Meir Asoulin is a former Border Policeman, and a follower of Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit”a for 31 years. He began to become a follower of the Rav when he served as a Border Policeman in the area of Jerusalem’s Old City, when he would occasionally go up to the “Shuvu Banim” Yeshiva located in the Muslim Quarter. However, his ties became closer at the time of the murder of one of the students of the Yeshiva. It happened when lawless terrorists murdered in cold-blood the young student Eliyahu Amadi z”l hy”d. The event aroused chaos and disorder, but revealed all the more the heroic character of Rav Berland shlit”a.
“I saw the Rav go around like Superman with Tallis and Tefillin. The Arabs threw at him a downpour of rocks, but the rocks flew back at them.” “What do you mean?” we ask Asoulin. “The Rav picked up and threw the rocks at them?” It sounded to us strange that the Rav would bend over and throw rocks. Ansoulin: “No, the rocks flew [back] miraculously! We, the Border Policemen were there and saw this with our own eyes.
“I remember that many years ago the Rav shlit”a would go to do hisbodedus in prayer in the orchards near Pardes Katz. The sounds of prayer, it seems, bothered the Alperon family, and they purchased a leopard, starved it, and then freed it in the direction of the Rav shlit”a. They were sure that not much would be left of the Rav, only to their surprise, when they came to check what remained, they found the leopard lying next to him. From then on, their souls became bound to the Rav shlit”a, which little by little returned them to Judaism.
“Stupid! Who would even dare to think badly about the Rav shlit”a — the Rav is an angel of God! When I wanted to visit him in Johannesburg, I joined the Leviov family and together we made our way [there]. However, because we had a connecting flight, we were delayed on the way for a long time. Practically, by natural means, we already couldn’t reach Johannesburg before Shabbos by any means. So we called the Rav shlit”a, who told us to fly in any case. I’ll be brief and say that according to the clock and the timetable, Shabbos already had begun. However, we all saw around us that the sun refused to set. I said to Leviov: Look, the Rav is holding back the sun for us. If he told us to travel, he wouldn’t allow us violate the Shabbos.
“We reached the place where the community resided [in South Africa], and even though the hour was late, the Rav shlit”a still hadn’t started the afternoon prayer. ‘See, I held back the sun for you,’ he uttered towards us when we entered and immediately began the prayer. We wanted to meet with the Rav shlit”a privately, but for various reasons, we were unable to. Here, perhaps more than all the incomprehensible miracle stories, was the Rav’s greatness revealed. The Rav sacrificed himself and arrived at our hotel at five in the morning, despite the danger of ambush in Johannesburg during these hours, and despite the difficult hour. He spoke to each one of us separately, and only afterwards continued on to his students who were waiting for him for the morning prayer.”
