ANT KATZ

Once again the fast-moving story of Breslov Rabbi Eliezer Berland and his Shubu Banim followers has been the talk of the community and making news almost daily. The latest developments include:

• A street party was held in Glenhazel to welcome Rebbetzen Berland last week;
• Berland’s followers have rented a warehouse in Bedford View where many of them are now staying;
• Yaron Yamin has built a house for R. Berland outside Bulawayo;
• Yamin told SAJR that work is proceeding on a new Yeshiva at the site;
• A Shuvu Banim Rabbi is mistaken for Rabbi Berland;
• The whereabouts of Rabbi and Rebbetzen Berland are not known;
• Two Shuvu Banim Breslov’s are arrested for smuggling drugs; and
• The Rabbi who keeps being mistaken for R. Berland.

UPDATE OF ALL RELATED READS BELOW

Rabbi Berland is wanted for questioning by Israeli police for alleged sexual offences, which he denies. No charges have been laid in this matter. The Rebbetzen and their son, as well as several of the son’s associates, have been charged with money laundering and other charges.

In just two days LAST WEEK Jewish Report Online was able to break eight new stories on the Rabbi-on-the-run, including:

• Rabbi Berland seen in & around Glenhazel over the weekend of 4 May;
• Rebbetzen Tehila Breslov (pictured right) flew into Joburg on 5 May;
• Yaron Yamin, Rav Berland’s close disciple from Zimbabwe, spoke to SAJR on 5 May;
• Another exclusive interview with senior Berland follower in Jerusalem published 5 May;
• Rav Berland in regular contact with followers at Yeshiva giving phone lessons;
• Yamim building Yeshiva in Zim in hope that Berland will settle there; and
• R. Berland had been at “Next Door” Restaurant Tuesday evening.

The past week’s events…

There was a street party outside the new Sephardi Shul in Elder St, Glenhazel to welcome Rebbetzen Berland last week. Tables were laid out and set alongside the street outside the Shul and catering was ordered in.

Rabbi Berland’s followers have rented a house and warehouse in Bedford View where they have been staying since last week. It is not known if the Rabbi and Rebbetzen are staying there as well, although it is doubtful, say members of the local community who have been delivering food to the followers. One told SAJR Online that the followers were sleeping on matrasses which had been placed on palettes.

Yaron Yamin has built a house for R. Berland outside Bulawayo where, Yamin told the Jewish Report, said, work is proceeding on the construction of a new Yeshiva SEE STORY ON SAJR ONLINE: WHO IS YARON YAMIN?

A Shuvu Banim Rabbi whose name SAJR Online was unable to establish (pictured left with two followers in Glenhazel), has been repeatedly mistaken for Rabbi Berland, with whom he bears an uncanny resemblance.

This may account for the regular “sightings” SAJR has had called in over the past two weeks.

SAJR Online sent this picture, taken by ILAN OSSENDRYVER, to Yossi (the members of the sect only go by first names), a senior follower at the Shubu Banim Yeshiva in Jerusalem, and asked if it was Berland.
 
“No, it’s one of his students,” came the reply. “Rabbi Berland has trained many Rabbis who have students of their own. This is one of them. “The newspapers in Zimbabwe actually made the same mistake and put a picture of this Rabbi on the front page saying it was Rabbi Berland,” said Yossi.

Yossi was, however, unable to identify the Rabbi, saying that Berland has thousands of followers.

The notable distinction between the two men is that this Rabbi has some colour at the top of his beard, whereas Rabbi Berland (pictured right) has a pure white beard.

The whereabouts of Rabbi and Rebbetzen Berland are not known. The Berlands are believed to still be in South Africa but their whereabouts remain a closely guarded secret. Jewish Report has been unable to establish their current location within SA or whether they are continuing to move from place to place as the Rabbi had been doing prior to the Rebbetzen’s arrival.

Jewish Report is still trying to arrange for an interview with Rabbi Berland.

Shuvu Banims arrested for smuggling drugs

According to a story published FailedMessiah.com this week, “two Shuvu Banim Breslov’s” were arrested on drug smuggling charges in Spain.

The two are “members of the Breslov Chasidic Shuvu Banim sect – the same sect whose leader, Rabbi Eliezer Berland, fled Israel after being accused of sex crimes… and the sect is known to have many former and current criminals as members.”

The two men, aged 22 and 23, one a young married man and the other an unmarried Yeshiva student, were arrested with a large quantity of drugs concealed in their vehicle. One the men lives in Jerusalem and the other in Sefat says FailedMessiah.com.

The pair claimed that they had been offered a free rental car on condition it be returned in Madrid, said the article, quoting Yeshiva World. They apparently claim they did not know drugs were concealed in the car.

However, says the article, a report on “the Chareidi news website Kikar HaShabbat,” the father of one of the two was previously arrested for smuggling drugs in a similar way.

Follow the story on www.sajr.co.za

• 14 April: Chief Rabbi: Don’t shelter Berland
• 14 April: Goldstein calls for protest
• 19 April: “Some One” posts dissenting view
• 23 April: “Kids need stable environment” -Reader
• 23 April: “Chasidic kids need stable environment” -Reader
• 23 April: Fugitive Rabbi, followers, cause uproar
• 23 April: Did you hear the one about…?
• 23 April: Vid of R. Berland & Co’s Purim bash
• 23 April: Secrecy & silence leave community confused
• 23 April: Ant’s speculative Op-ed and what to expect
• 24 April: Religious leaders must be consistent -Reader
• 24 April: Breslov ‘shopper’ says thanks to SA Jewry
• 24 April: Sackstein roasts Sevitz over Breslovs & Pesach
• 25 April: Uproar in Joburg Jewry: by Ant Katz & Robyn Sassen
• 27 April: 8-Page feature article in MISHSHPACHA – PDF
• 28 April: Breslev: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW – TOP READ
• 29 April: “The day I was called a Nazi” -Reader
• 30 April: First video of Rabbi Berland in Joburg -Reader
• 30 April: Minutes before the Hawks came calling
• 30 April: The Big Breslev Brouhaha Continues
• 04 MAY: First video of Yaron & Berland leaving Zim
• 05 MAY: See Rav. Berland’s FACEBOOK PAGE and ENGLISH WEBSITE
• 06 MAY: Rebbetzen Tahila Berland flies into Joburg
• 08 MAY: Index to all related stories on SAJR Online
• 08 MAY: Chareidi world divided over Berland – Reader Comment
• 11 MAY: What it took to accuse Rabbi of harassment – Reader Comment
• 13 MAY: SAJR EXCLUSIVE: Who is Yaron Yamin? Berland’s Zimbabwean funder
• 14 MAY: The Rabbi who keeps being mis-identified as R. Berlov
• 14 MAY: Berlands to settle & build new Yeshiva in Zim?