Volume One • Letter 12

Peace and blessing and all good things, forever — to his honor, my friend, my dear, like my very own soul and heart — the distinguished and pious man, [הרה"ח = הרב החסיד — "the revered and pious / the distinguished Chassid." An honorific combining harav (rabbinic dignity) with hachassid (Chassidic piety) — used for a highly regarded layman of great spiritual stature, not necessarily an ordained rabbi but a genuine and serious Chassid.] who yearns for the service of Hashem in truth and for drawing close to the true Tzaddik — which is the very essence of all essentials — our master the Rabbi [מ' הר' = מורינו הרב — "our master the Rabbi." The standard honorific abbreviation placed before the name of a learned and respected man. Morenu (our master / our teacher) + harav (the Rabbi).] Avraham Yakovitch, may his light shine — and our master Rabbi Moshe Aharon, may his light shine.

A Torah Teaching — Likutay Moharan Part II, Torah 2 [The entire first half of this letter is built around Torah 2 of Likutay Moharan Tannina. The author weaves together the biblical verse, the Rebbe's teaching, and its practical applications throughout.] And as brought in Torah [reading] Emor — Torah 2 in Likutay Moharan [בלק"מ = בלקוטי מוהר"ן — "in Likutay Moharan." The standard abbreviation for Rabbi Nachman's collected Torah teachings. Torah 2 of the second volume (Tannina) begins with the verse from Parshas Emor.] — "Say to the priests — speak and speak" [Leviticus 21:1 — the Talmud (Yevamos 114a) reads the doubled language "Emor v'amarta" as: warn the adults regarding the minors] — to warn the great ones regarding the small ones: that the Tzaddik — who is the great luminary — should illuminate and shine upon the prayer [of all Israel collectively], which is in the aspect of the small luminary. [The Rebbe reads the two great luminaries of Genesis 1:16 (great luminary = sun; small luminary = moon) allegorically: the great luminary is the Tzaddik; the small luminary is the prayer of all Israel. The Tzaddik's role is to illuminate prayer — to elevate and activate it — as the sun illuminates the moon.] [And it is the aspect of the Divine Presence — the aspect of the Mishkan in which all Israel has a share] — for there is no power for any single person except Moses to erect it properly — as it says: "And Moses erected the Mishkan." [ויקם משה את המשכן — Exodus 40:18. Only Moses could erect the Tabernacle. The Rebbe reads this as the paradigm for prayer: only the Tzaddik of the generation — the aspect of Moses — can truly erect and elevate prayer to its proper place.] And therefore every person must bind his prayer to the Tzaddik of the generation — the aspect of Moses — [so that he should bring it in and raise it to its proper place, and it should accomplish its proper effect in completeness].

Shmuel Horwitz

And without the Tzaddik — the aspect of Moses — even though all the great Tzaddikim were like Betzalel and all the wise-hearted — and Betzalel was great and holy and was able to combine the letters with which the heavens and earth were created [לצרף אותיות שנבראו בהם שמים וארץ — "to combine / join the letters with which the heavens and earth were created." A reference to the Talmudic teaching (Berachos 55a) that Betzalel knew how to combine the Hebrew letters through which the worlds were created. The letters of the Hebrew alphabet are understood as the building-blocks of creation — the structural code of reality itself. Betzalel had access to these deepest creative powers.] — [and as he made the Mishkan it was counted as if he created the heavens and earth and all that is in them — for within the Mishkan everything was included, and its construction required all the wisdom that went into the creation of the heavens and earth and all that is in them] — And so too were Aharon the Priest and Joshua and all the other Tzaddikim of the Generation of Knowledge — the generation of which the maidservant at the sea saw what Ezekiel did not see — and the generation was the most select [מובחר שבדורות — "the most select / most choice of all generations." מובחר (muvchar) — selected, chosen, the finest specimen — the superlative of excellence among all generations from creation to the present.] of all generations; until the days of the Messiah there will not be a generation like it — And yet — everything lay like a silent stone, [כאבן דומם — "like a silent stone." Two words of utter inertness: אבן (stone) — the most inert of all material things; דומם (silent / inanimate) — completely still, without any inner life or movement. The combined image: all the components of the Mishkan lay completely inert, without any capacity for activation — waiting for Moses to bring them to life.] without any rectification or effect. Only: "And they brought the Mishkan to Moses" — [so too must all prayers and all commandments that one performs, and all one's spiritual movements [וכל התנועות — "and all the spiritual movements / stirrings." Tenu'ot — movements, motions, inner stirrings — all the soul's impulses toward G-d that are not formally categorized as prayer or commandments but are genuine spiritual movements of the heart. These too must be brought to the Tzaddik.] — everything must be brought to Moses] — and then "Moses erected the Mishkan" — for he knows how to raise each individual limb to its corresponding limb. [יודע לאעלא שייפי בשייפי — Aramaic from the Zohar: "he knows how to raise limb by limb to its corresponding limb." Each spiritual element has its specific root and corresponding place in the upper worlds, and Moses alone knows exactly how to raise each one to its precise counterpart.]

