When the Media Publicizes the Name of the Tzaddik in the World

Decades ago, when the tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a lived on Rashbam Street in Bnei Brak and learned in chavrusa (study partnership) with Maran the Steipler zt"l, Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, the Rav's son fell ill.

The doctors despaired of his life. One of the veins in his head had burst, causing severe hemorrhaging in the child's brain. In this time of distress, alongside the medical treatments in the hospitals, the Rav believed that every word of Chazal (the Sages) is absolute truth. If they said that charity saves from death, and that damim (money) serves as a Pidyon Nefesh (redemption of the soul) in place of the shedding of damim (blood/souls), then this is the truest truth.

To restore the soul of his young son, Rabbi Berland and his wife, the Rebbetzin, sold their apartment and moved into a rented one. He reasoned: How much trust does a person place in a doctor to heal him, and how much trust is he willing to place in the words of Chazal, who said that charity will save from death, and that tzaddikim have the power to perform a Pidyon Nefesh and save a person from all pain and illness?

The Rav quickly distributed all the money they received from the sale of the apartment to the poor of the city. And indeed, miraculously, contrary to all the doctors' predictions and the despairing opinions of the great professors, the child stood on his own two feet and recovered completely.

Every night, the Rav leaves his home in Jerusalem and travels to hospitals. Many patients receive life-force and strength from the Rav's blessing, drawing the fortitude to cope with their illness. Many of them personally recount experiencing a rapid and miraculous recovery immediately following the visit of the tzaddik. However, there are also terminally ill patients whose lives the doctors, professors, and essentially the entire medical establishment have completely despaired of. To such patients and their families, the Rav tells his personal story—how he sold his apartment to heal his young son, out of pure and complete faith in the words of Chazal who said, "Charity saves from death."

From the book "Pele Elyon, Part 3"