Your letter I received on the night of Shabbos Kodesh before the Kiddush — as well as the letter from my friend Rabbi Hera — may his light shine — and it was a comfort to me. And now there is nothing new to add. And behold — to revive you with true words — the time does not now permit it. And you have already heard much that suffices to revive and gladden your soul at every time — however it is, however it is. For all that we spoke much about — that one must revive oneself through every good point — and especially in the matter of what we merited and that we were saved from opposition to the very truth itself — all of it is not mere empty words — but the essential thing is to walk by them and fulfil them. And the essential thing — at the time when a person is truly distressed because of his failings — precisely then he needs more to revive himself through all of this — and to turn the grief and sighing into joy — for all that grows stronger upon him — the grief and sighing — and seeks to cast upon him sadness and melancholy because of what he has done — he should turn all of it into joy.
And let him say in his heart: on the contrary — even so I merited and even so I do not oppose at all. And even if I am dark in my deeds — I am comely through the deeds of our awesome Rebbe — of blessed and holy memory — and also in my own deeds there are comely ones [אִם שְׁחוֹרָה אֲנִי בְּמַעֲשַׂי נָאוָה אֲנִי בְּמַעֲשֵׂי רַבֵּנוּ — from Shir HaShirim 1:5: Shechorah ani v'navah — "I am dark but comely." The verse of the beloved who acknowledges her darkness — tanned by the sun, dark as the tents of Kedar — while asserting her comeliness: "yet comely as the curtains of Shlomo." Rashi explains: the dark tents are the deeds that are flawed; the comely curtains are the holiness of the Shechinah's dwelling. Reb Nussun applies it as a daily spiritual practice: even one whose own deeds are dark may say — I am comely through the holy deeds and teachings of the Rebbe, and even in my own deeds there is some comeliness. Darkness and beauty coexist in a single breath — the verse does not demand perfection as the condition of beauty] [Shir HaShirim 1:5 — see Rashi there]. And I have already spoken — praise be to G-d — much about this matter on the nearby Shabbosos that have passed. Please, my beloved son — go in this path to revive and gladden your soul at every time — and to turn the grief and sighing precisely into joy — and through this you will still be able to strengthen yourself to engage in Torah and prayer with joy. And to Hashem is salvation — that everything will be turned for good.
And all the sins will be turned to merits — all of it through his merit and his great and very awesome power [וְכָל הָעֲווֹנוֹת יִתְהַפְּכוּ לִזְכֻיּוֹת — all sins transformed into merits through the Rebbe's merit and power. The weight of direct transmission: kasher shamati mipihu hakadosh b'ferush — as I heard from his holy mouth explicitly. Not deduction but a direct statement the Rebbe made in Reb Nussun's personal hearing, preserved here] — as I heard from his holy mouth explicitly. And this suffices for now.
The words of your father — who waits and hopes to revive you and gladden you in the salvation of Hashem — who merited to draw living waters such as these from the springs of salvation [אֲשֶׁר זָכִינוּ לִשְׁאֹב מַיִם חַיִּים כָּאֵלֶּה מִמַּעְיְנֵי הַיְשׁוּעָה — a direct quotation of Yeshayahu 12:3: u'sh'avtem mayim b'sasson mima'ayanei ha'yeshuah — "and you shall draw water in joy from the springs of salvation." This verse is the central verse of the great water-drawing ceremony — Simchas Beis HaSho'evah — on Sukkos, perhaps the single most joyful moment in the entire Temple calendar. The Mishnah (Sukkah 5:1) declares: "whoever has not seen the Simchas Beis HaSho'evah has never seen joy in his life." Reb Nussun's closing signature — "who merited to draw living waters from the springs of salvation" — places the entire act of letter-writing within the framework of Yeshayahu's Messianic vision of supreme joy: the letters themselves are drawn from these very springs].
Nussun of Breslov.
And peace to all our anshei sh'lomaynu with great love — and especially to my friend, my sister's son, the Rabbinic one, our Teacher the Rabbi Yitzchok Ayzik — may his light shine. Be strong and resolute — and trust in Hashem — that He will send you a complete healing speedily. And do not engage in remedies — and even to apply leeches — send them to your enemies and adversaries — and you will receive healing from Hashem from heaven. And strengthen yourself from now to engage in Torah each day — a little or a great deal — in any case let there not pass over you a single day all the days of your life without engagement in Torah. And the essential thing is to study a halachic authority each day without fail — a fixed practice, never to be broken — all the days of your life. And also to increase in prayers and supplications and petitions each day — and to give charity according to your capacity — and a little more than your capacity. And then it will be good for you in this world and the next forever. For the days of our life are vanity — like a passing shadow — and nothing will remain of us except the small good that we snatched in these days of vanity — and it will be a great spoil for us afterwards when our end comes [וְיִהְיֶה לָנוּ לְשָׁלָל גָּדוֹל — the image of the soldier who returns home laden with the spoils of battle: the good deeds snatched from the vanity of days are the plunder carried home as great treasure when the battle ends. The *chatof v'echol* idiom from Eruvin 54a in Letter 86 now expressed as the warrior's *shalal gadol*]. It is good for a person to set all his aspiration only upon this — and to gladden his soul in it all his days — and then his end will be good forever [טוֹב לְגֶבֶר לָשִׂים כָּל מְגַמָּתוֹ רַק עַל זֶה — echoing Eichah 3:27-28: tov lagever ki yissa ol bine'urav — yeshev badad v'yiddom — "it is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth — let him sit in solitude and be still." The counsel of Eichah to the one who suffers: bear the yoke, sit in stillness. Reb Nussun transforms it: the yoke that one bears is the yoke of Torah, prayer, and charity — not the yoke of suffering but the yoke of aspiration. And the megamah — aspiration, direction — is set entirely upon this single worthy goal. The solitude of Eichah's *yeshev badad* becomes the focused inner life of the person who has set all his megamah upon Torah and prayer].
Nussun as above.
Overview: Parshas Pekudei, Monday. *Shechorah ani v'navah* (Shir HaShirim 1:5) with Rashi — darkness and beauty in one breath. *Kol ha'avonos yithapchu lizchuyos* — heard from the Rebbe's holy mouth explicitly. The closing signature is now identified as Yeshayahu 12:3 — *ushavtem mayim b'sasson mima'ayanei ha'yeshuah* — the verse of *Simchas Beis HaSho'evah*, the most joyful moment in the Temple calendar. Letter-writing itself placed within the framework of Messianic joy. *Tov lagever* (Eichah 3:27-28) with its fuller context: *yeshev badad v'yiddom* — bear the yoke, sit in stillness — the counsel of Eichah transformed into the counsel of focused aspiration toward Torah and prayer.