To R' Yankel in His Bereavement — A Letter of Profound Consolation

[The letter opens with a missing beginning — the first words of the salutation are cut off. It appears to say:] …may He console — with the consolation of Zion and Jerusalem — with all manner of salvations and consolations — the honored self of my beloved, the dear friend of my soul, my precious one who dwells within my heart, embraced and cleaved in the depths of my heart, beloved to me as my soul — the young man who occupies himself in Torah and Divine service — his soul, pure and ancient [a Kabbalistic description of the soul's origin in the highest worlds] — who drinks the waters of Na Nach Nachma Nachman MayUman [מננמ"ח] — who desires in truth to serve G‑d — our Master R' Yaakov Zev son of Sarah Leah, may he live forever.

After informing you of our welfare — thanks be to G‑d, blessed be He, we have life and peace with us. May Hashem grant that we merit always to hear only good tidings, salvations, and consolations — until the coming of the righteous redeemer, speedily in our days. Amen. I hereby inform you: we received your letter that went out from a broken heart, and I almost wept upon reading it — from the great sorrow and anguish of soul. And I was greatly aroused by it. And you truly revived our souls with it — knowing of your welfare and your health. This painful and sorrowful news I had already known from our dear friend R.Y.D. [R' Yisrael Dov — the Breslov companion from Tiberias who appears throughout these letters], may he live, in Tzfas. And the depth of my pain from it is beyond all measure — I wept with flowing tears, and my heart was shattered, shattered to pieces, and in hidden places my soul wept and weeps. And literally the entire day I had no strength — from the great anguish and sorrow.

And when I heard that you already know — I immediately ran to seek you out, and I sought you at R.Y.D.'s and at R.Sh.K.'s [R' Shlomo — likely R' Shlomo Atik or R' Shlomo Veksler] and at R' Avner's — many times — until I found R.A. [R' Alter] and he said you had already departed. And I had anguish of soul from this — that I did not see you afterward. May Hashem grant that we merit to meet together with a joyful heart and a radiant face, from abundant joy — in the service of Hashem in truth. Amen, so may it be His will. Believe me — I am writing all of this with tears and a greatly broken heart.

And afterward I traveled to Meron — and I had many obstacles, for they wanted to detain me, and my mother wept before me. And blessed be G‑d that I passed through the obstacles, and I returned the same day — only without my belongings, only a little. And when I arrived at Meron — from the great anguish and sorrow I did not want to tell this to our dear friend, the beloved of our souls, the distinguished talmid chacham, R' Alter [R' Alter is also at Meron! This is the confirmation that R' Alter did indeed come to Meron — after all the letters of pleading], may he live — because he is weak, and I did not want to cause him anguish of soul, G‑d forbid. But on the eve of Rosh Chodesh, when people came, they told him. And there is no way to measure the depth of his anguish of soul and his sorrow — and he became weaker than before. May Hashem grant that we merit to see and be satisfied by each other in spiritual and material nachas, for the sake of the spiritual — and to hear and see each other always, among the rest of the men of good name and among the rest of our dear fellow Jews — only good and salvation and all goodness, in spiritual and in material matters. Amen, so may it be His will.