In any case — from this one sees with direct, palpable evidence [רואין בחוש — "one sees with direct, palpable evidence / with one's own senses / tangibly." Bechush (בחוש) — through direct sensory perception, like something seen with one's own eyes and felt in one's own body. Not merely "clearly" or "obviously" but with the immediacy and certainty of a physical sensation. The conclusion of the argument is not abstract — it has the force of direct, unavoidable experience.] that everything must come to the Tzaddik to be rectified and brought to its root. And without this — without the Tzaddik, the aspect of Moses — nothing can come to its proper rectification in truth as it should. And therefore, in truth, the soul of the Tzaddik — the aspect of Moses — comes each time, once in several generations, to rectify all the generations that preceded him and to illuminate the generations that follow him. And so it was: Moses our Teacher rectified everything from the day of the creation of the world — and even Reuven and Shimon and Levi and Yehudah, whom Jacob our father, may he rest in peace, worked to rectify — nevertheless, to rectify them at their root in complete rectification — they were compelled to wait for Moses. And he also illuminated all Israel and opened the light of knowledge and gave us the Torah — without which all would have been like animals without knowledge. [Except for certain Tzaddikim in every generation — such as Abraham our father and the other Patriarchs and Tzaddikim who attained and observed the Torah even before its giving — through the greatness of their righteousness and holiness and their toil and exertion (טרחתם ויגיעם — both words: tirchah = persistent trouble willingly accepted; yegi'ah = heavy labor). But from the day Moses gave the Torah and opened the light of knowledge — it became easy for every person (בנקל לכל א') to snatch Torah and commandments and become sanctified and become a person of holiness (אדם דקדושה — the Aramaic genitive: a person fully characterized by holiness).] And in truth — had they not sinned [with the Golden Calf] — it would already have been possible to have a complete rectification for all souls — as in the future era. And afterward — after the destruction of the Temple — and it was literally a destruction of the worlds — the Holy One blessed be He saw that there was no continued existence for the world. And the soul of Moses came in the incarnation of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, may his merit protect us — who rectified the world and all souls from Moses until him — and illuminated the world with the hidden secrets of the Torah. And with the Zohar: "From this they will go out [from exile]" [ובזוהר דא יפקון — "and with the Zohar: da yifkon — 'from this they will go out.'" A celebrated Aramaic phrase from the Zohar (Parshas Naso, in the Ra'aya Mehemna section): "Because of this, Israel will taste from the tree of life — this is the book of the Zohar — and will go out through it from exile." Da (this) = the Zohar; yifkon (they will go out) = emerge from exile. The Zohar itself is the instrument of Israel's ultimate redemption — the hidden Torah is what unlocks the gates of exile. R' Shimon bar Yochai composed the Zohar specifically as the spiritual key to Israel's future liberation.] — and he made a nest for the Divine Presence, and for all the souls that were exiled on account of the Divine Presence — in his book of Tikkunim. And he said: "A generation like this has not existed since the generation of Moses in the wilderness — and until the Messiah there will not be a generation like this." And afterward there came the Tzaddik — the spark of the Messiah — the Arizal — who rectified the entire world and virtually all souls — except for certain ones that were cast away and pushed far away [as brought in Shivchei Ba'al Shem Tov, the story of the frog] — from Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai until his own generation, inclusive. [ועד בכלל — "and until inclusive / right up to and including his own generation." The phrase emphasizes that the Arizal's rectification extended fully through his own contemporaries — not only souls from R' Shimon's era but souls of people alive in his own time were rectified by him.] And he revealed all the graves of the Tzaddikim and the holy sites — and illuminated the world with the writings of the Arizal and Kabbalistic intentions for every commandment and custom — wondrous and wondrous [הפלא ופלא — "wondrous and wondrous / wonder upon wonder." The doubled exclamation: not merely wondrous but doubly, repeatedly so — each new layer of the Arizal's revelation produces renewed astonishment. A formula of superlative wonder taken from biblical and Midrashic usage.] beyond anything that had existed before. And in his days — he was worthy to have been the Messiah — had his disciples stood the test. As brought in