רנה

And at any rate one must know that the counsels of the world are falsehood and lies — for in them is grasped the impurity of the snake — in the aspect of "ha'nachash hishi'ani" [הַנָּחָשׁ הִשִּׁיאַנִי — "the snake deceived me" — Bereishis 3:13. The snake is the archetype of false counsel — counsel that seems wise and beneficial but leads to ruin. The essential corruption of false counsel is its haste — *atzas niftalim nimharah* — the counsel of the twisted is rushed] — and on this King David began the book of Tehillim: *"Ashrei ha'ish asher lo halach ba'atzas resha'im"* — "fortunate is the man who did not walk in the counsel of the wicked." For there are people who are somewhat decent — and even so their counsel is in the aspect of *"atzas resha'im"* — because their counsel was not refined from the impurity of the counsel of the snake as above. And they already spoke about this greatly on Shavuos — several years ago. But on the past Shabbas they added greatly to speak about this.

And the essential corruption of most of the world is that they snatch their counsel quickly — and about this it is said (Iyov 5): "atzas niftalim nimharah" — the counsel of the twisted is rushed. For true counsel one must wait greatly to merit to it — as David cried out (Tehillim 13): *"ad anah ashis eitzos b'nafshi"* — "until when shall I devise counsels in my soul" and so forth. And this is *"miharu shach'chu ma'asav — v'lo chiku la'atzaso"* (Tehillim 106) — for in all that passed over them they needed to wait for His counsel Yisborach. And understand this very much.

Abundant peace — to the honor of my beloved son — my dear one — the veteran rabbinical scholar — and so forth — our Teacher the Rabbi Yitzchok — may his light shine — with all his pleasant children — may they live — for length of days and good years — Amen so may it be His will.

[Hebrew: נָתָן מִבְּרֶסְלֶב...]

The words of your father who awaits to rejoice in you — with His Yisborach help — and may there be fulfilled in you: "chacham b'ni v'same'ach libi l'lanetzach" — "be wise my son and gladden my heart — forever." [Mishlei 27:11]

Nussun of Breslov.

Please receive the enclosed letter — for Rabbi Itzya from Rayreed — to send it to Akerman at the known address — and certainly strive to write it properly so that it reaches his hand specifically — and strangers do not get hold of it — even though he did not write secrets there — even so — good that it reaches his hand specifically. And strive in this to send him the letter immediately — for it will give life to his soul — as is known to you how his letters give life to people — especially in such a distant place. And just now he does not know what to write to you — and from the day of your departure from here he has not seen your letter. And praised be G-d — on the past Shabbas — seven guests from Breslov were with him — among them Rabbi Simcha the son-in-law of the rav. And praised be G-d — they spoke greatly — words of true wonders of Hashem in His wondrous salvation — chasdav gavar aleinu v'emes Hashem l'olam. And he is preparing himself in these times to travel to Breslov — but the obstacles are many — and according to what appears — he will not travel until after Shabbas Kodesh coming upon us for good. And may Hashem Yisborach help him in His mercies to receive a bilet for the year quickly — as they desire — and to Hashem the salvation.

And behold — on the past Shabbas — they spoke about how much one must ask Hashem Yisborach every day — that He repair him with good counsel from before Him. For a person in this world needs very deep counsels every day — in a way that he will be saved from what he needs to be saved — and to snatch every day true and eternal good — all that he can. For the essential of the counsels one needs is in this world — which is called *"raglayim"* — in the aspect of counsels — as it is written (Shemos 11): *"and all the people that are at your feet."* And they spoke greatly about this — that it is hinted in the parasha "Vayikra Yaakov el banav" — and they spoke about how Yaakov blessed each one with the strength and might of the living creatures — with the strength of a lion and an ox and a wolf — and Dan blessed *"Yih'yeh Dan nachash alei derech"* — all are needed in the matter of strengthening in the service of Hashem — with many many counsels every day — even the smallest in level. And if one knows no counsel at all — one must wait and expect His salvation Yisborach — that He will illuminate upon him a complete true counsel.

