I was very displeased with you — for all of last week I did not see your handwriting at all, and even before that you did not write me a proper reply as is your way. I did not know what this was or why — and how can you draw so many distractions upon yourself, to the point that you have no time all week even to write me a letter? And my insides churned within me over this [מֵעַי הָמוּ לִי — me'ai hamu li: a biblical phrase of intense visceral anguish, drawn from Shir HaShirim 5:4 — "my insides churned for him" — and from the prophetic books where it expresses the prophet's overwhelming inward agitation. Reb Nussun reaches for this register to convey that the silence is not merely inconvenient but genuinely alarming] — thinking thoughts of who knows what is happening there. And the main source of my anguish is that I understand from this that you are not persevering amid the distraction at the doors of Torah and prayer as I have taught you.

And until when — until when — will your distraction be so very, very hard? And I have already warned you greatly that it is, G-d forbid, forbidden to push off to tomorrow — for the main thing is to snatch each and every day what one can of good — and I have already spoken with you and written to you very, very much about this. And how could you not snatch one hour to write me a letter as is proper?

Now see to reply to me at once as is proper — and then I will see to write you at greater length with the help of Hashem Yisborach. More than this there is no need to extend — for the time of the Shacharis prayer has arrived.