Your letter I received now — together with the fascicles — and I sent to call the young men to send you more. And on Monday — it seems to me — I received no letter — only two gold coins and the small watch. And behold — I am now somewhat weak [חָלוּשׁ קְצָת — 10 Tevet: the fast of the siege of Yerushalayim by Nevuchadnezzar, one of the four communal fast days. Reb Nussun is weak — both from illness and from the fast. The next letter (129) will reveal that this is a serious physical episode: praying while lying down, barely able to walk, confined to bed until evening] — and all day I have been lying in my bed — and even prayed thus. May Hashem Yisborach support me speedily for the sake of His great Name, Yisborach. And from yourself you will understand that I have no strength to extend at all. And if Hashem wills — when Rabbi Yaakov comes home — he may be able to hear from him good words.

And praised be G-d — yesterday on Shabbos we spoke much about the matter of counsel — that every person needs much counsel to save their soul [שֶׁכָּל אָדָם צָרִיךְ עֵצוֹת הַרְבֵּה לְהַצִּיל נַפְשׁוֹ — the *etzah* — counsel — as the primary spiritual instrument for self-rescue. The teaching that one's soul is always in need of multiple and varied counsels: no single fixed path suffices; the spiritual life requires continual recourse to the guidance of the Rebbe's teachings] and so forth. And I repeated the Torah of the joy of Rabbi Shimon [חָזַרְתִּי הַתּוֹרָה חֲדִי רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן — the Torah of the joy of Rabbi Shimon: a specific teaching of Rebbe Nachman in which Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's joy is explored as a model and source. The word chadi is Aramaic for "the joy of" — echoing the Zoharic language of Rashbi's circle. Rabbi Shimon's ongoing joy even in the hardest circumstances is a paradigm for the Breslov approach to serving Hashem through joy despite difficulty] — and we spoke wondrous and novel insights. But who knows if he will be able to say them to you as befitting.