You have already heard our sorrow — and your sorrow certainly you yourselves are hearing — but also to tell you of the wonders of the expansions that Hashem Yisborach expands with us — and especially with me — in those days within the distress itself — it is impossible to explain or tell — even what I see with my own eyes — let alone the hidden things. For certainly the intention of Hashem Yisborach is for great good and wondrous salvation. And the essential purpose is to rouse and awaken us and all the world to rise in the morning — as it is said in the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayyim, section 1): rise like a lion in the morning — so that he himself rouses the dawn [יִתְגַּבֵּר כַּאֲרִי לַעֲמֹד בַּבֹּקֶר — Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayyim 1:1: the very first ruling of the Shulchan Aruch — *yitgabeir ka'ari la'amod baboker laavodas Bore* — "let a person strengthen himself like a lion to rise in the morning to serve his Creator." And the addition: *sheyihei hu me'oreir hashachar* — so that he himself rouses the dawn — not waiting passively for the morning to arrive but actively bringing it. Reb Nussun refers to his own teaching on this ruling in *Likutay Halacahos*, Orach Chayyim, Hashkamat Haboker 1 — a beautiful and profound essay on rising before dawn as a spiritual act] [Shulchan Aruch OC 1; Likutay Halacahos OC Hashkamat Haboker 1] — as explained in my work there — a beautiful and very fine essay — that the essential intention is to go with the path of *azamra l'Elokai b'odi* — I will sing to my G-d while I yet have being [אֲזַמְּרָה לֵאלֹקַי בְּעוֹדִי — Tehillim 146:2: "I will sing praise to my G-d while I yet have being." The verse of praise directed toward Hashem while life and *being* still remain — the active assertion of divine song as long as the *od* — the still — endures] [Tehillim 146:2] and so forth. And this Shabbos we spoke greatly from the Torah *b'tzar hirchavta li* [בַּצָּר הִרְחַבְתָּ לִי — Tehillim 4:2 / Likutay Moharan I:195: "in the constriction You have expanded me." The Rebbe's teaching on the paradox of the divine *harchavah* — expansion — found specifically *within* the *tzar* — the constriction and distress — not after it or beside it but inside it. This is the entire *inyan* of Chanukah: the miracle of light found within the deepest darkness, the expansion occurring from within the constriction itself] [Tehillim 4:2; Likutay Moharan I:195] — which is the entire matter of Chanukah — and it was very relevant to all that is happening with us now. And our eyes await at every time to emerge from the distress entirely into great expansion — and may our enemies see and be ashamed. And because the bearer of this letter is urgent — as he will tell you — it is impossible to extend at all.

The words of your father — who greatly rejoices and is very glad — especially at every time of distress and oppression — may the Merciful One preserve us — over the great and awesome and boundless kindness that Hashem Yisborach did with me and with all Israel — to bring us close to such a holy and awesome light — and it is impossible to speak of this — for it is for each one according to what he estimates in his heart [כָּל חַד כְּפוּם מַה דִּמְשַׁעֵר בְּלִבֵּהּ — the Zoharic Aramaic phrase of graduated reception — already identified in Letter 157 — repeated here in the Chanukah context: the secret of Chanukah cannot be spoken — for each person can only receive it according to the capacity of his own heart; and what Reb Nussun's soul knows of the Chanukah secret — *nafshi yoda'as me'od* — exceeds what can be transmitted in words] . And now it is Chanukah — who knows where the secret of Chanukah reaches — as my soul knows very much — with the help of Hashem Yisborach — to reveal to those above and so forth and to those below and so forth and so forth. And it is impossible to extend at all now.