Watch: Rabbi Shimon Peretz Returns to the “Wall” with Rabbi Mordechai Karp

Rabbi Shimon Peretz shlit"a arrived for a holy Brit at the beautiful, holy residence of our teacher, the great tzaddik, Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a, together with the great Gaon, one of the leading halachic authorities of the generation, Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Karp shlit"a from Kiryat Sefer.

Before the entry of our teacher, the great tzaddik, Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a, into the room where the holy Brit was held for the grandson of Rabbi Shimon Peretz shlit"a, Rabbi Peretz was given the floor and shared with those present:

"Know that when my son Nachman was born, on the day of his Brit, I said: 'His name shall be called in Israel, Nachman.' I am not telling a story; two tables in the hall broke, four windows shattered, and two women fell and were taken to the hospital."

"Yes—now, suddenly, a bottle falls here, look... (the newborn began to cry at that moment), he confirms the matters."

Rabbi Peretz whispers into the ear of our teacher, Rav Berland shlit"a, during the Brit.

Our teacher, Rav Berland shlit"a, sat on the chair of the Sandak, and immediately as the Mohel, Rabbi Shor, began performing the Brit, Rabbi Peretz approached and whispered into the ear of our teacher, Rav Berland shlit"a:

"We are praying for you, Rav, that Hashem should protect you. Rav, there is no one like you. Everyone loves you with a great love, you should know, Rav. How much they love you, Rav, they love you."

"I have a great love for you, Rav, I love you with a great love, Rav."

And while pointing to his son, who presented the pillow with the grandson to the knees of our teacher, Rav Berland shlit"a, Rabbi Peretz said: "This is the father of the child; he is your son, Rav. This is your son, everyone is your son—everyone loves you, Rav."

In a conversation after the moving event, Rabbi Shimon Peretz stood before the camera:

"We are located at the Third Wall, the home of our teacher and master, the crown of our head, Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a, son of Atiya," said Rabbi Peretz, and asked his friend, "Tell us where we are right now."

"We are now after the Brit, the Brit of the grandson of the tzaddik, Rabbi Shimon Peretz."

And Rabbi Shimon Peretz added: "R' Natan, that is what Rav Berland called him; he decided on the name—Natan bar Nachman."

"I will tell an amazing story about Rav Berland. I came to the Rav in my youth, and he told me: 'Know that in the month of Kislev, you will have a son's Brit; invite me to be the Sandak.' In the month of Kislev, Nachman was born. Rabbi Daniel Zer asked me, 'Who will be the Sandak?' I told him, 'Rav Berland.'"

"Rabbi Zer told me, 'I brought you to teshuvah (repentance), I want to be the Sandak.' I promised him he would be the Sandak. We immersed in the mikvah and came here to the Third Wall 22 years ago. I came to knock on the door; the Rav opened it for me, wrapped in a tallit, and immediately said to me, 'Was a son born?'"

"I told him, 'Yes!'"

"'Do you want me to be the Sandak?' I told him, 'Yes, but...'"

"He asked me, 'Who brought you to teshuvah?' I told him, 'Rabbi Zer.'"

"So he said, 'Tell Rabbi Zer that he will be the Sandak, and thus there will be peace.'"

"I told him, 'Rav, what will he be called?' He told me, 'You know exactly what he will be called!' Today, this child, for whom he determined the name, is bringing his own son into the Brit—it is something... like, it is crazy. Like... I came here as a young man, Rav Berland married me off, and now I am a grandfather."

"No, it is completely insane, it is the greatness of the Rav, but it is not like that; one must believe in him. If you believe in him, you connect to him, then you see salvations, but if you do not believe..."

"I remember that I organized 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 fire, truly fire there. Suddenly, he took out a 200-shekel bill and spoke about Ahad Ha'am."

"They did not understand; such a tzaddik comes from Jerusalem, they waited for him here for hours, and he talks to them about Ahad Ha'am? What is this logic here?"

"The Rav has intellects that he plucks from Gan Eden! And that is every intellect he uses, every... because if the Rav feels that someone is against him or something like that, he suddenly does 'foolish' things, like King David. He is like King David, doing such 'foolish' things."

"And people say, 'What? Why is he doing foolish things?' Regarding that which they speak about him, they cover him with clouds, 'He who covers the heavens with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth.'"

"He is a tzaddik, the foundation of the world, Rav Berland; may he have a complete healing, joy, and salvation, amen."

