She Was the Only One Who Kept Shabbat in All of Haifa • The Gaon and Tzaddik

Today, 11 Sivan, is the 32nd yahrtzeit (anniversary of passing) of the "Mother of Royalty" - Mrs. Etia (Esther) Berland, daughter of Rabbi Moshe of the Storolowitz family - the mother who brought into the world the soul of the great light, the Tzaddik, our teacher Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a.

Before you is a segment from a class delivered this past year by our teacher Rabbi Berland shlit"a, in which he shares a rare account of how his mother ascended to the Holy Land and how she kept Shabbat (the Sabbath) despite all the trials:

The Imrei Emes (the Gerrer Rebbe, Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter zt"l)—there is a book about the Imrei Emes containing articles from all the Admorim (Chassidic Rebbes)—he wanted to bring five hundred people here. Because at that time, whoever arrived in the Land [of Israel] would automatically become secular, so they [the Rabbis in Europe] forbade coming to the Land. When my mother traveled to the Land, they ostracized her father, saying, "How can your daughter travel to the Land!?" In that merit, she remained alive. I don't know how... She said, "Here I won't have shidduchim (marriage matches); I want to get married, so I will ascend to the Land." I asked her: "Why did you suddenly ascend to the Land? What did you have to do with the Land? They were Satmarers, everything was Satmar." In Sighet, everything was Satmar; in Tash, it was all Satmar. We have already been to Sighet twice now. She said: "My father didn't have money for a dowry, and we were ten daughters and two sons—(ten daughters)—Chaim and Yechezkel. I saw that I would never get married here, so I said I would join 'Bnei Akiva' and ascend to the Land." And she was the only one keeping Shabbat (the Sabbath) in all of Haifa. All the children here had already become secular; we were the only family that remained religious. She fought for every point of religion. They told me, "If they see you in the street with a kippah (skullcap), they will break your bones." Well, they are still waiting to break my bones today, but they are all no longer alive.

So [I asked my mother]: "Why did you suddenly ascend to the Land?" She ascended in 5696 (1936) and got married in 5697-5698 (1937-1938)—"I already got married [referring to the mother of our teacher the Rav shlit"a], four years before the Holocaust." Had she stayed one more year, they wouldn't have let her leave. She had already managed to arrange a visa—a certificate—for her father. But then they told him, "Now the war is starting soon, it is no longer possible." Hitler would declare every day that he would kill all the Jews; every day he would declare it, and people would make a joke out of it. So when my mother [ascended to the Land], we were the only religious family in all of Haifa. Meaning, among the children—there were still some parents who kept Shabbat, but as for religious children, we were the only ones; all the other children left everything. Whoever arrived in the Land threw everything away in a second. Because everyone has an Yetzer Hara (evil inclination); he saw that everyone else was throwing it away, so he threw it away too.

The Imrei Emes said, "I want to bring five hundred families here." I have the book from the Imrei Emes [where he said], "I will bring five hundred families here." He was here five times. The last time, he no longer observed the second day of Yom Tov (holiday) for Pesach (Passover). That was already 5699 (1939); I think it was Pesach 5699, because in '38 the war started. And then he said, "Now I am going to bring several families," and then he got stuck there [in burning Europe].

He said, "I will bring five hundred from Lodz." In Lodz, everyone was a millionaire, wealthy, billionaires. "I will transform the whole Land here. We only need five hundred families, with children, each with ten children. Then there will be yeshivas here, there will be cheders (Torah schools for children) here, there will be everything here." There were no cheders, there was nothing, there was nothing at all. He wanted to transform the Land, but the war had already started; that was on the [seventh day] of Pesach 5699 (1939).