The Crucial Question — Will You Come to Meron for the Summer?

Therefore I ask of your honor to inform me of his mind in this matter — and whether, when everything is already ready and arranged and I write to him that he should come, whether he will come here to be in Meron together for the summer months. Let him inform me of clear words, so that my effort and my uncle R' Avner's effort not be in vain, G‑d forbid. And let your honor know that I need and am compelled to do this — very, very greatly. For I am going about here in darkness [הנני הולך קודר פה — lit. "I go about here darkened": a biblical expression (cf. Psalms 38:7; Job 30:28) of inner spiritual desolation]. And if not now — when? [אם לא עכשיו אימתי — Avos 1:14; the Hillel phrase from Letter 5, now used again with equal urgency] For it will soon be nearly impossible to have such an opportune time — when we can be together in Torah and Divine service for several months in Meron. And we can complete, G‑d willing, all of Likutay Moharan and much of Likutay Halachos and Sipuray Maasiyos [ספמ"ע = ספורי מעשיות] — and it will plant within me deep roots of Rabbainu's Chassidus, of blessed memory. And let it not be, G‑d forbid, that all his toil, effort, suffering, and trouble that he exerted himself on my behalf until now — should be in vain, G‑d forbid.

And the main thing — let us pray greatly to Hashem that He help us in the merit of the Tzadik, the foundation of the world [התא"ל = הצדיק יסוד עולם], the Rashbi, of blessed memory, and in the merit of Rabbainu the Holy and Awesome Nachman, of blessed memory, that everything I have damaged [spiritually — through sin and failing] be rectified, and that I be as G‑d desires, and that I never return to folly, G‑d forbid, and that I do true and complete repentance.

[Yiddish:] "Oh (Gott!) my righteous warm-hearted brother — you will truly save me with this from both worlds — oh (Gott!)." [Hebrew:] (Oh! Alas! My warm-hearted brother — with this you will truly save me from both worlds — oh!) If not now — when? When? Your honor promised me when I was with him in Meron before my departure: that if I write to him in truth that everything is already prepared — then your honor will come. Therefore let him inform me now of clear things: whether he will fulfill this — and then I will see with all my strength truly to work at this. And I ask of your honor to have compassion on the Divine spark within me [ניצוץ אלקי שבקרבי — the fragment of G‑dliness embedded in every Jewish soul; a Kabbalistic concept — by coming to Meron and helping R' Shmuel grow, R' Alter will be nurturing that Divine spark] — both by promising that he will come, and by praying for me with great mercy, for I need great compassion — in spiritual and in material matters — that I have complete healing, and that I be pleasing to G‑d, blessed be He, etc., etc.

It is likely that his honor now feels the lights that he merited — in the Holy Land[אה"ק = ארץ הקודש — "the Holy Land." The standard abbreviation.] — in the holy month of Tishrei. And now — in Marcheshvan — "his lips are murmuring" — so I heard from the great Torah scholar[הרה"ג = הרב הגאון — "the great Torah scholar / the brilliant Rabbi."] among our Chassidim[מאנ"ש = מאנשי שלומינו — "from the people of our peace / from our Chassidim."] — R' Mordechai — the head of the rabbinical court[האב"ד = אב בית דין — "the head of the rabbinical court / the chief judge." Av Beis Din — the senior halachic decisor of a community.] of Sokolov — the explanation of the month of Marcheshvan: in the aspect of the "return" (hashov) of Tishrei — which is in the aspect of nullification — and Cheshvan — the return (hashov) from the nullification — "his lips murmur" (meracheshin sefasav). [מרחשוון — מרחשין שפתיו — "Marcheshvan — his lips are murmuring." A brilliant Hebrew wordplay from R' Mordechai of Sokolov: מרחשין (meracheshin — murmuring / vibrating) + שפתי (sefasav — his lips) — which together sound like מרחשוון (Marcheshvan). The explanation: in Tishrei — the month of awe, fasting, and the High Holidays — the person is in a state of complete self-nullification (bitul) before G-d. One is so overwhelmed by the divine presence that speech itself is silenced. In Marcheshvan — immediately following — the person "returns from the nullification" (hashov min habitul) — and the experience of Tishrei begins to express itself in words: "his lips murmur." The month of Marcheshvan is the time when the Tishrei experience descends into language, action, and the mundane world.] His honor must rejoice and give life to himself in what he has merited — and to yearn and long still more and more — to merit and to act in Torah and prayer and the service of Hashem[עבוה"ש = עבודת השם — "the service of Hashem."] and so on — with arousal and renewed strengthening — with the "impression" (rashimo) that he merited in the Holy Land and so on.

