Without the Rav, My Father Would Have Died on the Operating Table - Miracles of the Holy Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a

May it be Hashem's will that all of Israel experiences great joy and healing. Alas, we see that the people of Israel are going through a difficult period, to the point where certain illnesses are already defined as an epidemic. How life changes when a close and beloved family member has to face such news, God forbid.

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"My father has been a heart patient for 12 years." Sharon Mizrachi shares his strengthening story with us. "The situation deteriorated so much that five years ago during Pesach, he was hospitalized in 'Tel Hashomer' for more than a year. He stayed there all week and was only allowed to leave for Shabbat. I remember that period as difficult, each time it was really hard for my father to return to the hospital. Although we visited him during the week, when we left, he had tears in his eyes, and it broke our hearts to see the sadness and great suffering he was going through."

"My father is young, just in his early fifties, and already his heart was functioning at only 15 percent." Sharon notes with a choked voice, so we understand. "There is a whole halachic debate regarding organ donation, so the possibility of a transplant in the country was slim for us. We prayed a lot and hoped to Hashem to save us. Throughout this time, many countries came up as options for the surgery, but they fell through as quickly as they came. Then came the miracle, the first in a chain of miracles that befell us."

"Suddenly we learned that Colombia was a real option for us. However, the surgery is a matter of life and death, and we had just heard that a young man, 24 years old, who underwent the surgery in the country, passed away after his body rejected the heart. It was clear to me that my father had to visit the tzaddik of the generation before we decided on such a course of action. Therefore, I made an effort and took a loan for a pidyon nefesh for my father, and thus we entered to see the Rav. My father was afraid of two things. After waiting and suffering so much, he feared the Rav would tell him not to go to Colombia for the surgery. On the other hand, he feared the surgery itself, knowing that the chances of success naturally were not high. Things got to the point where my mother had to sign that in case, God forbid, the surgery did not succeed, we would have no claims."

Sharon's voice changes as he describes the moments of the anticipated meeting with the Rav shlit"a. "When we entered the holy presence, the atmosphere was very emotional. The Rav shlit"a had just finished a ceremony of cutting the hair of a happy child who had reached the age of three, and immediately turned to my father. 'How long I have waited for you, here I have prepared a prayer for your healing.' The Rav showered him with great love, holding his hand and caressing his face. My father simply could not speak, so I helped him and told the Rav shlit"a about his difficult condition, while asking him to decree in heaven that my father would come out whole from the surgery, in the sense of 'a tzaddik decrees and Hashem fulfills.' As soon as the Rav shlit"a heard this, he turned to his attendant who was in the room and said to him, "You see this man, when he returns from Colombia, he will come straight back to me." These words worked magic on my father, and when he heard this, a great weight was lifted from his heart, and his fear was greatly eased. Since then, he has become very attached to the Rav with great love."

"My father waited in the city of Medellin in Colombia for three months for the surgery, where a heart from a 35-year-old non-Jew was transplanted into him. However, even there, we needed great miracles. The surgery itself was difficult, and in addition, the two days following the surgery are critical. During this time, the body needs to accept a foreign object, and we were on alert for what would come next. Indeed, during my father's stay in the intensive care unit, his body swelled to enormous proportions, to the level of nine out of ten. My father was really on the brink of death. Things got to the point where the non-Jewish professor treating my father turned to my mother in English and told her to strengthen herself with the recitation of Tehillim (Psalms).

"My mother shed tears like the sea and increased her prayers, but I know that the Rav shlit"a worked great salvations for us. Another moment and my father, God forbid, would not have been among the living. And suddenly, the day after, the measurement dropped from nine to two, and my beloved father was saved. To understand the magnitude of the providence, before my father went into surgery, they asked my mother 'if something happens to your husband, God forbid, in what form do you want him sent to the country.' And indeed, a few days after my father returned to the country, an American woman passed away there."

"I must tell of another miracle that happened to us," Sharon notes. "The surgery's funding reached 300,000 dollars, a considerable sum by all accounts. From heaven, it was arranged that the insurance my father took out just a few months before covered the costs. Then we saw how essential the pidyon was, and who knows what would have happened to my father without it."

"Since then, not a day goes by that my wife and I do not engage in Hitbodedut and pray for the healing of the Rav shlit"a. We light candles for his success and recite the Tikkun HaKlali several times a day. Words cannot describe what we experienced. We feel that the light of the Rav has entered our lives to the point that in all our conversations with each other and with friends, we mention and strengthen our connection with him. Since then, I have listened to many lessons of the Rav shlit"a, and thus I found myself greatly strengthened in the study of the holy Gemara."

There is a concealment over the Rav shlit"a, if we understood how much he is missing from us, all of Israel would hold massive gatherings."