Your letter I received last week. And now I fear lest my friend Rabbi Chaim precede [depart as messenger] and leave at once — therefore I am writing in haste in the middle of prayer, before Ashrai and U'va L'Tzion [i.e., mid-Shacharis, between the Psukay D'Zimrah and the final prayers — Reb Nussun interrupts his own davening to write] — and I do not know at all what to write to you.
And behold — no doubt you have already heard that the light of our eyes, the beloved — Rabbi Avraham Beer, son of Adl — may he live — has been ill for more than a week. And blessed be Hashem he has had a turn for the better. May Hashem support him so that he returns to his full strength in completeness speedily. And from yourself you can understand the greatness of the anguish we had — therefore I was unable to seek out a passerby last week to write you anything.
The nekretin [הַנֶּעקְרֶעטִין — from the Russian rekrut/recruiter: the agents of the Czarist government charged with conscripting Jewish boys into the Imperial Army, often for terms of twenty-five years beginning in childhood. This was the Cantonist decree — one of the most devastating decrees ever to fall upon Russian Jewry. The bracketed gloss in the original Hebrew text reads: "those appointed over the conscription of the children of Israel into the army"] from Nemrov conscripted eight [boys] — and one soldier remained. [וְנִשְׁאָר חַיָּל אֶחָד — the plain Hebrew says simply "one soldier remained." Whether this means one boy still at risk, one quota-slot yet unfilled, or some other unresolved aspect of the decree, Reb Nussun leaves unstated — the horror speaks without elaboration] May Hashem Yisborach have mercy on His people quickly. Bitter and most bitter — woe and alas — to speak and write of this. May the Omnipresent have mercy on the remnant of His people Israel.
And may He place in each person's heart to look well upon himself — what is happening in the world: troubles heaped upon troubles in quick succession — and he still dances among them [going about ordinary life as if unmoved, oblivious to the spiritual urgency pressing on every side] — it does not let us settle our spirit [לֹא יִתְּנֵנוּ — "it does not let us": the subject shifts here from singular to plural — from "him" to "us." Reb Nussun steps inside the very condition he has just described. The relentlessness of affliction does not let any of us — including Reb Nussun himself — compose our minds to think of our end and our future] and compose our mind to think of our end and our future. What shall we say — what shall we speak — what shall we say — what shall we speak [the fourfold repetition is in the original — an expression of wordless anguish echoing the language of Yosef's brothers: what shall we say to my lord, what shall we speak [B'reishis 44:16]].
But — I considered my ways and turned my feet toward Your testimonies [Tehillim 119:59] — we have no one to flee to except to Torah and prayer — on the paths of truth and uprightness which we drew from the wells of salvation. And even now we must console ourselves and gladden our souls with the greatness of the wonders of the salvations — which the Master of Mercy performed for us: to have preceded for us such remedies before these blows [Reb Nussun refers to the Breslov teachings and practices — the segulos and paths of emunah — which were given to the community before these terrible decrees fell. The order of mercy: the remedy first, the blow after]. For were it not for Hashem Who was with us [Tehillim 124:1] — nearly, nearly our hope would have been lost entirely, G-d forbid.
Therefore it is upon us to praise the Master of All and so forth — every day and every time — and to gladden our souls in this — so that through this very thing — specifically [עַל יְדֵי זֶה דַּיְקָא — davka: precisely, specifically through praise. Not that praise is a preliminary to petition — rather, praise is itself the mechanism through which the heart opens and the words of prayer flow as naturally as a child's speech before its father. The davka is the theological point] — we merit to pour out our speech before Him, as a child who beseeches before his father. For He has already drawn us near in His mercy as beloved and precious children — and shown us such treasuries upon treasuries of goodness and preciousness — such wondrous and beloved and awesome segulos [propitious remedies and spiritual treasures].
And receive the letter enclosed here — from our friend Rabbi Aizik of Ladizhin — so that you may see the strength of the longing of our people toward the truth — to come to the Land of Israel and so forth. And I have already written him a fine reply to this. If G-d wills it — if you are in Ladizhin — ask him to show you my letter. And treasure this letter [וְתַצְנִיעַ — hide it carefully, preserve it] — for I have hoped in Hashem that our letters will be precious in the days to come with the help of Hashem Yisborach.
For all of them revolve around the central point of the truth in its truth — to long and to yearn for Hashem and His Torah and the true tzadikim and their holy ways. Happy are we that we merited to this. May Hashem be thus with us — that we merit to complete and to bring our good intention to fruition speedily — so that we not be shamed and so forth — forever and ever. [cf. Tehillim 25:3]
The words of your father — who awaits salvation.
Nussun of Breslov.
Overview: One of the most urgent and wide-ranging letters in the collection — written mid-prayer, in haste, before the messenger departs. Three crises converge: the serious illness of the beloved Rabbi Avraham Beer (son of the tzadekess Adl); the Cantonist conscription decree striking Nemrov, where eight Jewish boys have been taken; and the underlying spiritual crisis of a community that continues its routine while catastrophe surrounds it. Reb Nussun's response is the Breslov response: we have no one to flee to except Torah and prayer — and we must praise Hashem for having given us the remedies before the blows descended. Crucially, the praise is not preliminary to petition — it is, precisely and specifically (davka), the very mechanism through which speech opens like a child before its father. The letter closes with a remarkable postscript: Reb Nussun encloses a letter from Rabbi Aizik of Ladizhin and declares that he hopes their letters will be precious in days to come — for all of them revolve around the single point of truth.