יב.

To the honor of the delight of my eyes — my very self and my flesh — Mr.

Shne'ur Zalman Shazar, who draws himself to the Tzadik — who is the heart of the world — and who has sharpened his ears to hear the most awesome and wondrous song and melody from all the ten kinds of melody of the true Tzadik. Through which he burns and blazes and consumes the root of the filth of the falsehood of heresy and false faiths. And through this heals the King's Daughter — who is the collective of the souls of Israel.

The King Moshiach will play this melody in the future — and through it he will reveal to all eyes His G-dliness and His kingship and His dominion. And he will repair the entire world and bring all of them close to Hashem Yisburach and His Torah.

Our entire repair is only through the great Tzadik — the one and only wonder — who is able to descend, etc., as mentioned above. And if the entire world were to nullify themselves before him in perfection — then everything would already be entirely repaired. But not only — to our sorrow — are they not nullifying themselves before him; rather, on the contrary, they dispute against the Tzadik. And they speak insults and blasphemies and mockery and slander and falsehoods against the Tzadik and the truly worthy ones — until the truth is cast to the ground. And through this all the corruptions of the world are caused — and from this is the essential prolonging of the exile. And now all our hope is that everything will be repaired through our righteous Moshiach — who will reveal the light of the true Tzadik in the world. And through this everything will be repaired — and the dispute will be nullified — and there will be a wondrous peace in the world.

Who can express the heroic deeds of Hashem and His immense wonders — that He performed with us and with all Israel — that we have merited that you were chosen as the President of Israel through the salvation of Hashem and His kindnesses.

I greatly exult in the heroic deeds of Hashem, in His immense wonders — that He performed with all Israel: that you were chosen through the merit and power of the Tzadik — after several years — to invest all… that you have merited to recognize and to see and to recognize and to cleave to the true Tzadik — the new light, who has revealed new awesome and wondrous lights beyond all reckoning — to teach true knowledge to every person in the world! May Hashem so continue His kindness — to save you forever.

See and behold — how greatly Hashem Yisburach has performed His great kindness with you: that you gave your soul and invested all your mind and your heart — to recognize and to cleave to the true, holy and awesome Tzadik — the new light, who reveals wondrous and awesome novelties beyond all reckoning — the like of which have never been heard before — to give us life through them, even in the very ultimate complete darkness of these latter days. When Israel now strays greatly in the errors of all those who have turned back from Hashem Yisburach — after the vanity of heresies and false faiths. See — only to receive the honor, and to elevate it to the King of Honor — to Hashem of Hosts, Who is the King of Honor. It is impossible to express all that is in my heart in this matter. And all of this so that you should be able to bring to fruition your powerful longing — to make known and to publicize in the world. Now, now the time has arrived that you can… that we are in his affairs and the very ultimate ultimate of our lowliness — in which we have wondrously descended beyond all measure.

You do not know, my dear beloved brother — to what extent this awesome kindness reaches — that we have merited that every single word……

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

May Hashem strengthen your heart and magnify your daas — to think and to long to have mercy upon Israel with true mercy, to illuminate their eyes with the light of the true Tzadik. For we need salvation and very, very abundant mercy — that we merit to go out from the depths of the sea that spreads in these generations — at the end of this last exile. For which you have merited — having been chosen after several years.

[This letter opens mid-sentence in the source text.]

…Who has compassion upon himself and has begun to sprout good — and who has given his soul and invested all his mind and his heart to cleave himself to the true Tzadik, who labors to return the entire world to good, and draws down a wondrous peace in the world — even if the nations of the world have erred.

Who labors to draw down a great peace — even with the nations of the world — so that they return and transform themselves by their own will to the faith of Israel, and subjugate themselves to us — and we will rule over them.

Who labors always to return the entire world to good — even the heretics and the utter unbelievers and even the nations of the world — until they all transform themselves to the faith of Israel.

…Who draws down a great and wondrous peace in the world — even with the nations of the world — until… so that they all return to the faith of Israel and subjugate themselves to us of their own will. For through this — and through the increase of peace — we will rule over them of their own will.

Who always labors to return the entire world to good — for he draws down a very great peace in the world — even with the nations of the world — until through the increase of peace they will all transform themselves to the faith of Israel and subjugate themselves to us — and we will rule over them of their own will.

Who is able to bind and to draw all the world to Hashem Yisburach — even those most utterly distant from holiness — who labors…

For he draws down a wondrous peace in the world — even with the nations of the world — until through the increase of peace they all transform themselves of their own will to the faith of Israel, etc.

[This letter opens mid-sentence in the source text.]

…Who has inclined his heart to heed the voice of Hashem — Who calls to him with a great voice every day — to flee to the true Tzadik, who is able to repair everything and to return him to the ancient path upon which his holy forefathers walked. Through which His G-dliness will be revealed in the world — and this is the essential revelation of the truth — to open their eyes to see the light of the new lights, who will reveal awesome and wondrous novelties beyond all reckoning [alternate version: without limit] — who has revealed new awesome and wondrous lights beyond all reckoning.

Israel Dov Odesser