Siman 136

(8.) At the time he traveled to the Land of Israel, at the beginning of his journey from his home, he spent the Sabbath in the village of Skalyeh. And there he saw the famous tzaddik, our teacher the Rav Menachem Mendl of Vitebsk. And he revealed to him that the Name "Atah" [You] is an effective segulah on the sea, as it is brought in his book [Torah 256] — for it is written [Psalms 89]: "When its waves rise, You still them." And there is more to tell about this that I heard in his name, but I do not now remember it, and one needs to inquire of our people who heard from Rabbi Shimon about this. (Said the transcriber: I heard from one man who heard from Rabbi Shimon that the explanation is thus — that Atah [You] stands for the letters Alef, Tav, Heh. Therefore one must write five notes, called kvitlach [slips], and on each note write the two words v'rav chesed — whose numerical value is two hundred and eighty, and five times two hundred and eighty equals one thousand four hundred, which equals Alef-Tav — for v'rav chesed equals two hundred and eighty, and five times two hundred and eighty equals one thousand four hundred. And the five notes are the Heh. And this is the name Atah. And at the time of a storm at sea, G-d forbid, one should throw the five notes with v'rav chesed written on them into the sea, and it will certainly help. And Rabbi Shimon said that he himself made use of this and it helped him greatly. And before he traveled the second time to the Land of Israel he was here in Breslov and went to the scribe and had him write several such notes on parchment in Ashuri script.)