On the continuation of the longing-filled verses about Uman, composed by Rabbi Berland shlit"a during the Iron Curtain era

"No shopping and no buying—because it’s a pity to waste the seconds"

About the moment when this verse was composed—whose style sounds somewhat unique—Rabbi Yosef Marian relates: “It was on a trip to Uman on Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan 5745 (1984). From the hotel, our people received a special permit to travel for a few hours to the holy tziyun of Rebbe Nachman, accompanied—of course—by an Intourist representative. In the middle of the way, the bus stopped ליד a huge supermarket, and they allowed the passengers—tourists in their eyes—to get off to shop. Perhaps they wanted to show them that in Russia there is everything, unlike what the West claims about them. People went down into the store and bought various gifts and souvenirs from the trip.”

Some people used the stop to buy cheap cigarettes. Either way, this preoccupation broke the spiritual flow that had carried the entire group until then—traveling with real self-sacrifice to the holy tziyun in Uman.

Rabbi Berland shlit"a, of course, did not get off the bus. It seemed the matter was not comfortable for him, yet The Rav shlit"a said nothing. After our people returned to the bus and continued on to Uman, The Rav shlit"a began singing the song “You Brought Us This Far,” adding another verse: “No shopping and no buying—because it’s a pity to waste the seconds.” The message was understood היטב by the passengers.

"No missiles and no gas masks—only Tehillim and masechtos"

Veteran members of our community remember well the Gulf War, when the oppressor from Baghdad rained thirty-nine missiles upon our Holy Land, with the fear that these missiles carried unconventional weapons. The Rav shlit"a then added the famous verse: “No missiles and no gas masks—only Tehillim and masechtos,” and instructed all the students of the holy yeshivah that there was no need to enter sealed rooms. Instead, The Rav shlit"a instructed that when an alarm is heard, they should go up to the roof of the yeshivah and dance to sweeten the judgments. And as we all know, these missiles did not succeed in sowing the destruction expected of them—because the Creator of the world watches over His children with compassion.

“I remember,” one of the veteran students later recounted, “when Rabbi Berland instructed us to go up to the roof of the yeshivah and dance, the Arab neighbors thought we had lost our minds… One of the times we were dancing on the roof to sweeten the judgments, a Scud missile passed right over our heads. It was a terrifying sight.”

The Rav shlit"a in prayer at the holy tziyun in the 1990s:

"We will establish yeshivos and hotels, around our holy Rebbe"

The verse in the song, “We will establish yeshivos and hotels, around our holy Rebbe,” was meant to be fulfilled in full already back then. One of The Rav shlit"a’s plans was to establish in Uman a large area that would be under full Jewish control—an area meant to include the tziyun, the tall buildings adjacent to it, a massive kloiz, and additional holy structures, alongside hotels for the comfort of those who come to the holy tziyun in Uman. All of this was part of an agreement The Rav shlit"a had with the Communist government, which was already in the stages of disintegration. This agreement was also meant to include the nearby airport—the main topic of the article before you. However, various people took care to sabotage The Rav shlit"a’s plans and cause everything to be lost.

As our people testify, when they built the current kloiz, The Rav shlit"a asked those in charge to build a synagogue with tens of thousands of seats, able to hold all the multitudes who would come, with Hashem’s help. The Rav’s words were met with ridicule: Do you think that in a few years so many people will come? No way. Now that Uman has opened and people are excited, crowds are coming—but later, hopefully there will be a few thousand each year. That is how they answered, firmly rejecting what they considered the “delusional” idea of building a huge, unnecessary structure.

This mistaken approach also stood behind the idea of those activists who refused to buy the buildings around the tziyun and opposed the other things The Rav shlit"a wanted to build in Uman, contenting themselves with building the Shaarei Tziyun hotel (and by the way, even for that—those who brought the investors to build it were students of The Rav shlit"a, which did not prevent the managers later from blocking the sale of beds in the building to The Rav shlit"a’s students. It is therefore no wonder what became of the hotel…). But over the years, everyone understood the mistake—when the apartments around Rebbe Nachman remained in the hands of uncircumcised non-Jews, with all that implies: price hikes, issues of modesty, shatnez, and more.

"Through guarding the eyes on the roads, we will merit the surrounding lights"

This song—which for many has become a treasured, enduring possession: a strengthening and awakening melody for every day of the year and in every situation regarding guarding the eyes—was composed by Rabbi Berland shlit"a in Kyiv, as Rabbi Yosef Marian relates:

“A certain hotel in Kyiv where we stayed was opposite the local university, where of course modesty did not prevail—true to Russian fashion. We, who had arrived in formidable Russia, wanted to look and try to understand what Russia is. The Rav shlit"a, for whom guarding the eyes was in his very bones—and in any case he would always arouse people about it all year long in general, and on trips in particular—added this important verse: a prayer-song to Hashem, that He help a person overcome curiosity that can cause a blemish in the holiness of the eyes.”

As has been told many times, on those trips when our people walked with absolute guarding of the eyes, the non-Jews would stand and stare at them—some in astonishment or mockery, and some with open admiration. More than once, this led to a tremendous Kiddush Hashem, as Rabbi Yilon Yitzchaki relates.

Even in later years, when Rabbi Berland shlit"a established the travel company “Maayanos HaChaim,” he did not rest until he succeeded in arranging that landings for Uman would be into a separate terminal—where at the first stage, passport control and baggage collection were done in special tents built for this purpose. This was so that travelers could merit absolute guarding of the eyes on their way to Rebbe Nachman—both upon arriving in Kyiv and upon departing from it. Large sums were paid until they reached this situation.

In his generosity—and because The Rav shlit"a wanted more Jews to merit guarding the eyes—he allowed additional travel companies to use this unique terminal, to increase holiness in Israel.

The Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a dancing at the holy tziyun in the 1990s: