Segment 1
קיג
בָּרוּךְ הַשֵּׁם, יוֹם ד' עֵקֶב תקצ"ג.
אֲהוּבִי בְּנִי חֲבִיבִי שֶׁיִּחְיֶה.
מִכְתָּבְךָ קִבַּלְתִּי, וְהָיָה לִי לְנַחַת גָּדוֹל, בְּשָׁמְעִי קְצָת צְמִיחַת יְשׁוּעָתְךָ, כֵּן יוֹסִיף ה' חַסְדּוֹ לִגְמֹר יְשׁוּעָתְךָ בִּשְׁלֵמוּת, בְּאֹפֶן שֶׁתִּזְכֶּה לְהַגִּיעַ מְהֵרָה לְתַכְלִית אֲמִתִּי וְנִצְחִי, שֶׁתְּבַלֶּה יָמֶיךָ בְּטוֹב אֲמִתִּי בְּתוֹרָה וּתְפִלָּה וּמַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים, לְאֹרֶךְ יָמִים וְשָׁנִים טוֹבִים, וְאֵין לִי פְּנַאי לְהַאֲרִיךְ וְדַי בָּזֶה כָּעֵת.
דִּבְרֵי אָבִיךָ הַדּוֹרֵשׁ שְׁלוֹמְךָ בְּאַהֲבָה וּמַעְתִּיר בַּעַדְכֶם.
נָתָן מִבְּרֶסְלֶב
To: My beloved son, my dear one — may he live. [Yitzchok]
Your letter I received — and it was to me a great comfort — upon hearing
something of
the budding of your salvation
[צְמִיחַת יְשׁוּעָתְךָ — the same budding-image from
Letter 106's tzmichas keren yeshuah for the Kloyz, now applied
personally: the first visible sprouting of Yitzchok's improvement. The bud
is always the sign of what is coming].
May Hashem add His kindness — to complete your salvation
fully
[כֵּן יוֹסִיף ה' חַסְדּוֹ לִגְמֹר יְשׁוּעָתְךָ
בִּשְׁלֵמוּת — the prayer-formula of completion: what has been begun in
kindness should be completed in kindness. The yisaif echoes the
Haggadah's yisaif v'lo yigra — may He add and not diminish. A
Hebrew idiom of ongoing divine generosity]
— in a way that you merit to reach a true and eternal ultimate good speedily —
that you
exhaust your days in true goodness
[שֶׁתְּבַלֶּה יָמֶיךָ בְּטוֹב אֲמִתִּי — the word
t'valeh — to exhaust, to wear out entirely — carries the precise
Talmudic aspiration of valey yomoi b'Torah: that one's days should
be spent and worn out entirely in Torah. Not merely to allocate time to
goodness but to exhaust the days in it — to leave nothing unused, nothing
unspent. The ideal is the complete consumption of one's days in true goodness
— in Torah, prayer, and good deeds — so that when the days are done, they
are genuinely spent]
— in Torah and prayer and good deeds — for
length of days and good years
[לְאֹרֶךְ יָמִים וְשָׁנִים טוֹבִים — from D'vorim
22:7 (l'ma'an yitav lecha v'ha'arachta yamim — "that it may be well
with you and that you may have length of days") and the Rosh Hashana greeting.
Not merely long life — but years that are genuinely good, exhausted in Torah
and good deeds].
And I have no time to extend — and this suffices for now.
The words of your father — who seeks your welfare with love and intercedes
on your behalf.
Nussun of Breslov.
[Translator's Note: Overview: Parshas Eikev, Wednesday — pure joy in a brief
form. *Tzmichas yeshuasecha* — the budding image from Letter 106 applied
personally. *Yisaif Hashem chasdo ligmor yeshuascha bish'leimus*. *T'valeh
yamecha*: now identified as the Talmudic ideal of *valey yomoi b'Torah* —
the complete exhaustion of one's days in true goodness, leaving nothing
unspent. *L'orech yamim v'shanim tovim*.
Key Themes
Tzmichas Yeshuasecha
The budding of salvation — the first visible sprouting of Yitzchok's
renewal. The bud is always the sign of imminent full growth.]