קמה

Overview: Written on the fortieth day of the Omer — noted explicitly in biblical language. The letter opens with loving exasperation: he has spoken thousands of times that every person is full of suffering — and Yitzchok still writes in black melancholy. The response is two-part. First: snatch and eat — the Talmudic idiom of urgent seizure applied to Torah, prayer, and good deeds. Second: cultivate the quality of forgetting — midas hashicha — as a positive spiritual faculty. At the time of prayer especially, let the past and future dissolve entirely. Only this hour exists. The closing verse from Aicha — the chassodai Hashem ki lo somnu — is the ground of everything: not that bad times end, but that the source of good cannot be exhausted.

Today I received your letter — and it was a great comfort to me that you merited to receive my letter. For I had great longing and much toil from Sunday until yesterday — until I found a way to send you my aforementioned letter. May Hashem Yisborach grant that my words make an impression on your hearts — for it is not an empty thing — for they flow from a most great and awesome and mighty and exalted source.

My beloved son, my dear one.

To: My beloved son, my dear one. [Yitzchok] Your letter I received through Rabbi Pinchas Henyes. And I already knew beforehand — from Rabbi Toviyah from Teplyk — that you have entered your home — the dwelling of holiness [נִכְנַסְתָּ לְבֵיתְךָ נָאֲוָה קֹדֶשׁ — naveh kodesh: "the dwelling of holiness" — the same phrase used in Shemos

15:13 (*naveh kodshecha*) in the Song of the Sea: "You will lead them in Your kindness to Your holy dwelling." Applied to Yitzchok's new home: the home of a Torah-observant Jew is a *naveh kodesh* — a sacred dwelling — from the moment of its sanctification through Torah and prayer]. May it be His will that it be for good and long life and peace — for you and all your household. And may you all merit to engage there in the service of Hashem in truth. And may your home be a gathering place for the wise — a house open wide — a house in which Torah and prayer are cultivated [בֵּית וַעַד לַחֲכָמִים — בַּיִת פָּתוּחַ לִרְוָחָה — בַּיִת שֶׁמְּגַדְּלִין בּוֹ תּוֹרָה וּתְפִלָּה — echoing Mishnah Avos 1:4: yehi beischa beis va'ad lachachamim — "let your home be a gathering place for the wise." And 1:5: yehi beischa pasuach lirvachah — "let your home be open wide." Together with the third formulation — a house in which Torah and prayer are cultivated — these three characterizations express the triple ideal of the Breslov home: a place of Torah learning, of hospitality, and of sacred practice] [Avos 1:4–5]. And for now — midday has already passed — and the holiness of the holy Shabbos is drawing close and arriving — and there is no time to extend at all. And according to what appears — I will not travel on any journey — with the help of Hashem Yisborach — until after Shabbas Nachamu [שַׁבַּת נַחֲמוּ — Shabbas Nachamu: the Shabbos of Consolation — the Shabbos following Tisha B'Av, when the Haftarah begins *nachamu nachamu ami* (Yeshayahu 40:1) — "comfort, comfort My people." The first of the seven *Shabbosos d'nechamah* — the seven Shabboses of consolation between Tisha B'Av and Rosh Hashana. A gathering-point for the Breslov community: Reb Nussun expects Yitzchok to come for this Shabbos] that comes upon us for good. The words of your father — who awaits seeing you at the coming Shabbas Nachamu. Would that we merit to prepare ourselves from now for Shabbas Nachamu — that we merit to complete consolation for all the sorrows of our soul — that we no longer draw back from Him, Yisborach — for this is the essential consolation and salvation for everything. Nussun of Breslov. [Translator's Note: Overview: Friday, Erev Shabbos Kodesh, Parshas Pinchas. Very brief — Shabbos approaching, no time. Yitzchok has entered his new home — *naveh kodesh*. Three blessings: *beis va'ad lachachamim* — *bayis pasuach l'r'vachah* — *beis shemgadlin bo Torah u'tefilla* (Avos 1:4–5). No travel until after *Shabbas Nachamu*. Closing: may we merit to prepare from now for *Shabbas Nachamu* — may the consolation be complete — may we no longer draw back from Hashem — for this is the essential consolation and salvation for everything. Key Themes Beis Va'ad Lachachamim / Bayis Pasuach / Torah U'tefilla — Avos 1:4–5 Three formulations of the ideal home from the Mishnah of Avos: a gathering place for the wise; a house open wide; a house in which Torah and prayer are cultivated. Applied to Yitzchok's new home as a triple blessing and aspiration at the threshold of entry.]

Nussun of Breslov.