Ullim LeTroofah – Letter Twelve | Reb Nussun's Prescription

Ullim LeTroofah

עלים לתרופה

Leaves for Healing

The Sacred Letters of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov and Reb Nussun of Breslov, of blessed memory

LETTER TWELVE

Date unknown — the specific date and day were missing from the manuscript copy

With the help of G-d, may He be blessed

Copyist's Note The copyist states: the specific date and day were missing from the source — and what I found I have copied.

To The honor of my dear veteran friend, and so forth — Rabbi Naftali — may his light shine and radiate.

He informed me of the news that he is troubled with his eyes — and I will see to praying for him. And from this you shall see and understand how greatly one must distance oneself from doctors. And I have already prepared a rutzsept (prescription) to send to him. And the general principle of the prescription is:

℞ — The Prescription

That he should take no remedy whatsoever.
That he should take no remedy whatsoever.
That he should take no remedy whatsoever — and so forth, and so forth.

Also — that he should specifically go to the mikveh (ritual bath), and so forth.
May Hashem Yisborach have mercy on him and send him a refuah shleimah (complete healing) speedily from the Heavens.

From my son Yitzchok, may he live, I have still received no letter at all — and I await hearing good from him. Apart from this there is nothing new to report.

Nussun, as above.

Postscript — News from Now; On Wealth and Trust

I will also inform you of news from now. Know that there is a G-d Who rules in the earth, in the heavens above and on the earth below — He lives forever and endures for eternity, may His Name be praised forever. And silver and gold — it is all vanity. And even though most of the world are citizens of the country of wealth — who mock conversations such as these (see Sipuray Maasiyos, Story 12) — the choice is in their hands to bend their shoulders to the yoke of Gehinnom in this world, as they have chosen for themselves — apart from what will be on the Day of Judgment. And in the end they will return to us, but we will not return to them. And King David, peace be upon him, has already said [Tehillim 49]: Fear not when a man grows rich — and so forth. And if they mock even this — let their mouths be filled with gravel. One who trusts in his wealth is a broken reed to lean upon. These with chariots and these with horses — but we, in the Name of Hashem our G-d, we call out [Tehillim 20:8]. For there is no refuge from the afflictions of the world — which fill every house — except to Hashem Yisborach and to the Torah alone. As we have already extended our conversation on this at great length — and still we must return and speak of it every single day.

And the principle is that [Iyov 5:7]: Man is born to toil — happy is the one whose toil is in Torah. And what you wrote — fort hop (only joy — in Yiddish) — is truth and righteousness, established and correct and enduring. Happy are you if you hold fast to this.

Overview: This short but densely packed letter continues directly from the theme of Letter 11 — Rabbi Naftali's eye trouble and the absolute prohibition on seeking doctors — but adds two remarkable elements: the famous three-clause prescription, one of the most quoted passages in all of Reb Nussun's letters, and a thunderous postscript on the vanity of wealth and the sufficiency of Torah and trust in G-d. The closing Yiddish phrase — fort hop — is a flash of intimacy in an otherwise serious letter.

Key Themes

The Three-Clause Prescription The repetition of the identical clause three times — "take no remedy whatsoever" — is not humour, though it reads with dry wit. It is a deliberate rhetorical device: the triple repetition is the Breslov signal of absolute necessity. Reb Nussun is saying: there are no exceptions, no situations where this does not apply, no category that escapes this rule.

The Mikveh as Remedy The sole positive prescription — immersion in the mikveh — points to the Breslov understanding that true healing comes through spiritual purification, not physical intervention. The mikveh is the counter-prescription to the doctor's prescription.

Citizens of the Country of Wealth The phrase — borrowed from Sipuray Maasiyos Story 12 (The Humble King) — identifies the mockers of spiritual talk as inhabitants of a specific spiritual territory. They are not simply wrong: they have chosen a country, a citizenship, an identity built on the supremacy of money. Reb Nussun treats this as a metaphysical category, not merely a character flaw.

Fort Hop — Only Joy The closing Yiddish phrase is a window into the living speech of Breslov Chassidus. Rabbi Naftali had apparently written the Yiddish words fort hop (roughly: "just — joy") in his letter, and Reb Nussun affirms it with full force: truth, righteousness, established, correct, and enduring. The simplest expression carries the whole weight of the path.

Note on the Missing Date

The copyist's note (Line 140) explains that the specific date and day of the week were absent from the source manuscript he was copying from — so he preserved what he found and recorded none. Given the content — a direct continuation of the eye-trouble theme from Letter 11 (Kislev 5583) — this letter was almost certainly written in close proximity to that date, likely in the winter of 5583.