"Rav Berland is a tzaddik. You should know that I mention him every day, all day I mention Rav Berland, all the time. Every Shabbat we wake up at 2:00 AM to read Tehillim and go to the field at 4:00 AM. I am talking to you, and I have tears in my eyes—every day I mention him."

"He is not just a tzaddik Rav; I want to protect his health—Rebbe Eliezer is a tzaddik, the foundation of the world. He is such... he has sweetness, and what they did to him... there is a Torah, 'He who covers the heavens with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth.' What they did is they covered him with clouds so that the evil eye would not have power over him—he brings down such a great rain to the world, such a great rain to the world."

"Because I am a baal teshuvah (returnee to the faith) and I am not confused; it is hard to confuse a baal teshuvah, because a baal teshuvah has tasted both this wine and that wine. And a baal teshuvah, when he returns to the faith and tastes the wine, he knows the truth, so they also attack him."

"As a person grows in Torah and becomes a tzaddik, he has a community and everyone loves him, so what does the evil inclination say? 'Why should he make peace?! Why should he love?' Because when the Rav arrives, he connects hearts—and when hearts connect, then there is Geulah (Redemption), so why should there be Geulah?"

"So let us separate, let us say this about the Rav, and say that about the Rav, and say that about the Rav—so that hearts will not connect, because the entire motto of the Rav is to connect hearts. To connect hearts, because when hearts are connected, then there is Geulah!"

"Why should there be Geulah?"

"Everyone loves him, look at his face like a baby, from year to year he becomes more of a baby—you see him, you see a drop of milk, there is nothing like it."

"He is so sweet that everyone does not understand what his secret is. His secret is only one, I tell you, it is only one—to take Sephardim as well, Ashkenazim as well, because it is truly not to hurt... it is not fair that rabbis tell you: 'Dear brothers, my teachers and masters, the Etrog has scent, it has taste, they are tzaddikim.' But what does that same rabbi say? 'The Willows have no scent, they have no taste, they are wicked.'"

"So how does the Midrash say? 'And these shall come and atone for those!' Like, who atones for whom? The Willows atone for the Etrogim, but the Etrog... the Willows have nothing, so how do they atone?"

"So Rav Berland says: 'There are no Willows in Israel,' and that is what he shouted at the Yad Eliyahu stadium (4 Sivan 5760), where there were three thousand people—'Gentlemen, know that there are no wicked people in Israel.'"

"I am going to tell you something you will not believe. Before I got married, they told me, 'Come see Simchat Beit HaShoeivah at Shuvu Banim.' I came to Shuvu Banim across from the Kotel, I held a Torah scroll, and everyone was going wild, jumping, going wild. And I looked at them, so amazed and crying tears of joy, and suddenly Rav Berland entered at 10:00 PM, and then everyone opened up, and he came to me, Rav Berland."

"He asked me, 'What is your name?' I told him, 'Shimon.'"

"So he says to me, 'Can I have the Torah scroll from you?' I told him, 'Yes,' and I handed him the Torah scroll."

"So he says to me, 'There is a woman named Batya Lanst.' I ask him, 'Who is Batya Lanst?'"

"Rav Berland: 'She lives at 1 Babel Street.'"

"I never heard of 1 Babel, I do not know that street. Who is that?"

"'Go to her, she will write a play for you, and this play will run all over the world, that the whole world will hear you!' And then Rav Berland hugged me and kissed me, gave me a kiss on the forehead."

"I started to cry, I cried the whole... I stood in front of a library, guys, listen well. I stood in front of a library and I am crying tears, I said, 'Master of the World, if what happened now is from Heaven, show me.'"

"And then there was the book of the Malbim. I grab the Malbim book in my hand and I open it in the middle, whatever comes out... if something comes out that is related to the situation I had with the Rav, I am connected to this Rav."

"And then I open the book, and the verse comes out like this: 'And Judah said to Simeon his brother, go up with me into my lot.' This is something completely crazy, there is nothing like it—and then I felt that this Rav is like a father."

"I tell you, what this Rav goes through is an atonement for all of the people of Israel; he is the protector of the people of Israel. Let us pray for him that Hashem should give him a complete healing, and not to burden him, and to give him space."

"Hashem should give him robust health, a complete healing, and great joy. Here at the tzaddik's, in this house at the Third Wall, this special wall protects so that there will be no sick people among the people of Israel, and all the singles will get married; for all the people connected to Shuvu Banim, may Hashem give them holy and pure shidduchim (marriage matches)."