the writings of the Arizal. And afterward there came the Ba'al Shem Tov זצ"ל — and rectified all the souls that the Arizal had not rectified — and helped and saved Israel from all the decrees and afflictions of body and soul — and illuminated the world with his Torah and his disciples and his disciples' disciples — and so on: the Tzaddikim, the holy supreme ones, [קדושי עליון — kedoshei elyon — "the holy ones of the Most High / the supremely holy ones." A biblical phrase (Daniel 7:18,27) — those who dwell in the highest holiness, whose sanctity reaches to the heights of heaven. Applied here to the great Chassidic masters in the Ba'al Shem Tov's chain.] may their merit protect us. And afterward there came our master the Rebbe זצ"ל — his grandson — and he completed what the Ba'al Shem Tov זצ"ל had not completed. And he is a new light that illuminates for all the generations until the coming of our righteous Messiah, literally. Just as our master the Rebbe זצ"ל said: from him until the Messiah there will be no novelties — only his way. And also even the Messiah — in the knowledge of our master the Rebbe זצ"ל, who has already prepared everything for him — [שהכין לו כבר הכל — "who has already prepared everything for him." The Rebbe's knowledge (da'at) has already set the groundwork for the Messianic era — so that when the Messiah comes, he will illuminate the world through the Rebbe's already- prepared da'at. The Rebbe is not merely a predecessor but the one who has prepared the entire spiritual infrastructure of the Messianic age.] the knowledge of our master the Rebbe זצ"ל will illuminate in the world — and then each person will arrive at what he will arrive at, according to how each person engages in serving Hashem with the knowledge of our master the Rebbe זצ"ל. And fortunate is he who merits to draw close to him at a time when the darkness is at the height of its power — [בעת תוקף החושך — "at a time when the darkness is at the height of its power / at the peak of its mightiness." Tokef — force, power, might — the same word as in the Rosh Hashana prayer "Unetaneh Tokef" (let us declare the mighty force [of this day's holiness]). The darkness is not merely present — it is at its maximum tokef, its most forceful and powerful moment. Drawing close to the Rebbe in such a time is therefore the greatest possible spiritual achievement.] and toils in his knowledge and his Torah and his matter — to merit through this to observe him and serve Hashem — until he merits what he will merit. May Hashem grant us merit for this. So may it be His will. Amen. Practical Teaching 1 — Prayer as Love and Praise And the essential [practical teaching] is to observe what is written in Torah 2 in Likutay Moharan — "Emor v'amarta" — that prayer is the language of praise and love of Hashem: "You have declared Hashem today — and Hashem has declared you today to be His people." [Deuteronomy 26:17-18] And through this one conquers the evil inclination and the desires and the bad character traits. Practical Teaching 2 — Self-Judgment in Hisbodidus And this too is the matter of judgment — that one judges oneself in hisbodidus about every single matter: how to conduct oneself — but that it should be in the aspect of judgment of mercy — not harsh judgment and cruelty even toward oneself — only the middle pillar, and leaning toward lovingkindness. Practical Teaching 3 — Charity And also one should perform charity — and this is the judgment that one performs upon oneself: that one impoverishes oneself [for it seems to him that he has less when he gives charity — but in truth — on the contrary — he has much greater blessing, even materially, through charity, and so on] — and he enriches the poor person. In this case he conducts himself with judgment and with lovingkindness at the moment of judgment: judgment upon himself — performing charity and reducing his money — and lovingkindness with the poor person — having mercy on him and performing free lovingkindness with him. [חסד חנם — "free lovingkindness / lovingkindness gratis." Chesed chinam — kindness given purely as a gift, with no expectation of return, without any transactional element. The very definition of chesed: giving that does not calculate or expect anything in exchange.] Practical Teaching 4 — Guarding the Covenant And also guarding the covenant — that one guards oneself from all imaginings and contemplation. And when thoughts and imaginings from the past come to him — he should break his desire and not think about this matter at all — only divert his mind to other things. And this is the entire battle of the Jewish person against evil thoughts. And this is the teshuvah of the equivalent weight — which extracts all the holy sparks that he inserted through his blemishes. And this is the essential rectification and guarding of the covenant. Practical Teaching 5 — Uprooting the Sense of Futility And likewise — the essential [need] is to uproot the notion of "it is dry / it is in vain" — which the evil inclination inserts into the heart of a person: that his prayer and his service is for nothing and empty [בחנם וריקם — "for nothing and empty." Two distinct words of futility: בחנם (bechinnam) — for nothing / gratuitously / without cause or result; וריקם (v'reikam) — and empty / void / hollow, producing nothing inside. Together they describe the devastating double sense: not only that the effort produced no result (chinnam) but that it left nothing inside at all (reikam) — no trace, no residue of spiritual gain.] — for after all, he has been serving Hashem and praying for all this time — and still he has not been saved — and the evil inclination with its desires and bad character traits pursues him — and he is completely distant from Hashem. But in truth — nothing is ever in vain. Everything one does of any matter of holiness — and every single word one prays — accomplishes its effect. But it has not yet been completed. And therefore one must increase until: "when the pot is hot it overturns." [See the Torah teaching above.] That is: when the majority of prayers and service of Hashem and commandments accumulate — and the mercies of Hashem are stirred and warmed [ויכמרו רחמיו של השי"ת — "and the mercies of Hashem are stirred and warmed." The verb כמר (komar) means to grow warm, to be kindled, to become heated with emotion — used in Genesis 43:30 when Joseph's mercies "were stirred / warmed" at seeing his brother Benjamin. It describes not merely an intellectual decision to show mercy but an inner warmth — the mercies heating up within G-d until they overflow into action. The accumulated prayers heat G-d's mercies the way a fire heats a pot — until suddenly they boil over into rescue and transformation.] — then one will merit what one will merit. And until one merits in completeness what one needs to merit — one does not recognize at all that one's service has any effect. And nevertheless — there are certain radiant sparklings — which are in the aspect of the birth of the firstborn — that is: the first effect that one sees from what one has accomplished. And then one has strengthening to pray and serve Hashem more and more. Seasonal Teaching — The Spiritual Arc from Pesach through Shavuos And this too is in the aspect of Pesach — the first radiant sparkling — that shows him the closeness of Hashem drawing near from close by. [התקרבות השי"ת שמקרוב — "the closeness of Hashem drawing near from close by / from nearby." Mikarov — "from close by / from nearby." Not merely an abstract sense of closeness but the specific experience of closeness coming from close by — Hashem actively approaching, drawing near to the person. The first Pesach-sparkling is the moment when G-d's nearness becomes palpably felt.] And afterward — the days of the Omer — when one must work by oneself and labor and toil — even if one does not feel holiness — and so on. And afterward — one merits Shavuos — which is already the final outcome of what each person merits — through his own toil and effort in the service of Hashem. So may it be His will. Amen. Joyous Personal News — A Grandson and the Printing Announcement With G-d's help — a male child was born to my son Aharon, may his light shine — may it be for a good sign and fortune. And today was supposed to be the brit milah — but it was postponed because of the baby's health. May it be the will [of Hashem] that we merit next week to perform the brit — and that his father raise him to Torah and to the wedding canopy and to good deeds. So may it be His will. Amen. His friend who seeks their wellbeing and wishes them all good things, forever — [כט"ס = כל טוב סלה — "all good things, forever." The standard blessing abbreviation: kol tov selah.] Shmuel Horovitz My son, may his light shine, and all his household, may they live — seek your wellbeing constantly, with great love. [וכב"ב שי' דושה"ט באה"ר — "and all his household (וכל בני ביתו), may they live (שיחיו) — seeks your wellbeing constantly (דורש שלומם בתמידות = דושה"ט) — with great love (באהבה רבה = באה"ר)." All four abbreviations expanded: כב"ב = כל בני ביתו (all of his household); שי' = שיחיו (may they live); דושה"ט = דורש שלומם בתמידות (who constantly seeks your wellbeing); באה"ר = באהבה רבה (with great love).] I have received his letters together with the money — and also the 65 dollars for the printing of the book. And with G-d's help — next week we will begin to print. [נתחיל להדפיס — "we will begin to print." The most momentous practical announcement in the entire correspondence. After months of fundraising, overcoming obstacles, typing the manuscript, and waiting — the printing of the book is about to begin. Delivered quietly at the very end of the letter, as if a brief postscript — but it is the culmination of the entire project that has driven the correspondence.]