Rabbi Shimon Peretz shlit"a arrived for a Bris Kodesh at the holy residence of The Rav, the holy gaon and tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, together with the great gaon—one of the foremost halachic authorities of our generation—Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Karp shlit"a of Kiryat Sefer

Before The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, entered the room where the Bris Kodesh for Rabbi Shimon Peretz’s shlit"a grandson was being held, Rabbi Peretz was given permission to speak and he shared with those present:

“You should know—my son Nachman: on the day of his bris I said, ‘And his name shall be called in Israel, Nachman.’ I’m not telling a story—two tables in the hall broke, four windows exploded, and two women fell and were evacuated to the hospital.”

“Yes—now suddenly a bottle falls here, look… (the newborn began to cry exactly then), confirming the matter.”

Rabbi Peretz whispers into the ear of The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, during the bris

The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, sat on the Sandak’s chair, and as soon as the mohel, Rabbi Shor, began performing the bris, Rabbi Peretz approached and whispered into The Rav’s ear:

"We are praying for you, Rabbi, that Hashem will guard you. Rabbi, there is no one like you. Everyone loves you with a great love—know that, Rabbi. How much they love you, Rabbi—they love you."

“I have a great love for you, Rabbi. I love you with a great love, Rabbi.”

And as he pointed to his son, who brought the pillow with the grandson onto the knees of The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, Rabbi Peretz said: “This is the father of the baby—he is your son, Rabbi. He is your son. Everyone is your children—everyone loves you, Rabbi.”

In a conversation after the moving event, Rabbi Shimon Peretz stood in front of the camera:

“We are at the Third Wall, the home of The Rav and our teacher, the crown of our heads, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a ben Atia,” Rabbi Peretz said, and asked his friend, “Tell them where we are right now.”

“We are here now after the bris—the bris of the righteous grandson of Rabbi Shimon Peretz.”

Rabbi Shimon Peretz added: “R’ Natan—this is what Rabbi Berland called him. He decided the name: Natan bar Nachman.”

“I’ll tell you an amazing story about Rabbi Berland. I came to The Rav when I was young, and he told me: ‘Know that in the month of Kislev you will have a bris for a son—invite me to be the Sandak.’ In Kislev, Nachman was born. Rabbi Daniel Zer asked me, ‘Who will be the Sandak?’ I told him, ‘Rabbi Berland.’”

“Rabbi Zer told me, ‘I brought you back to teshuvah—I want to be the Sandak.’ I promised him he would be Sandak. We immersed in the mikveh and came here to the Third Wall 22 years ago. I came to knock on the door; The Rav opened for me wrapped in a tallis, and immediately said to me: ‘A son was born?’”

“I said to him, ‘Yes!’”

“‘Do you want me to be Sandak?’ I told him, ‘Yes, but…’”

“He asked me, ‘Who brought you back to teshuvah?’ I told him, ‘Rabbi Zer.’”

“So he said, ‘Tell Rabbi Zer that he will be the Sandak—and that way there will be shalom.’”

“I said to him, ‘Rabbi, what will his name be?’ He told me, ‘You know exactly what his name will be!’ Today, that child—whose name he determined—is bringing his own son into the bris. It’s something… it’s like… it’s unbelievable. Like… I came here as a young man; Rabbi Berland married me—and now I’m a grandfather.”

“No, it’s completely wild. This is the greatness of The Rav. But it’s not automatic—you have to have Emunah in him. If you believe in him, you connect to him, and then you see yeshuos. But if you don’t believe…”

The Tzaddik confuses everyone so that the worthy ones will remain

“I remember I made a gathering for The Rav in Bat Yam. There were 500 people in the hall and everyone was shouting, ‘The Rav has arrived!’ It was fire—there was real fire there. Suddenly he took out a 200-shekel bill and spoke about Achad Ha’am.”

“They didn’t understand. Such a holy Rav comes from Jerusalem; they waited for him here for hours—and he’s talking to them about Achad Ha’am? What’s the point of this?”

“The Rav has insights that he plucks from Gan Eden! And every kind of insight he uses—everything—because if The Rav senses that someone is against him or something like that, suddenly he does things that look like ‘nonsense,’ like King David. He is like King David—doing things that look like that.”

“And people say, ‘What? Why is he doing these things?’ About those who speak against him, they cover him with clouds—‘He covers the heavens with clouds; He prepares rain for the earth.’”

“Rabbi Berland is a Tzaddik Yesod Olam. May he have healing, joy, and salvation—amen.”

With great excitement, Rabbi Shimon Peretz shlit"a told those who came to the bris celebration in the home of The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a:

“Rabbi Berland is a Tzaddik. You should know that I mention him every day—all day I mention Rabbi Berland, constantly. Every Shabbos we get up at 2:00 to say Tehillim, and we go out to the field at 4:00 in the morning. I’m speaking to you and I have tears in my eyes—every day I mention him.”

