מא

My beloved son. [Yitzchok]

The time of the Shacharis prayer has arrived — but from my love for you I am writing to you now: that I received your letter — and I have great anguish from your anguish and the black melancholy which you write me every time. And have I not already written you very much, very much — enough to console and gladden yourself at every time in all that passes over you? And was it for nothing that I spoke with you thousands of times — that every person is full of suffering — as it is written: man is born to toil [Iyov 5:7] and so forth — and there is no consolation and joy and vitality except in every single good point that we merit to seize each day — for we put on tallis and t'fillin and learn a little or much, and we pray, and we perform many mitzvos and so forth — and in particular that we know of such a light and so forth.

Please, my beloved son — remember, do not forget all of this — remember and remember at every time all the great and awesome acts of lovingkindness which Hashem Yisborach did with us — that He drew us near to such a light, whose name is proclaimed over us — thanks be to G-d. And accustom yourself greatly to walk in the path I have already spoken with you — to be at every time grateful for the past and crying out for the future to come — and pour out your speech before Hashem Yisborach every single day — a fixed practice, not to be transgressed.

For the sake of Hashem — for the sake of Hashem — snatch and eat, snatch and eat [חֲטֹף וֶאֱכֹל חֲטֹף וֶאֱכֹל — a Talmudic expression of urgency (cf. Eruvin 54a): snatch what you can while you can, as one who knows the opportunity is fleeting. Reb Nussun applies it to Torah, prayer, and good deeds: grab every moment of service before it passes] — Torah and prayer, and hisbodidus [personal outpouring to Hashem] and good deeds. And pay no heed at all, at all, to anything that passes over you. And in this the quality of forgetting is very good [מִדַּת הַשִּׁכְחָה — the midah of forgetting: not a failure but a faculty. Reb Nussun speaks of forgetting as a positive spiritual tool to be cultivated, not resisted] — to forget from one's mind entirely, at every time, all that has passed until now. And what will be — you do not know at all. And in particular at the time of prayer let yourself be in your own eyes as entirely new — as if you have only this single hour and no other — and do not look at the past or the future at all — not even in matters that touch upon the soul — and all the more so, and ever more so, in matters of the body and money. And if you accustom yourself to this — then it will be good for you — and you will be able to pray through this and to seize much good every day. For the sake of Hashem — be strong and resolute and gladden your soul in all the ways you have heard from him [Rebbe Nachman] — hope in Hashem and He will save you — for Hashem will not abandon forever — the lovingkindnesses of Hashem have not been exhausted [חַסְדֵי ה' כִּי לֹא תָמְנוּ — ki lo somnu: from the root תמם — not merely "have not ended" but have not been consumed or exhausted. The lovingkindnesses of Hashem cannot be used up; they are inexhaustible by nature. This is the ground of hope: not that bad times will end, but that the source of good can never run dry] [Aicha 3:22] and so forth. The words of your father. Nussun of Breslov.

Nussun of Breslov.