and we would study Etz Chaim when I studied at Ahavat Shalom."

"When the Breslovers began to arrive at our Kollel in 1980, I began to know Breslov. They took me to a class of our teacher Rav Berland, and the rest is history. The strong blessing of the Amshinover is: You have a Rav, you have a head, continue to cling to his Torah. Study his books, speak of him, and ask him every small and large question. And he told us several other things regarding general conduct. He brought it down to this world."

In other words, he said: Do not relate to anything, continue as usual as if nothing happened?

"More than that, the opposite: The Admor of Amshinov said: 'Because you are in such a difficult period where they are arguing against you, and Hashem seeks the pursued, you must strengthen yourselves twofold, to be connected with heart and soul. Your Rav is with you all the time—do not forget that.'"

"He blessed us from time to time with the words: 'Hashem should bless you and give you good advice, and rectify you with good advice, that you should hold on,' many such words."

"I had several prayers of our teacher Rav Berland; I took them out of my pocket and showed them to him. I saw him studying the prayers very closely, and one prayer in particular—the prayer regarding the impure devices that our teacher Rav Berland writes: 'It is revealed and known before You that we are in the worst generation.' He read this prayer, and I saw him truly shaken and trembling."

"The Admor of Amshinov said: 'The generation is truly bad, but only from this perspective. It is impossible to say that we are the worst generation. From the side of the trials and what we are going through, we are indeed in immense danger, but from the side of the greatness of the generation—we are in a generation of Geulah.' With this, he wanted to strengthen us."

"In a generation where we will surely merit to see the face of Mashiach. It has been 47 years since I returned in teshuvah, such a thing has never happened. Everyone is anxious, and I am not speaking specifically about this disease. The world is in anxiety everywhere; America is literally burning."

"I remember that once our teacher Rav Berland said: 'Why is it written, "Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers"? Because they are in such terrible forces that they must have someone over them; if not, they will simply destroy the world.' The world is in terrible turmoil, also the whole matter of Uman."

"Uman is the house of our lives, the tziyun of our holy Rebbe, where for 32 years I have merited to be on Rosh Hashanah. During the war when the Twin Towers were destroyed, I was stuck in America. I had such miracles; Rav Berland simply accompanied me, with advice, with speech, with guidance. What was there after the towers collapsed, there was no situation to leave, the world was completely closed. Through miracles, with what the Rav taught and accompanied us—I arrived literally on the night of Zachor Brit. Now in 5781, we will not be there? Heaven forbid such a thing, the world is closed, what will you do now?"

"Do people still have a heart and brain to continue the controversy? Parashat Korach, they said to Korach: 'You are a tzaddik, so why does the manna fall far from the entrance of your tent?' 'Because I am not arguing enough for the manna to fall close to me!'"

We have heard this answer several times recently.

"How was our understanding hidden to such an extent? Korach, who was clever, and the people of Israel, who were clever, said—and he says, 'I am not arguing enough'—things are being read here that make one's hair stand on end. Uman, that Heaven forbid it will be closed? This is the total destruction of the world!"

"Our Rebbe said: 'As long as they give me a place to pass, I pass, but when they close completely...' That they should close the holy kibbutz in Uman? Whoever does not see this, I have no words to describe him."

"I have no grasp of the greatness of Rav Berland, but they took an old, sick Jew, barely functioning, and made a 'hue and cry' against the whole world—for this, one must tear the heavens. Are we not brothers? What happened here? Literally like that."

"The Admor of Amshinov who intervened is not just anyone; we are talking about one of the true Gedolei Yisrael. And Rav Badani! I merited to hear Torah from him decades ago; even then he was an important person in the eyes of all the Gedolei Yisrael."

"I have a part in his arrival in Uman. His student, Rabbi Eliyahu Medina, the Rav of the Jewish Quarter, is a good friend of mine. I told him that at least once in his life he must be in Uman. He asked Rav Badani, who told him that he would also come with him—who orchestrated this if not our teacher Rav Berland? Rabbi Medina told me that it was a tremendous journey, and they sat for hours at the holy tziyun and merited."

"Rav Badani, the elder of the tzaddikim and the Sephardic rabbis, came and strengthened us with wonderful words. Israel is not widowed; we are, thank Hashem, already decades with Rav Berland, all his veteran students. We do not understand the accounts of Heaven; I have no hatred in my heart, neither for this one who argues nor for that one; they were my friends. I know that this is what Hashem wants; these are hidden things."

"The Gemara says about Mashiach ben Yosef, Samson the Hero—everything that was judged because he said 'She is right in my eyes.' You said 'She is right in my eyes,' you failed. Say 'I do not know, I do not understand'—but from the truth and faith that we have merited, thank Hashem, we will never move."

"When the truth of our holy Rebbe was clarified, there was a great noise in the world. They thought, 'That's it, this baal teshuvah (Rabbi Merav speaks about his closeness to Breslov) became Breslov, so everyone will be Breslov.' Of course, it did not happen like that. I remember what words I received from true tzaddikim; some of them already know today and recognize the truth."

"To get close to Breslov 40 years ago was unthinkable, and within Breslov to find the Da'at of our Rebbe—after all, one must search for the tzaddik all the time. Search for the Ruach HaKodesh of our Rebbe, all the inspiration of our Rebbe, which is infinite, as our Rebbe said to R' Aharon his student: 'I wish that ten thousand years after the resurrection you will understand the Torah that I am saying now in the body.'"

"Thank Hashem that we found one Jew, our teacher Rav Berland, with whom the Torah of our Rebbe is clear and bright. Our Rebbe wants us to be kosher Jews, that we should not move from the Torah, the Gemara, and the Shulchan Aruch, that we should merit to rise for Chatzot every night, and we will hitbodedut (seclude ourselves) and be true masters of kindness with fear of Heaven."

"And it is the most absurd thing in the world that Rav Berland who taught us this is found where he is!"

"The wonder is that one can pray with Rav Berland Mincha and Maariv on a phone line; thousands of people pray with him, this is the largest minyan in the world. There are some words of Torah after the prayer, thank Hashem."

"How is it possible to abuse like this? Let it be whoever it may be, where is the Jewish mercy? Rav Berland barely has a body; I do not know how he survives this. If we had gone through one in a billion of what he is going through, we would have fallen apart into pieces."

"At least we merit to say the 7 Tikkunim Klaliim every day; even on this there are obstacles. This is the minimum that can be given to our teacher and Rebbe, to whom we owe our entire life in spirituality and physicality. To cry out that He should have mercy and complete what is needed. The whole world is in shocks and anxieties. No one knows where the world is going right now; the smartest people are all in confusion, not only from the disease, from all the power relations in the world—we see that something serious is happening and we do not know how to point out what and how."

"Only prayer and a cry can save, and this is what Rav Berland taught us. What keeps us after decades still with vitality, joy, desire, and strength? Who else in the world goes out to the field at our age? What a wonder this is."