ISRAEL
Arutz Sheva
Tzvi Lev
04/05/18
With several abuse scandals plaguing the Jewish community over recent years, it is heartwarming to see how Tzfat Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu took a public stand this week against convicted sexual predator ‘Rabbi’ Eliezer Berland.
Berland, who was sentenced to 18-months in prison for sexual assault, is still considered a hero by some Breslov hassidim. A recent article in Haaretz even claimed that some followers literally consider him God-like and excuse his many sexual indiscretions.
On Wednesday evening, Lag Ba’Omer, upon hearing that Berland was scheduled to make a grand entrance at the festivities held at Rashbi’s Tomb in Meron while flanked by his followers, Rabbi Eliyahu tried everything possible to stop it from happening. Invoking an obscure bureaucratic rule that nominally put him in charge of the tomb due to his position of Tzfat Chief Rabbi, he banned Berland from the premises and said that his presence is an”abomination to the holy Rashbi.”
“Mount Meron is a holy place and thousands of people from across Israel who come do not want to seek impurity on this day,” Rabbi Eliyahu told Arutz Sheva. “Such a person who impersonates a hassidic rabbi is an abomination and he should be removed from Meron.”
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