# נח

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Source: https://ajew.org/reader/alim-litrufa/2/58


## Segment 1

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נח
בָּרוּךְ הַשֵּׁם, יוֹם ו' עֶרֶב שַׁבַּת קֹדֶשׁ תקצ"א.
לַאֲהוּבִי בְּנִי מוֹרֵנוּ הָרַב יִצְחָק נֵרוֹ יָאִיר.
מִכְתָּבְךָ קִבַּלְתִּי, בְּזֹאת הַשָּׁעָה, וְאֵין פְּנַאי כְּלָל לַהֲשִׁיבוֹ כָּרָאוּי. הַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ יְחַזֵּק לְבָבְךָ וִיעוֹרֶרְךָ בַּיּוֹם הַגָּדוֹל וְהַנּוֹרָא הַבָּא לִקְרָאתֵנוּ לְשָׁלוֹם יוֹם אֶחָד בַּשָּׁנָה, שֶׁתִּזְכֶּה לְקַבֵּל עָלֶיךָ לְהִתְחַדֵּשׁ מֵעַתָּה בְּכָל יוֹם לְטוֹבָה. וְאַל תְּאַבֵּד יוֹם אֶחָד בְּלִי הִתְבּוֹדְדוּת, וְלַחְשֹׁב עַל תַּכְלִיתְךָ בְּכָל יוֹם, וְתַחֲטֹף בְּכָל יוֹם תּוֹרָה וּתְפִלָּה וּמַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים הַרְבֵּה, כְּפִי מַה שֶּׁתּוּכַל לַחֲטֹף וְלַעֲשֹׁק וְלִגְזֹל מֵהַצֵּל הָעוֹבֵר הַזֶּה, מֵהֲבֵל הֲבָלִים הַזֶּה מֵעָנָן כָּלֶה הַזֶּה וְכוּ' וְכוּ'. זְכֹר הֵיטֵב כִּי כָּל יָמֵינוּ הֶבֶל, וִיכוֹלִין לַחֲטֹף בָּהֶם חַיֵּי עוֹלָם כָּל אָדָם בְּאֵיזֶה מַדְרֵגָה שֶׁהוּא, יָתֵר מִזֶּה אֵין פְּנַאי עַתָּה.
דִּבְרֵי אָבִיךָ הַדּוֹרֵשׁ שְׁלוֹמְךָ בְּאַהֲבָה וּמַעְתִּיר בַּעַדְכֶם.
נָתָן מִבְּרֶסְלֶב
מִכְתָּבִים דִּשְׁנַת ה' אֲלָפִים תקצ"ב

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My son the rabbi, our Teacher the Rabbi Yitzchok — may he live.

Your letter I received here — and it was a comfort to me. And since I do not
 know when the messenger of this letter will arrive at his home — for his road is
 roundabout — I did not send through him a specific letter for you in reply to
 yours. And perhaps I will write to you from Tshehin — but that too is unnecessary,
 for I will soon come home, G-d willing.

The words of your father — who awaits and waits to rejoice in you — when you
 merit to think of your eternal purpose — to persevere at the doors of Torah
 and prayer each day. For outside of this everything is vanity as is known to
 you — but one needs to repeat this to oneself each day and each time.
 For time goes and roars
 [כִּי הַזְּמַן הוֹלֵךְ וְהוֹמֶה — drawing on Koheles
 1:4 — "a generation goes and a generation comes" — with the added sense of
 rushing or roaring: time does not merely pass but surges with force]
 and so forth.

And know that in every place one travels and arrives — one
 hears the sounds of great and bitter cries and sighs from the afflictions of
 the world that pass over each and every person — and in particular the
 cry of a mouthful
 [צַעֲקַת לְגִימָא — the cry for a mouthful of food:
 the anguished cry for basic subsistence, the most primal form of livelihood
 distress]
 from the lack of livelihood. And one sees with direct sensory experience what
 our Master, our Teacher and Rebbe, of blessed memory, said
 [Likutay Moharan 23]:
 were it not for the salt, the world could not bear the
 bitterness
 [אִלְמָלֵא מִלְחָא לֹא הֲוֵי עָלְמָא יָכוֹל לְמִיסְבַּל
 מְרִירוּתָא — Aramaic, as Rebbe Nachman quotes it in Likutay Moharan 23,
 based on Brochos 5a. The salt here is the Tzadik — specifically the covenant
 of salt (bris melach) — whose vitality sweetens the bitterness of the
 world and makes life bearable for all creation].

Happy is the one who prays each day to merit to be rescued
 from the bitterness of this world — about which it was said:
 and I find bitterness more than death
 [Koheles 7:26 — applied here to livelihood-anxiety and
 the lust for money, which is more bitter than death itself in its
 relentlessness]
 — namely the bitterness of anxiety about livelihood and the desire for money
 and wealth.

Happy is the one who merits to true wealth — which is one
 who rejoices in his portion
 [the Mishnaic formula from Avos 4:1]
 — about whom it was said:
 one who is pleasing before G-d will escape from her
 [טוֹב לִפְנֵי אֱלֹקִים יִמָּלֵט מִמֶּנָּה — Koheles
 7:26 continued: the one who is G-d-pleasing escapes the trap of
 livelihood-bitterness entirely]
 and so forth.
 And this hint suffices.
 [וְדַי בְּהֶעָרָה זֹאת — "and this hint suffices":
 the word ha'ara — a hint, an illumination — acknowledges that the
 teaching is deliberately compressed, a pointer to a larger truth rather than a
 full exposition. Significantly, the entire teaching about salt, bitterness and
 true wealth is embedded within the closing formula itself — it is not a
 separate paragraph but the content of the closing. This is one of the most
 unusual closings in the collection: the lesson is the closing]

Nussun of Breslov.

And peace to all our anshei sh'lomaynu — with
 great love.
 To all of them these words were spoken
 [לְכֻלָּם נֶאֶמְרוּ דְּבָרִים אֵלֶּה — a formal
 declaration that the letter is addressed not only to Yitzchok but to the entire
 community — and specifically that the teaching about the salt and bitterness
 applies universally. This functions as a public proclamation of the letter's
 scope, as if Reb Nussun is designating the teaching for wider reading].