ז.

BH 27 Nissan 718 (Thursday 17 April, 1958) To a delightful man, Mr.

Z. Shazar , greatings ("abundant peace"). On chol hamoed

(-intermediate days of) Passover I wrote to his honor a receipt for his letter with the check of one hundred liras, and behold it is not possible to describe the great exquisite delight that he caused me to have from this wondrous matter, because I came to extra recognition in the matter of his pleasant, noble soul. I applied my heart, and I learned from this many good lessons of allusions, arousal, and encouragement, which are extremely urgent for the exalted and fundamental matter of drawing close to the light of the

daas (realization of knowledge), the new and old, of the true tzadik who is the Rebbe and leader of us and of all the Children of Israel for eternal generations. And now I am honored with this, to delight his good and expansive soul with good delicacies which I am about to publish ("bring to light") with the help of Hashem Yisburach.

Our teacher, the rav , Rabbi Nussun za.tza.l . once said to his disciples, "I will tell over to you my dream.

I saw Ad.m.ur . (Our Master, Leader, and Rebbe ), who came to me with one other person, and I told over to him ("before him") complainingly everything that transpired over me, and Ad.m.ur

. said to me in these words, 'Dee <you> hust <did> ubber <however> mit <with> diyneh <your>

sfurim <books> git gemacht <(you) did good>.' And this one who was with him nodded his head and agreed to this, and he said with these words, 'Yu yu <yes yes>, zayer <very> git <good> gemacht <(you) did>.' And I asked

Ad.m.ur ., 'Who is this?' And he replied, 'This is Moshe Rabbainu (-Moses) r.i.p.." Also it is known that Rabbainu Hakadosh (-Our holy Rebbe ) rested his hands upon him (-ordained him), and said of him that he (Rabbi Nussun) knows of him ( Rabbainu ) more than everyone. In the beginning of Rabbi Nussun's o.b.m . drawing close to him, he (Rabbi Nachman) said then, "There came to me an avraich

Whoever wishes to walk in the path of truth and has compassion upon his truly true life — he must strengthen himself with all his strength to guard himself very greatly from the falsehood and the filth that roam the world. And to be very strong and courageous and a very great warrior — not to surrender himself before the preventers — to stand against those who prevent one from drawing close to the Tzadik. Especially against the arrogant ones — who are the aspect of Haman — who are the wise ones in their own eyes, who wish to distance us from the true Tzadik.

One must be a very great warrior and very strong against all the preventers — and a very great warrior to stand against those who prevent one from drawing close to the Tzadik. And especially not to surrender oneself before the arrogant ones — who are the aspect of Haman — who wish to distance from the Tzadik. As it is written: "And Mordechai did not bow and did not prostrate himself" [Esther 3:2].

(-young married man, usually insinuating one engaged in Torah study), and through him there will not be lost even my small talk." And so it was, because just he engaged in publicizing his holy Torah (-teachings) to draw close through this many people to Hashem Yisburach, and through this the

Samech Mem (-Satan) stood up against him, and made a controversy upon him through the Rav of Savrun

who became his attacker and great hater to (-threaten/harass/endanger) his very life, but in the very end (Proverbs 12:19), "Language of truth is set firm forever," and the storm wind ceases and is lost, and is only great in its hour. The main protraction of the exile, and the main obstruction of the redemption is just through strife (See Likutay

Aitzos , Peace #4), because in every generation there exist people that tunnel (-strive, even in the most underhand way) to distance the heart of the Children of Israel from the true tzadik , and through this were brought about succeedingly all the destructions (-of the Temples), and the entire protraction of the present exile.

However, even still (Psalms 92:9), "You are exalted forever Hashem," because also, likewise, there exist in every single generation true tzadikim and kosher (-proper) people who join up to the great chosen (/choice, prized)

tzadik and go out joyously to great him, and listen to his counsel, and through this the redemption will come. He who desires to save his soul from the fire of strife, that is, not to take part in strife Heaven forbid, his main salvation is through truth. In every single generation it is necessary to prowl, and to seek, and to search very very much, with all our strength, with all types of searching, with self sacrifice , for the true tzadik , until we merit to find him, and to draw close to him, and then we will merit to complete faith ("

emoonu shlaimu "), through which the redemption will be brought (See Likutay Moharan, Torah 7). Fortunate is he who merits this, fortunate is he who awaits this, fortunate is he who spends all his days yearning, craving, and longing for this. To be continued soon. Wishes of well-being to him and his household and those associated with him, and with feelings of absolute true love which is not contingent on any temporal matter. Yisroel Dov Odesser

- Tiberius [Letter 17 breaks off here in the source text.]

Israel Dov Odesser