סה

My beloved son, my dear one. [Yitzchok] At this hour I have arrived from Nemrov — from the joy of the wedding — praise

be to G-d. And blessed be Hashem — all is properly established from Hashem. The right hand of Hashem is exalted forever

[וִימִין ה' רוֹמֵמָה — Tehillim 118:16, from the Hallel Psalm sung on Pesach and festivals: "the right hand of Hashem is exalted — the right hand of Hashem acts valiantly." Reb Nussun's use of this Hallel verse as he arrives from the wedding — days before Pesach — charges the greeting with festive resonance] — as I will tell you when you come here, if Hashem wills. And there is no leisure at all now to extend. But since I travelled here with the bearer of this letter — the wagon driver from your community — I said I will not hold back from inquiring after your wellbeing.

For I know the force of your yearning to see my letters always. Rejoice greatly and be glad at the joy of the holy festival coming upon us for good [וְשׂוֹשׂ תָּשִׂישׂ וְתָגֵל — the same phrase as Letter 71's closing messianic note: sos asis from Yeshayah 61:10 — "I will greatly rejoice in Hashem — my soul shall exult in my G-d." The deliberate repetition of this messianic joy-phrase across two consecutive letters as Pesach approaches is not accidental — Reb Nussun is sustaining the same note of redemptive joy across the transition from Rosh Chodesh Nissan to the eve of the festival] — and see to rouse yourself to send the wine and so forth with urgency beforehand. And write me a clear reply to all that I wrote you. And if it is possible that you arrange for a letter to reach me from Rabbi Nachman — the grandson of our Master, our Teacher and Rebbe, of blessed memory — how good that would be. More than this — life and peace and gladness and joy. For soon we will merit to eat the bread of the soul — the food upon which the angels are nourished [מֵזוֹנָא דְּנִשְׁמְתָא — Aramaic: the nourishment of the soul. The Zohar identifies the Pesach matzah as the bread of faith — michla d'mehaimnusa — and the food upon which the ministering angels are sustained. Matzah transcends physical nourishment: it is spiritual food of the highest order, consumed on the night of liberation in complete faith] . And may Hashem Yisborach be with us — to burn the chametz properly — and to merit to go out from chametz to matzah, from death to life, from sadness to joy [מֵחָמֵץ לְמַצָּה מִמָּוֶת לְחַיִּים מֵעַצְבוּת לְשִׂמְחָה — a triad of transformations echoing the language of the Hallel and the Haggodah. The movement from chametz to matzah — from leavened

inflation to the flat simplicity of pure faith — is the essential spiritual movement of Pesach]

[Hebrew: נָתָן מִבְּרֶסְלֶב...]

and so forth. Nussun of Breslov.