The Roar of Prayer: Rabbi Shalom Arush Recalls His Early Days with Rabbi Berland

Rabbi Yitzchak Weinzhandler reminds Rabbi Shalom Arush shlit"a (may he live long and good days) of forgotten memories. He asks him if he remembers how he and the Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, used to study as a chavrusa (study partner) in Likutey Moharan (the seminal work of Rebbe Nachman) with literal roars. Thus begins the fascinating and rare conversation of Rabbi Shalom Arush shlit"a, in which he recounts his journey of hiskarvus (drawing closer) to Judaism, to Rebbe Nachman, and especially to the holy Gaon and Tzaddik, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a. These are his words:

"I remember how I entered the room of our teacher, the Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, and you (Rabbi Arush) were sitting on one side, and Rabbi Berland was on the other, and you were roaring the Likutey Tefillos (Collected Prayers). Neither you nor Rabbi Berland saw the people around you; it went on for several hours. Do you remember that?" Rabbi Weinzhandler asks Rabbi Arush. "I remember it, but I don't remember that you saw me," Rabbi Arush replies.

"My hiskarvus (drawing closer) began at the end of 5734 (1974). Every place I reached led me straight to Breslov. In the beginning, I had a self-awakening to start talking to Hashem. It was truly an enormous gift. Many questions arose within me: What is this world? Why must we eventually die? This led me to a deeper contemplation of life, and why we live at all."

"Because my journey of drawing closer was through prayer, I prayed about everything that stood before me. At that time, my sister had a problem with her son, and they referred her to Rabbi Shlomo Mann from Givat Shaul. She told me she reached a Rabbi who brought her very close; I took his details from her and went to see him. During the meeting, he told me that I needed to buy the book 'Hishtapchus HaNefesh' (Outpouring of the Soul). I went to look for the book in bookstores in Tel Aviv, innocently thinking that if Rabbi Mann told me about it, then surely everyone must know the book, but no one knew it."

"At Rabbi Shlomo Mann's, I met Rabbi Moshe Shvili..."