The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Thursday extended the arrest of Rabbi Eliezer Berland for eight days.
During the court hearing, Berland’s lawyer complained that his client isn’t feeling well because he just underwent a catheterization. In response, the judge said: “Give him Mentos or Tic Tacs!,” a barb to Berland since news reports said that police discovered that some of the “medications” provided by Berland’s followers to patients and their families were Mentos candies.
Berland and his underlings were arrested this week on charges of exploitation, money laundering and tax evasion, an ongoing intrigue that was originally revealed by a Channel 13 News investigation. Israel Police has collected over 200 testimonies against the suspects.
A new video showing Berland and his associates exploiting people with medical issues was published by Channel 13 News on Wednesday.
Last summer, Berland and his assistant met with A., who requested advice on a certain medical issue. A. brought NIS 3,000 for a short meeting and bracha from “the Rav” but Berland wasn’t pleased with the amount and as can be seen in the video, he wanted NIS 4,000.
The meeting took place in the home of Nurit, who was participating in the investigation against Berland.
A. told Berland about the pain she suffers and he promised her that he’ll heal her: “I guarantee you – you’ll be completely healthy right now.”
When A. told Berland: “I didn’t go to a doctor because I’m scared of doctors,” Berland answered her: “Don’t go to any doctor. I’m taking responsibility for you. You have nothing to fear. You’ll be completely healthy like Shimshon H’Gibor, like a wild ox and the Levyasin. In another two weeks, I’ll smear something on you. I’ll touch you and you’ll be healed completely.”
A police representative said during a court hearing that the Channel 13 News investigative report “opened a Pandora’s Box” and that the police investigation that followed raised suspicions of the tax offenses the suspects have been charged with. Israel Police said there are over 200 witnesses against Berland and 20 investigative cases against him.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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17 Responses
On Ywn’s WhatsApp feed there’s a video of his “followers” following him in the police 🚔 as he was leaving court
They are true followers
Our community is afflicted with charlatans masquerading as “tzaddikim”, and marketing yeshuos. The advertising on this site and others is testimony to this. How often do we read about remote removal of ayin horah, pouring “blie”, and other things, but with a price tag? A true tzaddik davens for Klal Yisroel, not excluding those not on the “list” of payers to a tzedokoh organization. There once were tzaddikim that made such financial demands, but they were baalei Ruach Hakodesh. Nobody today can make such claims. And certainly NOT whenthe money gets pocketed. The tzaddikim who did make monetary demands were funding pidyon shvuyim. and other worthy causes, not keeping a dime for themselves. Tragically, that is not happening today. So we get stories like this. And there are many others who never get “caught”.
He’s obviously meshiga and so are the people who believe in him.
What’s the deal with wearing his Talis?
Was he was about to Daven Shachris when police took him in the morning?!
If yes – where are his Teffilin?
to the little that i know
if a “tzadik” needs to advertise on this site hes not the one you are looking for
this and other sites have become a magnet for these people and all the organizations that will come up with yartzheits and segulas you never heard of
9th hour ninth day etc
just looking to suck hard earned money from people with issues
they have convinced people that they cannot daven for themselvs
We can not believe a word the secularist government and media of Israel says. They are mamash a tool of the yetzer. Rav Berland is a tzaddik and they are making him out to be a rasha only to prove to themselves that all religious Jews are corrupt. It’s all lies.
This so called judge should rot in hell with both mentors and tic tacs for having had the audacity to be so callous and indifferent to the suffering of a very Choshuv Rav.
Positive:
The behavior you viewed on the video clips is that of a tzaddik? Not even close. I’m not asking the secular government for their conclusions. I reach my conclusions myself, and the evidence here is not subject to refute. You certainly have the freedom to rewrite your religious views to include stuff like this. But I staunchly refuse to do anything like that. I will look to our Torah Hakedosha for guidance and direction. This business of guaranteeing such things in exchange for fulfilling monetary demands is grossly dishonest, and inconsistent with being a “tzaddik”.
Let’s take this one more step. Your “tzaddik” has Ruach Hakodesh”. Correct? How is it, therefore, that when he was presented with this sting operation, he did not realize it was a setup? Oh, no Ruach Hakodesh? So what’s with the guarantees. and the instructions to stay away from doctors? He got caught, and will be kept away from the public where he could do further damage. May HKB”H protect us from all charlatans, especially those who are disguised as tzaddikim.
147,
Seriously?
The judge was suggesting to give home more 9f the “medicine” that his people give. Literally, a taste of his own medicine.
The little you know: So you are now claiming anyone who takes money to provide a service you don’t understand- is a fraud? I know one of the Roshei yeshivas of Mir Yerusholayim who paid for ‘the pendulum’ man in Ramot- his son told me!
As far as blei gissen (lead pouring) is concerned- it is well accepted already for hundreds of years to do this and pay for the lead and fuel and the service etc. The service seen on YWN was by Rav Hool shlita who only does it if you accept a mitzvah upon yourself. He also has a written haskomoh from a dayan of the BeDatz. Furthermore he has been publicly checked out/tested by the most skeptical- anti Haredi “rabbi’ out there- who was dumbfounded by Rav Hool’s ability to reveal ailments of people he had never seen. Rav Hool doesn’t claim to have ruach hakoodesh!!
