Watch: A Must. “We will never grasp the greatness and power of the holy Tzaddik, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a—his courage. This is what it means to be a mighty commander, the ‘Knight of the Shepherds.’”

The holy Tzaddik, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, comes to court and says that he admits—what is happening here? Confused?! Here is a brief summary. “It all began, in truth, already 25 years ago. The Rav shlit"a prepared his students and told them that difficult trials would come, and that in the future it would be hard to hold strong with him. The Rav did not stop there—he even gave dates for the humiliations that were destined to come. It reached the point that in Holland, the Rav shlit"a gave an exact date, openly, that two weeks later he would flee—despite the fact that there was an extradition order against him to Israel.” Rabbi Yaakov Salma, head of the ‘Netzach Netzachim’ yeshivah, in extremely important words.

“Another example: half a year before Pesach, the Rav tells his attendant that on Pesach he has a need to be alone. Then Pesach arrives—and amazingly, the Rav shlit"a is in detention. And this is only a very tiny summary. Each time, the Rav announces far in advance what is going to happen. These things are public, recorded, and have many witnesses—so much so that people refuse to believe it is actually going to happen.”

“Even regarding his return to the Land, the Rav prepared several people already a month beforehand. At the time it didn’t sound realistic, after a long exile—but the month passed, and the Rav landed in the Land. Events then unfolded until, just a week ago, there wasn"t even supposed to be a court hearing. But the Rav himself created a kind of commotion by granting power of attorney to certain lawyers. Suddenly the court was forced to intervene and decide who the Rav’s attorney actually is.”

“Then, suddenly, the Rav arrives in Jerusalem for that hearing and turns everything upside down, creating a reality of a plea bargain that wasn’t even on the table. On the surface, it all sounds so ‘natural’: the Rav admits to two of the matters. But the Rav’s previous attorneys, Ms. Toren and Avigdor Feldman, are stunned and don’t understand what is happening. They know the file, and it is clear to them that within a few days they were going to finish the story—and suddenly the Rav admits. They say: ‘We already finished the case. The prosecution has nothing—no evidence and no witnesses. What is the Rav doing?’ I have never heard of lawyers being more determined than their own client.”

“Attorney Dimri, who represents the Rav shlit"a on the way to a plea bargain, says himself that there is nothing against the Rav. ‘I became his chassid,’ adds Attorney Dimri. ‘I simply discovered that we are dealing here with the Gadol HaDor.’

A legal situation that has never existed: the fired lawyers—who supposedly should be angry about being removed—and the incoming lawyer as well, all of them unanimously recognize his innocence, and they cannot understand his logic: why is he admitting instead of acting in the simplest way to be released?!

“Of course, there is the rational, ‘natural’ side. But in truth, there is an enormous test behind all this—an inner clarification of Emunah. Until now, the Rav shlit"a has led many stages of clarification after clarification, and the refinement of the test keeps intensifying. Now comes the most awe-inspiring clarification of all, about which the Rav shlit"a said: ‘Now I am going to examine the true face of each and every person. Now I am testing who is religious and who is secular. People are now standing in a trial that only keeps growing—watching how they will react, and what they will say and think.’”

“That a person has a beard and peyos is wonderful—but it doesn’t mean that inside he truly believes. And the opposite can also be true: someone who outwardly doesn’t look so religious may, inwardly, be a great believer. Everything is being tested now—our Emunah and our yiras Shamayim. Because ‘a litigant’s admission is like a hundred witnesses’ is stated only in monetary law. So according to all approaches, from a halachic perspective there was nothing here. And from the perspective of ‘nature,’ it is simply worthwhile.”

What about a Chillul Hashem?

“They tell of the greatest ‘one who brings merit to the public’ in history, who brought 7 million people back in teshuvah. That was Avraham Avinu, who for years spoke about how it is forbidden to sacrifice one’s children to the Molech—and in the end he went to sacrifice his son on the altar. What about the Chillul Hashem that was caused here?! The Midrash relates that all 7 million people shaved off their beards and threw them before Avraham Avinu—everyone returned to their old ways.”

“The Jewish people have Tzaddikim with whom Hashem speaks, and they take upon themselves humiliations that none of us could withstand, in order to protect the Jewish people. At the same time, they continue with joy and with deep attachment to Torah—learning the most difficult sugyos, the kind that we, even at our clearest and most settled, cannot manage to grapple with.”

“The conclusion— we will never grasp the greatness and power of the holy Tzaddik, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a. His courage—this is what it means to be a mighty commander, the ‘Knight of the Shepherds.’ What courage he has: he goes at the head of the camp and sacrifices himself for the sake of the Jewish people.”