At the moving gathering of the elders of Anshei Shlomeinu in the holy, beautiful residence of The Rav, the holy Gaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, in honor of the sacred yahrtzeit of the elder of Breslov Chassidus in the previous generation and the one who carried the tradition forward, R’ Levi Yitzchak Bender zt"l—The Rav Rabbi Berland spoke about the mesirus nefesh they showed when traveling to Uman during the Soviet regime.

These are his holy words:

"After R’ Levi Yitzchak Bender zt"l was in prison in Soviet Russia for half a year—from Parshas Vayeira until Zachor Bris—on Zachor Bris he was released on Thursday night. The Soviet investigator Kopinov told him—the chief investigator in Uman was called Kopinov…"

The Rav, the holy Gaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, begins by telling about the arrest of R’ Levi Yitzchak Bender zt"l, before he enters the story of the interrogations and the mesirus nefesh he went through in those days—when the path to Uman was first being broken open during the Communist era.

And The Rav Rabbi Berland shlit"a continues, "I was detained there together with Gavriel Grossman and Nachman Berland; we were prisoners in the jail then. Just as R’ Levi Yitzchak was detained, we too were detained."

Rabbi Gavriel Grossman adds: "After that we went upstairs to the second floor."

The Rav Rabbi Berland: "Right."

Rabbi Gavriel: "I told you there’s nobody here, so let’s go home."

The Rav Rabbi Berland: "Yes—you went to check, and you saw that the gate was open."

Rabbi Gavriel: "I told Rabbi Berland that the investigator was a Jew—that tall one."

Rabbi Berland: "Yes, he really was a Jew. They left us in the courtyard after they finished interrogating us, because in our visa it said ‘Kremenchuk.’ I said that on the visa they should write as many cities as possible—I told him there that I want to visit all the cities."

"We told the investigator—we asked to get to Kremenchuk, not to Uman; the driver made a mistake."

"The driver said in English, ‘I can’t get there; this is where you ordered me to go.’ The driver said, ‘I can’t get to Kremenchuk. I’ll take you to Uman, and from there I’ll find you a vehicle to Kremenchuk. Up to Uman I can get.’"

"This was the driver we found in Kiev. He said, ‘Fine—this is already a detour.’ We said, ‘It doesn’t matter; the main thing is that we move forward and get out of Kiev.’ So we arrived in Uman."

"They stopped us at the taxi station, and we looked for a taxi to Kremenchuk. There was something to talk about, because the visa said Kremenchuk. I told them, ‘We’re on the way to Kremenchuk.’ The driver said, ‘But that’s not our destination—we reached Uman by mistake.’ Like people who arrive in Shechem by mistake—they got confused on the road."

Rabbi Grossman: "After that we were there by Rabinovitch."

The Rav Rabbi Berland: "Yes—by Rabinovitch. We got there after 20 hours from Moscow; we traveled 20 hours from the Kremlin. I went with Gavriel; at the Kremlin we caught a taxi."

The Rav Rabbi Berland continues and explains the magnitude of the danger involved in traveling in those days, and how the Russian government still remembers the deeds of the past and takes revenge—even though decades have passed:

"There was someone—not from Breslov—who traveled (to Russia) right before R’ Levi Yitzchak, and they opened a case file on him. He received seven years in prison. He was traveling with Israeli passports, so they opened up his file from 50 years earlier."