Berland wants followers to avoid conflict

ANT KATZ

Fugitive Rabbi Eliezer Berland is back in South Africa and he – and many of his followers – have been living outside Johannesburg for the past month.

The leader of the Shuvu Bonim Breslov Chassidic sect – wanted in Israel – and his followers arrived in South Africa before Rosh Hashanah.

Hawks spokesman Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi told the Jewish Report that the authorities were investigating the matter and had reported it to Interpol. Mulaudzi was not able to confirm whether the outstanding arrest warrant against Berland is still valid.

LEFT: Rabbi Eliezer Berland
in Holland earlier this year

Jewish Report met some of the most senior followers and spokespeople of Rabbi Berland on Tuesday and they confirmed that there were  followers, many of them families, staying at a facility (which is rumoured to be between Johannesburg and Pretoria) and they had all the requisite necessities such as schools and study facilities available to them.

Rabbi Berland, they said, had strictly instructed his followers to stay away from the cities to avoid a repeat of (last year) their coming into contact with local communities. To Rabbi Berland, it seems, the local community do not want to have chassidim in their midst.

So strict is this edict that even the most senior followers who met Jewish Report in Glenhazel on Tuesday, had to have their rabbi’s permission to be there.

Jewish Report Online has been following the story of the rabbi’s return with interest since rumours of his arrival in South Africa first surfaced last week, but we chose not to publish anything until the sect’s presence could be confirmed. Media around the world ran the story RABBI BERLAND FOUND – OUT OF REACH OF ISRAELI POLICE in July.

During his five-month-long stay in South Africa last year, Rabbi Berland and his followers became the most newsworthy Jewish story of the year. The “Rabbi on the Run” as he was dubbed by Israeli and world media, was at one stage making news every week – and Jewish Report regularly led the coverage of his activities, being quoted by a host of media sources. How were we able to “own” the story of the year? Read all about it and links to other stories in our “2014 Top Reads” series.

Click to read: HOW WE CRACKED THE TOP STORY OF 2014

Rabbi Berland – who twice narrowly escaped capture by the Hawks during his South African sojourn last year – from South Africa fled to Holland, where he was arrested at the request of Israeli police with a view to his being extradited to that country.

His legal team in The Netherlands managed to delay these procedures and, when his appeal against extradition failed, he was nowhere to be found. The major Dutch daily, Telegraaf, reported that Berland was on the tiny Caribbean island of Petit Tobacco Island, which is so small that it does not even appear on Google Maps – and which had no extradition treaty with Israel.

Click to read: RABBI BERLAND FOUND – OUT OF REACH OF ISRAELI POLICE

Some local rabbis have confirmed that some members of their congregation are now davening with Rabbi Berland.

LINKS TO ALL PREVIOUS POSTS ON RABBI BERLAND