How dare you accuse him of fraud???
Furthermore -your utter ignorance shines- Ruach Hakodesh doesn’t mean you know everything-just what Hashem lets you know at the time- Moshe didn’t know where Yosef was buried -see Medrash Rabbah Parshas BeShalach…. You really do know very little…..
The Little I know: I know people who have gone to Rav Hool and have seen yeshuos and they are still keeping their kabolas mitzvah. No need to passul everyone and everything…….calm down!.
Heimish & Sugya:
I made no claims about specific individuals, and offer no apologies for connections you made between what i said and anyone in particular.
As for money exchanged for tefilos, it is a well accepted practice. I was not speaking about that at all. People present kvitlach to chassidishe rebbes and other gedolim all the time together with a “pidyon”. In reality, the purpose of the pidyon is for the benefit of the tzaddik. The tzaddik can easily feel arrogant that his tefilos are being sought, and that would be a major detraction from his Avodas Hashem that must be founded on a basis of appropriate humility. This way, they have been paid to offer that tefiloh, and their interceding with tefiloh is in exchange, not a basis for haughtiness. I have no issue with that, and I think these past few lines make that clear.
What is the irritant here is the demands for money, and more money. That goes beyond the pidyon. Are the yeshuos for sale? If yes, who precisely is the baal haboss that is selling them? Real tzaddikim were very hesitant to make guarantees, and the vast volumes of sipurei tzaddikim are testimony to that. And you both seem to have missed the point that the tzaddikim of long ago that actually did make specific demands kept none of the money for themselves – it was distributed immediately to those that needed it. Those same sipurei tzaddikim also speak about that.
So you missed my point. When we are addressing matters that reside in spheres far above us, that is a far different matter than what exists today. Greed is nowhere to be found, and neither is grandiosity or narcissism. Quite the opposite. We find the midoh of “hishtavus”. We find a Chasam Sofer that refused to handle money at all, except on Purim when there is a specific mitzvah of matanos lo’evyonim, and the coins became a “cheifetz shel mitzvah”. We find rebbes who refused (or were even unable) to sleep if there was even a penny (kopek) in the house. We find a Divrei Chaim of Tzanz whose silver becher, menorah, and other objects were never in his house, having been sold to a pawnshop so that the money could be distributed for tzedokoh. Chassidim redeemed them usually just in time for their use. These tzaddikim were not the least unhappy that they possessed no money, so they did not crave it or pursue it.
I am not passuling anyone in particular. I am addressing a trend in our community that is unhealthy, and is not that which we knew generations ago. Who misses a segulah? Or have we translated the posuk “Viheyeesem li seguloh” to be a mitzvah? I am eager to go to tzaddikim, whether Litvish or Chassidish, and value the tefilos at kivrei tzaddikim. I have done that often, and continue to do so BE”H. But when we turn this into a “quick fix”, we have abused the system. And when we stoop to marketing services like this and converting it into a business, we have strayed outside of the realms that our tzaddikim paved for us.
Someone pointed out something very interesting. Perhaps since the times of Shabsai Tzvi, there was never such a figure in Klal Yisrael. A person that THOUSANDS of (mostly) Ehrliche Yidden believe is the Gadol/ Tzaddik Hador, not only of this generation but also of many previous generations. For the ignorant out there, yes, although on all the clips only hoodlums are seen, he has a massive crowd of real ehrliche yidden that sit and learn and serve Hashem all day with no connection to the outside world, which believe in him all the way!
On the other hand most of klal yisrael believes that (although he is a massive Talmud Chochum, which again for the ignorant, is something which is an indisputable fact,) he is at best a real simple person, with claims continuing on to Deranged, Cult Leader, Extortionist, Criminal, Assaulter and even Appikoirus according to many leading Rabonim in the Breslov community.
That’s a difference between day and night. No wonder he and everything about him is so controversial.
Even R’ A”Y Kook didn’t have such diametrically opposed views about himself.
May Hashem give us the light to see the truth.
Is there a Nekuda tov is there something u don’t know go find out don’t jump to conclusions cause you think you sound smart cursing and making fun of someone Is there a chance that you don’t know what really going on especially on a person that it’s known he brought back thousands to Yiddishkite
I think it’s time for all u haters to keep quiet for if it’s only even a one percent chance that u are wrong u don’t understand how much pain that will cause u in the next world יש דין ויש דיין
ולמלשינים אל תהיה תקוה
וכל הרשעה כולה כעשן תכלה
Positive & 147
You are both liars, he deserves everything he gets, the judge is 100% correct
Even if he is a insane apikores, making fun of him is not proper derekh eretz. You can discuss his ideology and hashkafa and his actions, but his hygiene or health (unless relevant to the public issue) is lashon ho’ra.
The Little I know: You claim “I made no claims about specific individuals, and offer no apologies for connections you made between what i said and anyone in particular.”
However you clearly wrote above: “The advertising on this site and others is testimony to this. How often do we read about remote removal of ayin horah, pouring “blie”, and other things, but with a price tag?” –
This was a clear reference to Rav Hool Shlita -He is the only person who has advertised in the last year for remote removal of ayin horah on YWN!
And you owe no-one an apology?????