And if you feel the greatness and the preciousness of the holiness of the Land of Israel — the yearning for it — and the difference between the holiness of the Land of Israel[א"י = ארץ ישראל — "the Land of Israel." The standard abbreviation.] and outside the Land[חו"ל = חוץ לארץ — "outside the Land / the Diaspora." Chutz la'aretz — literally "outside the Land [of Israel]."] — then remember what you merited: to be in the Holy Land — and in the holy places — during the awesome days — and give yourselves life through this.

And our master the Rebbe זצ"ל brings in Torah 155 — "Arichas Apayim" — "Patience / Longsuffering" — that one must request from Hashem that one should yearn for the Land of Israel — and that all the Tzaddikim should ache with longing and yearn for the Land of Israel. [תורה קנ"ה — "אריכת אפים" — "Torah 155 — 'Arichas Apayim — Longsuffering / Patience.'" קנ"ה = kuf(100) + nun(50) + heh(5) = 155. LM Part 1, §155. Arichas apayim — literally "lengthening of the nostrils / patience" — the divine attribute of forbearance. The Rebbe teaches that one must pray to Hashem that one merit to yearn for the Land of Israel — for this yearning itself is a great spiritual achievement. And one must pray that all the Tzaddikim — who are spread throughout the Diaspora — should also yearn for the Land of Israel, so that through their collective longing the holiness of the Land spreads throughout the Diaspora communities they lead.]

This fifty-seventh letter — 8 Cheshvan 5725 (November 1964), Jerusalem — is the companion letter to Letter 56, written on the same day to R' Tzvi Vasilefsky who has just returned from the Holy Land after spending the Tishrei holy days there. Short but spiritually exquisite.

Marcheshvan teaching (§2): A precious oral tradition from R' Mordechai the Rav of Sokolov: Marcheshvan = meracheshin sefasav (the lips murmur). Tishrei = the holiest month = the person is in complete self-nullification (bitul) before G-d — speech is silenced by the overwhelming divine presence. Marcheshvan = the hashov (return) from the nullification — the Tishrei experience begins to descend into language — "the lips murmur." The month of Marcheshvan is when Tishrei's holiness crystallizes into action and speech. Therefore: give yourself life from what you experienced in Israel during Tishrei — and yearn and long for more. The rashimo — the "impression / residue" of the spiritual experience — carries power beyond the experience itself.

Eretz Yisrael and LM §155 (§2): If you feel the preciousness and the difference between Eretz Yisrael and outside the Land — give yourself life through this memory. LM §155 ("Arichas Apayim"): request from Hashem that you should yearn for the Land of Israel — and that all the Tzaddikim should yearn for the Land of Israel — so that through their collective longing the holiness of the Land reaches the Diaspora communities they lead.

Key terms: Marcheshvan = meracheshin sefasav — the lips murmur; oral tradition from R' Mordechai of Sokolov · Tishrei = bitul (nullification); Marcheshvan = hashov min habitul — return from nullification into speech · Rashimo — the "impression / residue" of a spiritual experience that persists after it ends · LM §155 — Arichas Apayim — request from Hashem to yearn for Eretz Yisrael; all Tzaddikim should yearn for it · Eretz Yisrael vs. Chutz La'Aretz — the profound difference in holiness