רנד

Nussun of Breslov.

And peace to all our anshei sh'lomaynu with great love.

Friend of my soul — the outstanding rabbinical scholar — and so forth — our Teacher the Rabbi Yitzchok — may his light shine.

I received your letter this week and read it well — twice — and knew your pains. And behold — your letter arrived when I was about to travel to here in Breslov — and I said to myself — why should I reply to him in writing since I will myself be with him together — and face to face will I speak with him. And today I came here — and from the immensity of my love and my strong yearning to strive for your benefit — in fulfillment of his command and his holy will — to benefit each and every one according to his yearning and his effort and his toil to receive his true and eternal benefit — I set my heart today — before the light of the day — in the immensity of the multitude of my preoccupations and the swarm of my distresses in general and in particular — which it is impossible to express — may Hashem Yisborach have mercy quickly — to examine his letter — and I said I would reply to you also here — for I know that there are several matters that are impossible to specify in the mouth. And also perhaps from this will spring hints of true arousal for the rest of the anshei sh'lomaynu who desire the point of truth to its truth.

And the essential — you already know — you and those like you — and he informs you again — not once and not twice but innumerable times — that certainly the truth is as you wrote — that praised be G-d — hidden with him are true remedies and medicines of Torah — "sama d'chayyei" — a medicine of life for all [סַמָּא דְּחַיֵּי — Aramaic: the medicine of life — from the Zohar — referring to the Torah itself and the words of the true tzaddik which are healing medicine for all souls] — precious and wondrous words that have no comparison — full of counsels and healing of the soul and the body and eternal success for all — which it is impossible to express — but all of them are sealed and hidden in many many concealments — from inside and from outside — concealments within concealments — almost without measure. Were it not that Hashem helps him and you — through the merit and holy power of the Rebbe — in His wondrous ways — to reveal and to inform and to illuminate in the heart of the one who desires the healing of his soul in truth. And with this we have given ourselves life for some time already.

But know — that every person according to his yearning and his desire and his effort — according to how much he digs and excavates with his mouth and his heart — to find the water from the holy wells — *"be'er mayim chayyim"* — the well of living waters that were dug in the days of Avraham — and the Philistines blocked them and filled them with earth — and Yitzchok Avinu returned and dug them — and he had several quarrels and struggled over them — for the obstacles were many — those who were called then Philistines — until he dug and found a well of water and called its name Rechovos [Bereishis 26:22 — one of the great Breslov metaphors. The wells of living water are the Torah teachings of the tzaddikim in every generation. The Philistines — the forces of impurity and opposition — block and fill them with earth. But the tzaddikim return again in every generation to re-dig them. And the name Rechovos — "wide expanses" — because there at last they found room] and so forth. And even so they are still sealed — for from then until now — how many and how many tzaddikim and prophets in every generation toiled to dig them and to reveal them. And it is impossible to express in writing even what sparks in his heart about this. But already the tzaddikim of every generation have done greatly — and revealed to us from then until now — and especially from the day of the receiving of the Torah — that we merited through the faithful shepherd Moshe Rabbeinu — upon him be peace — and all the tzaddikim who came after him — that every one of the great *bnei aliyah* dug wells of living waters — to heal the ailments of the souls of Israel.

For the true tzaddik of the generation — he is the one who sustains all the world in his generation — until the end. And about him it is said "zarach hashemesh u'va hashemesh" — until the sun of this one had not set — the sun of the one who comes after him rose. [זָרַח הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וּבָא הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ — Koheles 1:5 — "The sun rises and the sun sets." The Talmud (Kiddushin 72b) teaches: before the sun of one righteous person sets — the sun of the next righteous one rises. The world is never left without its sustaining light] And he already spoke about this — that before Shmuel came after Eli the Priest — the sun had almost set — the world was almost destroyed and the light had almost gone down completely — but Shmuel the prophet illuminated the sun and sustained the world after Eli the Priest. And so in every generation — and as he saw with his own eyes also in this generation — he — the poor and destitute — all his days grew up among the sages — and was dusty from the dust of their feet — and he knew that in our days the holy light of the Baal Shem Tov — zacher tzaddik livrachah — had almost gone down. And before his sun had set — the sun of our Master our Teacher and our Rebbe — the holy one — zacher tzaddik livrachah — rose.

[Hebrew: נָתָן מִבְּרֶסְלֶב...]

The words of your lover in truth forever — until here. Nussun of Breslov. What shall I say — what shall I speak — what is in my heart about this. And at first glance these matters do not pertain to a reply to your question and your very bitter cry. But I know my son I know — I know your pains more than you. And the general principle — for you and for all like you — that it is not in my power to reply to you at all — only each and every one according to how much he digs and seeks after the holy wells of living waters as above — certainly he will find in my pouch — the pouch of the poor and destitute one who is very much pursued from every side — and therefore his pouch is full of earth and pebbles and rags — which strangers filled it with in order to hide and conceal the gems of his treasures — even so — *"mayim rabbim lo yuchlu l'chabot es ha'ahavah — un'haros lo yishtefu'ah"* — many waters cannot quench the love — and rivers cannot overflow it [Shir HaShirim 8:7] — and all kinds of darkness and concealments in the world cannot hide the lights of the hidden stores of such treasures of life — that already what was revealed of them was revealed in his holy books — of blessed memory. And still still — you need efforts to dig here with me — the poor and destitute one. And certainly you will find if you make the effort. And as explained in the Torah *"Tik'u Emunah"* (Likutay Tinyana 5) on the verse *"af chachmati amda li"* — *"chachmah she'b'af"* — wisdom that comes through exertion — "amda li" — stands by me. And the efforts required are not ones that are impossible to bear — only *"b'ficha u'vilvav'cha la'asoto"* — in your mouth and in your heart to do it. And the essential — that you believe in yourself at any rate — as he believes in you — that still still you can begin from now. More than this there is no leisure to extend. And enough in this — for already the day has brightened — the chesed of G-d all day — the chasadim of Hashem have not ended — and they are renewed every morning — may they all illuminate upon us and upon you — until we merit to return to Him in truth — and to spend our days speaking of the wondrous acts of Hashem that He did with us in these our generations — to give us life as on this day — for the thoughts of His heart Yisborach are to generation and generation. [Tehillim 33:11]