And at any rate one must know that the counsels of the world are falsehood and lies — for in them is grasped the impurity of the snake — in the aspect of "ha'nachash hishi'ani" [הַנָּחָשׁ הִשִּׁיאַנִי — "the snake deceived me" — Bereishis 3:13. The snake is the archetype of false counsel — counsel that seems wise and beneficial but leads to ruin. The essential corruption of false counsel is its haste — *atzas niftalim nimharah* — the counsel of the twisted is rushed] — and on this King David began the book of Tehillim: *"Ashrei ha'ish asher lo halach ba'atzas resha'im"* — "fortunate is the man who did not walk in the counsel of the wicked." For there are people who are somewhat decent — and even so their counsel is in the aspect of *"atzas resha'im"* — because their counsel was not refined from the impurity of the counsel of the snake as above. And they already spoke about this greatly on Shavuos — several years ago. But on the past Shabbas they added greatly to speak about this.

And the essential corruption of most of the world is that they snatch their counsel quickly — and about this it is said (Iyov 5): "atzas niftalim nimharah" — the counsel of the twisted is rushed. For true counsel one must wait greatly to merit to it — as David cried out (Tehillim 13): *"ad anah ashis eitzos b'nafshi"* — "until when shall I devise counsels in my soul" and so forth. And this is *"miharu shach'chu ma'asav — v'lo chiku la'atzaso"* (Tehillim 106) — for in all that passed over them they needed to wait for His counsel Yisborach. And understand this very much. And even so — rejoice and be glad — that we merit at any rate to know from all this — that the counsels of the masses are mostly corrupt. And if we have not yet merited completely to the true counsels — at any rate we know that we must wait and expect them — and pray greatly to Hashem Yisborach every day about this — that He repair us with good counsel — and lead us with His counsel — until Hashem looks down and sees from heaven. And just now in His chesed Yisborach — we know from the true counsels — which are the 613 counsels of Torah — tzitzis and tefillin and Torah and prayer and all the holy mitzvos. [תַּרְיַ"ג עֲטִין דְּאוֹרָיְתָא — the 613 counsels of Torah — from Zohar Chadash, Ruth 80a. The mitzvos are not merely commandments — they are counsels — wisdom from above — strategies for navigating the world and drawing close to Hashem] Let us rejoice and be glad in all the good points we snatch every day — and pray for the future — until we merit to complete counsels — to deep counsels — in the aspect of *"mayim amukkim eitzah"* — "deep waters are counsel" [Mishlei 20:5] — until *"yibaka kashacher oreinu v'aruchasenu m'heirah titzma'ch."* [Yeshayahu 58:8] And may there be fulfilled (Iyov 25): *"goleh amukos mini choshech"* — "Who reveals deep things from the darkness" — until we merit to thank His name Yisborach in the aspect of (Yeshayahu 25): *"odeh shimcha ki asita peleh eitzos mei'rachok emunah omen"* — "I will praise Your name — for You have done a wonder — counsels from afar — faithfulness and truth." [אוֹדֶה שִׁמְךָ כִּי עָשִׂיתָ פֶּלֶא עֵצוֹת מֵרָחֹק אֱמוּנָה אֹמֶן — one of the great verses of the Breslov vocabulary — the "counsels from afar" are precisely the deep hidden counsels of the true tzaddik — emunah omen — faithfulness and craftsmanship — the artisanal faithfulness of the Torah teaching that comes from so far away and yet reaches into every individual soul] Fortunate are the ears that hear all these. And the general principle of all their words was that the essential repair and completeness of counsel is through the holy book — in the aspect of (Iyov 31): "v'sefer kasav ish rivi" — "the book that the man of my dispute has written." Therefore one must be very careful to study this holy book every day — and to seek and search there for good and true counsels. And through this one will merit to study all the holy books that are necessary — which are the books of the *poskim* and so forth. More than this there is no leisure to extend. And peace to all our anshei sh'lomaynu with great love. Nussun of Breslov. And peace to all our anshei sh'lomaynu with great love.

[Hebrew: נָתָן מִבְּרֶסְלֶב...]