
78-year-old rabbi Eliezer Berland is a fugitive on the run from Interpol has issued a death threat against the chief rabbi of South Africa, Warren Goldstein. The threat, has rattled the South African Jewish community. South African Police Service officers, acting on a request from Interpol, 10 days ago raided a hotel in Samrand, north of Johannesburg, where Berland has been staying on and off for five months with a number of his disciples.
Berland, one of the leaders of the Bratslav Hasidic movement in Israel and head of Yeshivat Shuvu Bonim in Jerusalem —and considered a holy man by his followers — has been on the run since 2012 when allegations were made by female followers in Israel that he had sexually harassed or raped them. Continue reading