קסא

Nussun the above-mentioned.

My beloved son, my dear one. [ Yitzchok ]

Your letter I received just now — together with the three prayers — and there is no time to extend now — for between today and tomorrow you will be here — if Hashem wills. Rabbi Ayzik — my nephew — was here for the holy Shabbos — and it was from Hashem that I prepared a letter to him the previous night — as he will tell you — and in passing I also wrote to Rabbi Shimshon — so see to receive the letter from Rabbi Ayzik and deliver it to Rabbi Shimshon to read — and afterwards return it to Rabbi Ayzik to keep — for I spoke that he should keep the letter with him. From our dear friend Rabbi Naftali — may his light shine — there arrived at this hour a letter from Uman — asking me to explain clearly the matter of the machloket [מַחֲלֹקֶת — the controversy directed against Reb Nussun and the Breslov community — which intensified greatly in this period (5595). The copyist's note appended below provides the full historical context] — from where it sprouted. And I already wrote to him immediately after Yom Tov — but now he asks again to explain well. And I wrote to him that the machloket sprouted from the sin of Adam the first man — and from our many sins and transgressions [הַמַּחֲלֹקֶת נִצְמַח מֵחֵטְא אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן — the theological root of all *machloket* in the world: traced to the primordial sin of Adam, which introduced fragmentation, opposition, and the *sitra achra* into creation. All subsequent controversy — including the opposition to the *tzaddik* — flows from this root. And also from *our many sins* — the personal and communal dimension: the *machloket* is not only cosmological but also reflects the spiritual state of the generation] — and may Hashem Yisborach have mercy that everything be turned to good. Also Rabbi Naftali and our *anshei sh'lomaynu* ask to be informed of your welfare and good health — and I am ready to reply to them immediately — and because of this there is no time to extend my words to you now. And may Hashem strengthen your heart in Torah and prayer and good deeds — for length of good days and years.

It is to be known to future generations: in this year there was a very great controversy — exceedingly so. It began between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and continued throughout the year. And also in the year 5596 the controversy did not quiet down — as the attentive reader will understand from the following letters — until the year 5598 when those who practiced evil speech and slander — who trained their tongue to shoot in secret at the innocent — died a disgraceful and unusual death. Among them was the *nagid* Moshe from the village of Sherevetetz — who repaid good with evil: in the days of his youth he was very poor — and childless — but he was devoted at the gates of our Master, our Teacher and Rebbe — may the memory of the righteous and holy one be a blessing — to arouse his compassion to help him. And he — of blessed memory — had mercy on him — and promised him that he would become very wealthy and that he would have surviving children — and so it was. And there is much to tell about this — until the canvas is too short for it.

And after a long time — after the passing of our Master, our Teacher and Rebbe — of blessed memory — he developed a bitterness in his heart — until he was transformed into an enemy and a persecutor. And the grandson of our Master, our Teacher and Rebbe — of blessed memory — the eminent scholarly one — our Teacher the Rabbi Avraham Dov son of Adil — of blessed memory — was his son-in-law — and he expelled him because of the controversy. And there is much to tell about this — but in sum — he repaid good with evil — and was transformed into a persecutor. And he persecuted our Teacher and Rebbe Rabbi Nussun — of blessed memory — throughout the years 5595, 5596, 5597, and 5598. And he incited enemies against him to take him into custody. And afterwards he drove him from his home in Breslov to Nemirov — and there too he incited enemies against him several times — until in the year 5598 before Shavuos — our Teacher Rabbi Nussun was in Breslov to deliberate counsel with his beloved friends about how to return home to Breslov — since there in Nemirov he had no permanent dwelling and was forced to live with a neighbor — and further sufferings he had there.

[Hebrew: נָתָן מִבְּרֶסְלֶב...]

The words of your father — who awaits seeing you in joy. Nussun of Breslov. And it became known to the above-mentioned Moshe that our Teacher Rabbi Nussun wished to return home — and then he stood in the middle of the street and said in these words: "Er vil shoyn arayn tzu ruk aher — nu nu — vail main lebin vet zain vet er da nisht zitzen nisht mer — ich badarf bloyz geyen l'hagarnitshe." [Yiddish: "He already wants to come back in here — well well — as long as I live he will not sit here any more — all I need to do is go to the governor." As if to say: I will have him delivered to the authorities] And so it was — and he went from the street to the above-mentioned lord — and he was as healthy as could be in all his powers — his udders full of milk and so forth — and when he came to the above-mentioned lord — there was a Jew there — and he commanded that he go outside. And the above- mentioned man went outside — and he heard him speaking about our Teacher Rabbi Nussun with the above-mentioned lord — and in the blink of an eye he fell to the ground in a faint — and expired. And there was a very great commotion. And the above-mentioned lord ran outside and cried out with a great cry — for he could not revive him — and they poured wine spirits with good spices and good fragrances on him — but it did not help. And the above-mentioned lord cried out to bring some wagon to take him to his home — and at that moment there was no wagon anywhere. And they took a large wagon that hauls dung and refuse from the street and from the horses — and they lay him on the above-mentioned wagon — and the above-mentioned man and several other non-Jews brought him home — and there was a very, very great commotion there — for half an hour before this they had seen him as healthy as could be in all his powers — and now he was dead. But their commotion did not help them — and he lay thus without speech for about a full day — only his stomach sweated and so forth — and afterwards he expired entirely. And then many enemies and opponents repented — and were transformed into friends — and they themselves took the trouble to bring him home to Breslov — and so it was: in the year 5599 between Yom Kippur and Sukkos he left Nemirov for Breslov — and then the controversy was quieted. They have greatly afflicted me from my youth — yet they have not prevailed over me [רַבַּת צְרָרוּנוּ מִנְּעוּרֵינוּ גַּם לֹא יָכְלוּ לָנוּ — Tehillim 129:2: the Psalm of Israel's persecutions — "greatly have they afflicted me from my youth — yet they have not prevailed over me." The verse of survival through persecution: the many afflictions that have come since youth — and the impossibility of being overcome by them. The copyist quotes this verse to describe the arc of the entire *machloket*: much affliction — no final victory for the opponents] [Tehillim 129:2] . And Hashem will not abandon us into their hands — and the fire of His Torah and His fear which he engages to introduce into us — to fear before Him, Yisborach, the Lord of all — will never be extinguished — as he said — of blessed memory — in these words: "Main fayeril vet shoyn tlu'in biz Mashiach vet kumen." [Yiddish: "My little fire will burn until Mashiach comes." The Rebbe's own prophecy — spoken in Yiddish — about the permanent and inextinguishable character of the Breslov flame. *Fayeril* — the diminutive of *fayer* — fire — makes the prophecy intimate and tender: not a great conflagration but a *fayeril* — a little fire — that will nonetheless burn until the final redemption. The copyist records this prophecy precisely here — at the close of the account of the *machloket* — to testify that the fire has not been extinguished, that it burns still, and that the Rebbe's word stands] . I have made all of this known so that the attentive reader will understand well the following letters — and what is true will remain established in truth forever.