Ullim LeTroofah – Letter Fifty-Eight | Reb Nussun: The Great Day Approaches

Ullim LeTroofah

עלים לתרופה

Leaves for Healing

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

The Last Letter of the Year 5591

LETTER FIFTY-EIGHT

Blessed be Hashem · Friday, Eve of the Holy Shabbos · Year 5591 (1831) [Erev Rosh Hashanah — the date "eve of the holy Shabbos" in year 5591 corresponds to Erev Rosh Hashanah, since Rosh Hashanah 5592 fell on Shabbos]
Written from Uman [implied from context — Reb Nussun had travelled to Uman for Rosh Hashanah]

To My beloved son, our Teacher the Rabbi Yitzchok — may his light shine.

Your letter I received — at this very hour. And there is no leisure at all to reply to it as is proper. May Hashem Yisborach strengthen your heart and arouse you on the great and awesome day that comes toward us in peace [הַבָּא לִקְרָאתֵנוּ לְשָׁלוֹם — a liturgical phrase from the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur machzor: the formula by which the Yomim Noraim are described as "coming toward us in peace" and for good. It carries the full weight of the High Holiday liturgical register. Written on Erev Rosh Hashanah, the phrase is the complete seasonal frame compressed into five words] — one day in the year [יוֹם אֶחָד בַּשָּׁנָה — Rosh Hashanah, the one day of the year uniquely set aside for arousal, renewal and return before the divine throne] — that you merit to accept upon yourself to be renewed from now, each day, for good.

And do not lose a single day without hisbodidus — and think of your purpose each day — and snatch each day much Torah and prayer and good deeds — as much as you can snatch and seize and take by force [לַחֲטֹף וְלַעֲשֹׁק וְלִגְזֹל — three verbs of urgent seizure, escalating in force: to snatch, to squeeze out, and to take by force. Together they paint a picture of someone grabbing goods that will soon be taken away] from this passing shadow — from this vanity of vanities — from this passing cloud [מֵהַצֵּל הָעוֹבֵר — the passing shadow [cf. Tehillim 144:4]; מֵהֲבֵל הֲבָלִים — vanity of vanities [Koheles 1:2]; מֵעָנָן כָּלֶה — the cloud that dissipates [Iyov 7:9]: three images of life's fleetingness drawn from three different books of scripture in a single breath] and so forth. Remember well that all our days are vanity — and one can snatch from them eternal life — every person at whatever level he stands. More than this there is no time now.

The words of your father — who seeks your peace with love and intercedes on your behalf.

Nussun of Breslov.

✦ End of the Letters of the Year 5591 ✦
The letters of the Year 5592 follow

Overview: The last letter of the year 5591 — written on Erev Rosh Hashanah, in the final minutes before the New Year. The opening phrase — haba likrasaynu l'shalom — is a direct quotation from the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur machzor, the full liturgical formula for the approach of the Yomim Noraim, compressed into five words. The entire letter is a single concentrated teaching: snatch, seize, take by force — from this passing shadow, this vanity of vanities, this dissipating cloud — three images of fleetingness from three different books of scripture. All our days are vanity — and from within them, eternal life. The year 5591 ends on this word.

Key Themes

Haba Likrasaynu L'shalom — The Machzor Phrase The description of the great day as "coming toward us in peace" is a direct quotation from the High Holiday liturgy — the formula by which the Yomim Noraim are described in the machzor. On Erev Rosh Hashanah, these five words invoke the full weight of the season in an instant.

Three Verbs — Snatch, Seize, Take by Force Chatof, ashok, gazol — an escalating sequence conveying that Torah, prayer and good deeds must be seized with the urgency of someone grabbing goods about to be taken away. Nothing is secure; every moment can be lost. Grab it now.

Three Images of Fleetingness The passing shadow (Tehillim), the vanity of vanities (Koheles), the dissipating cloud (Iyov) — three biblical books, three images, one breath. As if the whole of sacred literature converges on a single point: time is passing.

Eternal Life from Vanity All our days are vanity — and from within those very days one can snatch eternal life. The fleeting moment, seized and consecrated, becomes eternal. This is the last word of the year 5591.