Urgent Practical Instructions — Act Today, While R' Avraham Verner Is Travelling

[Yiddish — given first, then translated in Hebrew immediately after in the original:] "Once and for all — you must know: this hangs literally on my very life. And now is the essential time. And you must know: what they are telling you is simply not true at all. I have already inquired more than once, and everything is proper and right — one only needs money for food. And since R' Avraham Verner is travelling today to Jerusalem, the Holy City — please do not let him go without taking him with you to the Religious Council [הועד הדתי — the communal religious institution administering R' Alter's stipend], so that they transfer the money here — and R' Bunim Verner will forward it to you. Please arrange this — and one can also rely on Sender Troyitch [סנדר טראויץ — a local contact who has access to the communal kitchen] that he will send bread from the communal kitchen [בית התבשיל — the charitable food distribution institution]. And perhaps you can find some money from wherever you are able." [Hebrew parenthetical immediately following:] (Once and for all — you must know: this literally costs me my health. And now is the essential time. And you must know that what they tell you is simply not true at all. I have inquired more than once, and everything is proper and right as it should be — one only needs money for food. And since R' Avraham Verner is travelling today to Jerusalem, the Holy City — please do not let him go without taking him with you to the Religious Council, so that they transfer the money here — R' Bunim Verner will forward it to you. Please arrange this — and one can also rely on Sender Troyitch that he will send bread from the communal kitchen. And perhaps you will be able to find some money from wherever you are able.)

In any case — you must come by automobile [טאמביל — from Yiddish/German Automobil; motor vehicles had recently begun operating between Jerusalem and the Galilee, a remarkable sign of the modern era intruding on this ancient landscape] directly from Jerusalem. Arrive here already by the eve of Rosh Chodesh [the day before the new month of Elul], and from there we will go to Meron together with people and arrange everything. Bring everything with you — and especially the books. And do not listen to anyone — even if R' Avraham Verner or R' Noson Chanhas speak to you otherwise. Just come! [Yiddish:] "For we cannot bear it, and we cannot and must not delay."

And afterward one counts the Omer — in holiness itself one must wait greatly — very greatly — until one merits to be as is fitting. And this is the entire matter of Pesach — Omer — Shavuos. Pesach: when one is immersed in some impurity, G-d forbid — in a pit of deep darkness — one cannot free oneself from it — only in the aspect of fleeing in haste — without any deliberation about what will come afterward — like the Exodus from Egypt of Israel. [ניסה בחיפזון — "fleeing in haste." The Exodus from Egypt was performed b'chipazon — in great haste — the bread had no time to rise (hence matzah). Applied spiritually: when one is in the grip of an impure habit or situation, the only way out is immediate, unhesitating flight — without deliberation, without calculating the consequences. Deliberation gives the evil inclination time to mount arguments against the escape.] And so too when one must go to pray and to study fixed sessions — one must flee from the matters of this world[עה"ז = עולם הזה — "this world." The standard abbreviation.] — and enter into the matter of the service of Hashem in haste — for if one waits until one is fully ready — the time will pass — and the obstacles of the evil inclination will not pass. And therefore one must in haste enter into drawing close to Hashem — fleeing from the evil inclination and the impurity.

And afterward — when one is already sitting with the book and in prayer — one needs the Omer — one cannot immediately feel the holiness as is fitting — one needs the waiting — and very much passes over him until he merits what he eventually merits — and then: the holiness of Shavuos — the giving of the Torah. And all his days he needs great waiting — and not to fall from anything — and not to abandon his longings and yearnings and his small service in the service of Hashem — however it may be — until in the end of all things he will merit — each person[כ"א = כל אחד — "each one / every person." Kol echad.] — to what he needs.

And all his longings and all that passes over him — all of it is for a great good — and in the end of all things all the longings gathered from within the darkness and the obstacles will become holy vessels — to receive within them all the eternal good — forever and ever and ever. So may it be His will. Amen.

Because of the urgency of the festival eve[עיו"ט = ערב יום טוב — "the eve of the festival." Erev Yom Tov.] — I am compelled to be brief. I received the gift — and how greatly this gave me life. May Hashem give you life through this — in this world and in the World to Come — and may you merit all your holy longings — to bring them from potential to actual — and to merit all the holinesses. So may it be His will. Amen.

This thirty-second letter — written Erev Pesach from Meron — is a brief but dense teaching embedded in a warm personal exchange. The author rejoices to hear the recipient is now ready to grow a beard and peyos (the topic of Letter 31) — and uses this as the springboard for a complete teaching on Pesach, Omer, and Shavuos.

Abraham and Pesach (§1): The essential holiness of Pesach = yearning for G-d. Abraham the man of kindness — alone in the world, no teacher, taught directly by the supernal heart (LM §142 and §31). Pesach = peh sach = speaking praises. Find good points in others (judge favorably) and in oneself. Don't fall into despair. Ascend level by level. Beard and peyos = Exodus (§2): The recipient's decision to grow beard and peyos = fulfilling the Exodus from Egypt. Biblical support: "they had not prepared provisions" (Exodus 12:39) + "the kindness of your youth — following Me into the wilderness" (Jeremiah 2:2). Saving one's soul = Pesach. Pesach-Omer-Shavuos framework (§3): Pesach = fleeing in haste (b'chipazon) — no deliberation — the only way out of deep impurity. Also: entering prayer and Torah study each day must be done in haste — don't wait for perfect readiness. The Omer = sitting with the book, needing patient waiting — holiness doesn't come immediately. Shavuos = the culmination. All longings gathered from darkness and obstacles become holy vessels for receiving eternal good. Key terms: Avraham ish hachessed — levav ila'ah — LM §142 and §31 — Abraham taught from the supernal heart · Pesach = peh sach — speaking praises · V'gam tzeidah lo asu lahem — Exodus 12:39 — no provisions; the haste of the Exodus · Zacharti lach chessed ne'urayich — Jeremiah 2:2 — the kindness of youth, following G-d into the wilderness · Nisah b'chipazon — fleeing in haste; the only way out of deep impurity · Pesach = haste → Omer = waiting → Shavuos = culmination — the three-stage spiritual arc · All longings from darkness become holy vessels — keilim kedoshim to receive eternal good