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“He’s not only a righteous Rav—I want to protect his health. Rabbi Eliezer is a Tzaddik Yesod Olam; he is so… he has such sweetness. And what they did to him… There is a teaching: ‘He covers the heavens with clouds; He prepares rain for the earth.’ What they did was cover him with clouds so the evil eye wouldn’t rule over him—because he brings down such a great rain to the world, such a great rain to the world.”

We asked Rabbi Peretz: How did you hold on throughout this whole period? Were there people who asked you how you are connected to Rabbi Berland?

“Because I’m a baal teshuvah and I’m not confused. It’s hard to confuse a baal teshuvah, because a baal teshuvah has tasted from this wine and from that wine. And when a baal teshuvah returns and tastes wine, he knows the truth—so they also attack him.”

“The more a person grows in Torah and becomes a tzaddik, has a community and everyone loves him—what does the yetzer hara say? ‘Why should he make peace?! Why should he love?!’ Because when The Rav comes, he connects hearts—and when hearts connect, there is Geulah. So why should there be Geulah?”

“So let’s separate. Let’s say this about The Rav, and say that about The Rav, and say that about The Rav—so that hearts won’t connect. Because The Rav’s whole motto is to connect hearts. To connect hearts—because when hearts connect, there is Geulah!”

“Why should there be Geulah?”

“Everyone loves him. Look at his face—it’s like a baby. From year to year he becomes more like a baby. You see him—you see a newborn clinic; there’s nothing like it.”

“He is so sweet that people don’t understand what his secret is. His secret is only one thing—I’m telling you, only one: to take in both Sephardim and Ashkenazim, because truly it’s not about hurting… It’s not fair that rabbis will tell you: ‘Dear brothers, my masters and teachers—the esrog has fragrance and taste; they are tzaddikim.’ But what does that rabbi say? ‘The willows have no fragrance and no taste—they are wicked.’”

“So what does the Midrash say? ‘Let these come and atone for those!’ Meaning, who atones for whom? The willows atone for the esrogim. But the esrog… the willows have nothing—so how do they atone?”

“So Rabbi Berland says: There are no ‘willows’ in Israel. And that’s what he shouted in Yad Eliyahu Stadium (4 Sivan 5760), when there were three thousand people there: ‘Gentlemen, you should know—there are no wicked people in Israel.’”

Rabbi Peretz speaks like one who reveals a secret, about how he drew close to Rabbi Berland shlit"a—and the miracles he saw along the way

“I’m going to tell you something you won’t believe. Before I got married, they told me: ‘Come see Simchas Beis HaSho’eivah in Shuvu Banim.’ I came to Shuvu Banim opposite the Kosel, holding a Sefer Torah, and everyone was going wild—jumping, going wild. And I’m looking at them, so amazed, and crying tears of joy. Suddenly Rabbi Berland came in at 10:00 at night, and then everyone opened up—and Rabbi Berland came over to me.”

“He asked me, ‘What’s your name?’ I told him, ‘Shimon.’”

“So he said to me, ‘Can I receive the Sefer Torah from you?’ I said yes, and I handed him the Sefer Torah.”

“Then he said to me: ‘There is a woman named Batya Lanest.’ I asked him, ‘Who is Batya Lanest?’”

Rabbi Berland: “She lives at 1 Bavel Street.”

“I had never heard of Bavel 1—I don’t know that street. Who is she?”

“‘Go to her. She will write you a play, and that play will run all over the world, so the whole world will hear you!’ And then Rabbi Berland hugged me and kissed me—he kissed me on the forehead.”

“I started crying—I cried the whole… I stood by a bookcase. Guys, listen well. I stood by a bookcase and I’m crying tears, and I said: ‘Master of the World—if what just happened is from Heaven, show me.’”

“And there was a Malbim. I grabbed the Malbim in my hand and opened it in the middle—whatever would come out… If something came out that was connected to the situation I had with The Rav, then I’m connected to this Rav.”

[caption id="attachment_50660" align="alignnone" width="510"] Rabbi Shimon Peretz with Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Karp at the bris[/caption]

“So I opened the book, and this verse came out: ‘And Yehudah said to Shimon his brother: Go up with me in my portion.’ It’s completely unbelievable—there’s nothing like it. And then I felt that this Rav is like a father.”

“I’m telling you—what this Rav goes through is an atonement for the sins of all of Am Yisrael. He is the one who protects Am Yisrael. Let us pray for him that Hashem will give him a complete healing, and that we should not burden him, but give him space.”

“May Hashem give him strong health, a complete healing, and great joy. Here, by the Tzaddik in this home at the Third Wall—this special wall protects so that there will not be sick people in Am Yisrael, and that all the singles will marry. For all those connected to Shuvu Banim, may Hashem give them holy and pure matches.”