רפ

Nussun of Breslov.

My beloved son — my dear one.

Yesterday close to Minchah he received his letter from the hand of his brother — his son Rabbi Shachna — and he had no time to read it — for he had already begun to pray Minchah — and read it after Maariv. And his bowels stirred for him — from the immensity of the mercy upon him — for all his letters are full of cries and voices and yearnings to return to Hashem Yisborach in truth. And he knows that most people — even in previous generations — had such things pass over them thousands and tens of thousands of times — as he heard and understood from his holy mouth — and as he himself saw and heard and understood from tens of thousands of people and from holy books. And he has already spoken greatly about this — and what more shall we say — have not our Sages said explicitly (Sukka 52a): every day and day the yetzer of a person renews itself against him — and were it not that Hashem helps him — as it says (Tehillim 37): "v'Hashem lo ya'azvennu b'yado." But even so there is no one who spoke so much about this and helped through his words eternally — like our Master our Teacher and our Rebbe. Therefore it came to his mind that he has nothing to reply to him — since his words have already been spoken greatly — and already printed and written greatly. But even so it is impossible for the house of study to be without novellum — and in particular this is the essential — lest the matters become old — G-d forbid — for it is forbidden to be old and stale — G-d forbid — rather every day they should be truly as new. And this is the foundation of all the Torah — as we are commanded about this in the *parasha* of Shema — *"asher anochi m'tzav'cha hayom"* — and our Sages interpreted: *"b'chol yom yih'yu b'einecha kachadashim"* — "every day may they be in your eyes as new." And about this he came to remind him and to urge him — my beloved son — that you should see every day to fulfil this anew — that the words of his holy mouth should be in your eyes as truly new. And you — incline your ear and hear his words as new. And you should know — there was once a very great and holy and awesome tzaddik — who sacrificed himself at every time for the essential benefit of Israel — to have mercy on them and return them to the good — through wondrous and awesome counsels. And through his wonders and his immense perception — he informed us that a Jewish person should give himself life and strengthen himself every day through every single good point that he searches and finds in himself still — and he explained this on the verse *"v'od me'at v'ein rasha"* and on the verse *"azamra lelokai b'odi."* And afterwards he said that he is traveling for this purpose to Lemberg — and he revealed awesome things about the Tabernacle that the true tzaddikim build in every generation — until he illuminated the eyes of those who look at the truth — in the Mishnah "hazan ro'eh" and so forth. *"Mi shama k'zos"* — "who has heard such a thing." And he in his poverty spent several hours — as he lay on his bed before he arose — thinking only about this — in order to reply to him and to heal him and to give him life anew in this — as he warned them explicitly to go with this — and pointed with his holy hand with a wondrous yearning — that his strong desire is that they go with this. And all the matter of Pesach can be found through this — for Pesach is the aspect of "chesed l'Avraham" [חֶסֶד לְאַבְרָהָם — from Micha 7:20 and the prayer Nishmas . Avraham our father began to reveal the divinity of Hashem in the world — and his entire path was through chesed — and Pesach is the annual renewal of this path — looking only at the good points of every Jew] — for Avraham our father was the first who began to reveal His divinity in the world — and on Pesach the angels came to him to announce that Yitzchok would be born — and then he baked matzos. For the essential drawing close was through chesed — that he inclined toward chesed and found merit in everyone who desired to draw close. And this is the whole matter of Pesach — that it is said about Israel (Yechezkel 16): *"v'at eirom v'eryah — va'er'ech mis'boseses b'damayich"* — "and you were naked and bare — and I saw you wallowing in your blood" — namely in the foolishness and the shame of the desires — *"va'omar lach b'damayich chayi — va'omar lach b'damayich chayi"* — "and I said to you — in your blood — live — and I said to you — in your blood — live" — namely: even within the height of the overpowering of your blood — which are the desires coming from the boiling of the blood — even in that itself — live — for even so there are found in you so many good points — and you overpower and yearn every time toward true good — and you detach yourself and your thought every time from bad to good. For this is the essential virtue of a person — that he is higher than the angels — because he has such a yetzer hara — and such confusions — and he is in such a world full of lies and deceptions and confusions and the preoccupation of livelihood. Therefore every single good movement is very precious in His eyes Yisborach. And above all — all our life-force and our hope and our joy is through the power of the elder of elders — the holy ones — praised be G-d — we have and we have on whom to rely. Remember this and take courage and be strengthened — for all He has done with us. Were it not that he had revealed only the Torah "Azamra" — dayeinu. [אִלְמָלֵא לֹא גִּלָּה אֶלָּא הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת אֲזַמְּרָה דַּיֵּינוּ — echoing the form of the Dayeinu song of the Seder — Reb Nussun says: were it not that the Rebbe had revealed to us only the teaching of Azamra — finding good points in oneself and in others — that alone would have been dayeinu — sufficient. All the more so that he revealed awesome Torahs and wondrous stories and holy conversations besides] All the more so and all the more so that he revealed awesome Torahs and wondrous stories and holy conversations. And certainly he will complete what he began — to awaken us from our sleep. For still he stands and prays for us — with all the tzaddikim who dwell in the dust — for without this we would have no sustaining at all — as it is written in the holy Zohar: "ilmalei t'filos hatzaddikim she'meisu al hachayim — lo iskayem alma k'rega" — were it not for the prayers of the tzaddikim who have died on behalf of the living — the world would not endure for a moment. [Zohar III 70a] And all his intention in this letter is to fulfil the mitzvah of "v'shinantam l'vanecha" — and in particular before Pesach when one needs to answer the son who asks — in particular in the way of wisdom — praised be G-d — against the four sons the Torah spoke — one is wise and so forth — that in our days such awesome things were revealed which are the acronym SHACHARIT . [שַׁחֲרִי"ת — an acronym formed from Shin-Chet-Resh-Yud-Tav — Sh'tika (silence), Chacham (the wise son), Rasha (the wicked son), Yodea lish'ol (the one who does not know to ask), and Tam (the simple son) — as revealed in the Rebbe's teachings, showing the four sons as a spiritual roadmap for the path of teshuva and emunah . Reb Nussun calls this awesome — "ashrei oznayim shekach shom'os" ] And the essential is what is written there (Likutay Moharan 30): that the greater the sick person — the greater the Rebbe needed — who can introduce into him also the perception of divinity. And praised be G-d in His chesed — we do not dispute this true Rebbe — and we strive to draw close to him — and he draws us close in His mercies at every time in awesome and wondrous ways. We must give praise and say complete Hallel and the great Hallel — in particular on Pesach — for all the true and eternal chasadim that the Master of mercies has done with us. So may He add and add to magnify His chasadim with us — until we merit in our lives to fulfil his words in completeness in truth — nagila v'nismecha bishu'aso. And peace to all our anshei sh'lomaynu with great love — to all of them these words are said — be strong and may your hearts be strengthened. May Hashem grant us to conduct the Seder as fitting. And the wine of the four cups of salvation — may it gladden our hearts in truth — for this is the essential. And taki fort hop — "and in all this — only joyful." What was omitted above: The Tabernacle that the tzaddik builds — all this is connected to Pesach. For on the first of Nissan the Tabernacle was erected. For Pesach is chesed — the wonders of His chasadim — that He looks only at the good points of every individual of Israel — and through this He took us out of Egypt — and so will He take us out from this long exile. And so in particular — He takes out each and every one from his exile — through this wondrous chesed. And through all this the Tabernacle is built in every year through the true tzaddikim. And therefore through this we enter Pesach — which is great chesed. The words of your father and teacher. Nussun of Breslov.

[Hebrew: דִּבְרֵי אָבִיךָ...]

[Hebrew: נָתָן מִבְּרֶסְלֶב...]