Ullim LeTroofah – Letter Eighteen | Reb Nussun: Consolation and Sixty-Two Prayers

Ullim LeTroofah

עלים לתרופה

Leaves for Healing

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

LETTER EIGHTEEN

Monday, Parshas Terumah, 3rd of Adar Aleph · Year 5584 (1824)
Written from Breslov

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

To May the mountains bear peace [Tehillim 72:3] — to the honor of my beloved son, the friend of my soul — he who is the veteran and outstanding scholar — our Teacher the Rabbi Yitzchok — may his light shine and radiate.

Editor's Note Reb Nussun refers here to a previous letter he wrote on Friday of Parshas Yisro — upon first hearing of some trouble that had befallen his son. That letter is not preserved in this collection. The present letter is his second response to the same situation.

I already wrote to you on Friday of Parshas Yisro — when I had already heard of what had passed over you — and that you should see to come here immediately without delay. And at present, my son, the delight of my eyes, the friend of my soul — I ask of you that you give no thought to this at all — and remove from your mind all worries and black melancholy. Only strengthen your soul in Hashem Yisborach. Hope to Hashem and He will save you [cf. Tehillim 27:14] — for we have no one to lean upon except His abundant mercies. And you already know a little that this world is full of sufferings, and all its days are anger and pain. And there is no place to flee from it — except to Hashem Yisborach and to the Torah that gladdens the heart and restores the soul [cf. Tehillim 19:8]. And beyond this it is impossible to elaborate, as I am in an open field — and salvation belongs to Hashem.

Printing Progress — Likutay Teffilos Know, my son, that thank G-d we are engaged in the printing. And blessed be Hashem — by His great help, sixty-two prayers are already completed. May Hashem complete it for us for good — that we merit to complete everything according to His will, may He be blessed, and according to the will of our holy Master, may the memory of the righteous one be for a blessing. And beyond this there is no free time to elaborate.

Behold — thus speak the words of your father, who longs to see you speedily.

The utterance of the lowly Nussun, son of our Teacher the Rabbi Naftali Hirtz — may his light shine and radiate.

✦ Letters of the Year 5585 ✦

Overview: This brief letter is a second wave of consolation after an unspecified trouble that had befallen Reb Nussun's son Yitzchok — the first letter (written on Friday of Parshas Yisro, not preserved) having already urged him to come home to Breslov. The present letter, written three weeks later on Parshas Terumah, repeats the call while delivering its essential teaching in one sentence: there is nowhere to flee from the sufferings of this world except to Hashem and to the Torah that gladdens the heart and restores the soul. The printing update — 62 prayers now complete — continues the running chronicle of Likutay Teffilos across Letters 15–18.

Key Themes

No Place to Flee — Except "There is no place to flee from this world — except to Hashem Yisborach and to the Torah." This one sentence is the theological core of the letter. Reb Nussun does not promise his son that the trouble will pass, or that things will be better. He says: suffering is the nature of this world. The only refuge is G-d and Torah. This is not pessimism — it is the foundation of Breslov faith.

The Torah That Gladdens The phrase — "the Torah that gladdens the heart and restores the soul" — draws on Tehillim 19:8: toras Hashem temimah meshivas nafesh. Reb Nussun lifts this verse from its Psalms context and applies it as a direct therapeutic teaching: Torah is the specific antidote to the suffering of this world because it gladdens and restores simultaneously.

Written in an Open Field The phrase "on the face of the open field" — al p'nay hasadeh — appears twice in this letter series (also in Letter 10 on the Lost Princess). It is a rabbinic idiom for writing under conditions not suited for extended composition — on a journey, or without proper quiet. Even so, every word Reb Nussun writes carries weight.

The Utterance of the Lowly Nussun The signature in Line 196 uses the word ne'um (utterance / declaration) — a Biblical term used for prophetic speech, as in ne'um Hashem (the utterance of Hashem). Reb Nussun applies it to himself with the qualifier ha'katan (the lowly) — the juxtaposition is characteristically Breslov: soaring language, total humility.

The Printing Chronicle — Letters 15 to 18

Across four consecutive letters spanning Kislev to Adar Aleph 5584, we can track the printing of Likutay Teffilos in real time: printing began (Letter 15, Kislev); five signatures complete, sixth under way (Letter 16, Teves 7); Prayer 55 reached, press halted for lack of ink oil (Letter 17, Shevat 8); sixty-two prayers complete (Letter 18, Adar Aleph 3). This is an unprecedented documentary record of the physical creation of a foundational Breslov text.