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The shiur in English
The Yanuka’s own words in this shiur, translated into English by Lehallel · 1,171 words · 5:16. Press a time to hear it said.
0:03 We say hello to Itamar Peleg. - Hello. - Hello to you. In recent months we have been dealing quite a lot with this story of dozens of yeshiva students - most of them Chareidi, by the way, and from the Ethiopian community - who fall into the scam of smuggling khat to the countries of Europe. There they are arrested - when here in Israel they don't know, either that they are smuggling a load of khat, or they don't know at all that in Europe khat is like any forbidden drug, even though in Israel it is permitted. You personally were arrested in Europe in recent months because of a story like this, so let's, you know, start the story from the beginning.
0:33 What happened with you - an ordinary kollel man who sits in the beis midrash - how did you end up under arrest in Europe? - A man came to me whom I had met at a Torah class in shuls. That man showed me that supposedly he had people there he does business with, and he told me, you're welcome to come with me on one of the flights I'll be taking, and there's a man there who does business with him, and he'll donate a nice sum - to renovate the shul. To renovate the shul, that was my goal, and I traveled with that man. - And then he checks bags in your name and you don't know what's inside them. - He checked bags in my name that were supposedly clothes and food, and I trusted him - I saw a Jew - and that's it,
1:08 that's the whole story. - And then you land in Europe. - We land, yes, and there the whole story begins. We're stopped, the suitcases are opened, suddenly I discover something I knew nothing at all about, and they put on handcuffs, and they take you to a detention center, and it is not a pleasant experience. If the listeners are listening, let them know that this is something unpleasant, and not to do it, because it is very, very dangerous. - In a moment we'll get to the story of the miracle you tell, of how you were released from there, in the merit of the Rav, not in the natural way, because we know of other yeshiva boys who are still being held at this very hour as we sit here. - I am perhaps here by a miracle - what do you mean perhaps? Certainly, I am here by a miracle.
1:42 They said there are another 70 being held around the world. At the trial, the prosecutor said that such an offense... - But it is drugs in every sense. - Yes, in every sense, and it is a very, very serious offense, and they ask for between eight and ten years for such things. Eight, ten years my parents would not have been able to see me. They told my parents, you need to mortgage the house for lawyers. I - by miracle upon miracle, in the merit of my Rav, Rabbi Shlomo Yehuda, the Yanuka - am here, in the Land of Israel. - So come, tell your story about the release with the Yanuka.
2:09 - I, in detention - I was arrested on Tuesday night. In the courthouse I somehow managed to get to my phone, and I got to my phone and turned it on. - What happened on the phone with the Yanuka? - I managed to call through the phone someone who apparently was next to him - he was just then sandak at a bris - and they showed him a video of me crying. I had filmed myself crying and saying that I had not done anything, and I sent it to my parents.
2:35 [unclear] I want to come for Sukkos, [unclear] the sukkah. [unclear] - I have nothing to do with it, I told them. And in this video I said it, and they saw it, and Rabbi Shlomo Yehuda, the Yanuka, blessed me and said to me: by Friday, Erev Shabbos - I am doing everything in Heaven and on earth so that you are released.
Read the whole shiur in English (5 more parts)
3:00 And on Erev Shabbos, an hour and a half before Shabbos came in - they had already moved me to a prison, they had already moved me to a jail - there, after there had already been an indictment and everything, they moved me to a jail - an hour and a half before Shabbos came in, a woman comes to me and gives me a document. I did not understand what she was saying. 'Sign' - she brings me a passport and says to me 'You free'. That's the only thing I understood, 'You free'; everything else she spoke in a language I don't know.
3:27 I understood 'You free' - you are released. I got up, started doing the process, and I was released an hour and a half before Shabbos. - Friends, for whoever has not yet understood: khat is a dangerous drug, a drug people are arrested for and get serious prison sentences - for whoever brings it to Europe. You arrive in Europe with it, you may be arrested and get a most severe punishment. - I heard Itamar's story; it is an extraordinary story, an inconceivable story.
3:55 Usually a person who smuggles khat into Europe will be arrested and will stay there in detention, and will even be sentenced for it to a long period. Itamar had - I have no other word to define it: a miracle. As someone who has worked for many years in the field of criminal law, especially abroad, especially in the area of Interpol law and arrests abroad, I have almost never - I have never come across a case in which a person smuggles drugs into Europe and was released after only one day, with no explanation at all.
4:29 - The Chabad House - right away I went straight to the Chabad House. The Chabad House took me in, and he said to me: listen, I know that on Sunday I was supposed to come to you, to bring you a siddur for Rosh Hashanah. I tell him: it's a miracle, a miracle that doesn't exist in the world. A miracle of - it's a wonder above nature, an overturning of the order of nature, that exactly what the Rav said - I believed in it with complete faith and I prayed - what the Rav said, that's what the Rav said: on Friday, Erev Shabbos, I am doing everything. - For Rosh Hashanah you already managed to be in Israel. - [unclear] it was Erev Shabbos, and on Sunday evening Rosh Hashanah began, [unclear] Rosh Hashanah.
5:02 Yes. - Listen, an amazing story - both the crazy story of how you fell into that khat scam, and also the story of the Yanuka that you brought us, about the release. Itamar, thank you very much.
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