Your letter I received today — and I was greatly pleased. And also in Hayisin [הַיְיסִין — one of Reb Nussun's stops on the journey from Breslov. His receiving Yitzchok's letter there caused him to alter his route and not travel through a certain village] I received your letter — and because of this I refrained from traveling through the village. And now I do not know how the matter will fall — and may Hashem the Good act and complete everything for good — as He wills and as the will of the true righteous ones — may their merit shield us.
And according to your letter — you will be here soon — therefore there is nothing to extend — for the time of Minchah has arrived. Blessed is Hashem who arranged for me the bearer of this letter — which is what I was waiting for — two days — to write you a letter. Also the letter from Petersburg I received — and it was a comfort to me. And about all of it we will speak face to face — if Hashem wills. And in all of them one sees what is happening in the world each day — and how it is impossible to live any kind of life in the world — except through the holy words of our Master, our Teacher and Rebbe — of blessed and holy memory — for only from him flows the aspect of the holiness of the salt that sweetens the world's bitterness [קְדֻשַּׁת הַמִּלְחָא הַמַּמְתִּיק מְרִירוּתָא דְּעָלְמָא — the Aramaic of the *bris melach olam* teaching (Letter 133, Bamidbar 18:19): the holiness of the salt that sweetens the world's bitterness. Here it is expressed in Aramaic — *milcha d'mamtik m'rirutas d'alma* — the sweetening-salt of the world's bitterness. And here the source is made even more explicit: this quality flows *only* from the Rebbe himself. Not from any other teaching or path — but specifically and exclusively from him. The Rebbe is the unique salt-source of the world's sweetening] — without which it would be impossible to live and exist at all. How fortunate are we — that we merit at any rate to know — from our very vitality — who revives us and all the worlds [אַשְׁרֵינוּ שֶׁאָנוּ זוֹכִים עַל כָּל פָּנִים לֵידַע מֵחַיּוּתֵנוּ מִי מְחַיֶּה אוֹתָנוּ — the knowing of *who revives us* from within the vitality itself: not an abstract theological proposition but an experiential recognition arising from the life one is living. We know from within our own vitality — from the fact that we are alive and sustained — who is the source of that vitality. Most of the world does not merit this] — which most of the world does not merit.
The words of your father — who awaits seeing you soon — in life and peace and joy.
Nussun of Breslov.
Overview: Monday. Brief letter — messenger available, Minchah approaching. Received Yitzchok's letter in Hayisin, which altered Reb Nussun's route. Letter from Petersburg received. The central teaching: *kedushas hamilcha hammatik m'rirutas d'alma* — the holiness of the salt that sweetens the world's bitterness — flows *only* from the Rebbe. Without it, existence would be impossible. *Ashrenu she'anu zokhim leda'at mei'chayyuseynu mi m'chayyeh osanu* — how fortunate that we know from within our own vitality who revives us.