קה

Your precious letter we received properly — and we saw your grief. You have surely already heard how I was gravely ill for approximately four months — to the point that the entire city did not believe I would live. And blessed be G-d — the G-d Who is good and does good — for Whom it is fitting to give thanks — He returned the life-force to me in all my limbs — blessed be G-d.

And now — when I saw your letter — I immediately girded my loins like a warrior — to write to your son-in-law Reb Tzvi, may his candle shine, a letter — that he should leave off from pursuing you — and not involve us, G-d forbid. And in their assembly may our honor not be joined. And we wrote him such letters — we are confident that he will surely hear the voice of our outcry. For he too in truth is a proper man — only no person is held responsible for his distress. But there is no counsel to humiliate one companion — and particularly, G-d forbid, to pursue a companion — among faithful beloved ones as you have been with one another from of old and from long ago. Is there not law in Israel?

And may your honor not judge us to the pan of culpability, G-d forbid — only to the pan of merit. And do not receive slander, G-d forbid — for your love has not parted from us — as from long ago and from of old — your love will not part from us. For Hashem Yisbarach knows the truth — that I want to see from you and your children — as I want to see from my own sons and daughters. For our love is not contingent on anything — only because we are all bound to the root of the roots of the souls of Israel — which is Rabbainu z"l and his holy disciple. And I am always pleading and beseeching intercession on your behalf — every day — and in the holy places — and for all the members of your household — and particularly for your son Morainu v'Rabbainu Yisroel Aryeh, may his candle shine. And may Hashem Yisbarach help you to come to your home in the Holy Land — in full salvation — quickly and soon — and carry you across — both by sea and by land — to life and to peace.

More there is nothing new — only life and peace. And may Hashem Yisbarach merit me and you to receive the Passover festival in holiness and purity — and to be careful of any trace of leaven on Passover — in the physical and in the spiritual.

Your friend, one who truly loves you in truth and in wholeness, Nussun from Breslov

Written Tuesday, Parshas Shemini, 5641 (late March 1881), from Teverya. A mediation letter to Reb Hirsh. Love not contingent on anything — rooted in Rabbainu z"l.

Your letter from Wednesday, the 6th of Nissan — I received properly this morning — through a son of Avraham, Morainu v'Rabbainu Avraham Eliezer, may his candle shine. And I was given life by your letter — after Reb Yosef, may his candle shine, came home to peace — and saw all my sons and brothers in the diaspora. And also that you are blessed be G-d in life and in peace. And also that your co-parent-in-law arrived in Stankovitz in life and in peace. And also from the good tiding of my beloved Reb Aizik, may his candle shine — that their bills of exchange came before Passover — and he had some expansiveness. And from the small expansiveness that one finds — great expansivenesses can come — as per the saying of Rabbainu z"l and his holy disciple. And perhaps this will be the explanation according to the words of our rabbis z"l: "Open for me as the eye of a needle — and I will open for you" — and so on. This matter is both in the physical and in the spiritual. And do not wonder that I have not written you a letter until now — for when I received the last communication I immediately wrote you a letter with the donkey-driver Nachman — and I have suffering from that letter that you did not receive it. For within it was enclosed a letter from Breslov — to the woman Dabris — the wife of Reb Tevil — from her daughter in Breslov. And I placed her letter inside your letter and sealed them. But I wrote on the letter the name of Reb Nussun son of Chana. Therefore inquire by my friend Reb Nussun, may his candle shine, or by the donkey-driver Nachman. For in her letter was a good tiding — that her grandson stood at the obligation and blessed be G-d he was saved. And further — for two weeks I have been a wanderer and a rover in my own house [na v'nad b'veisi — the precise words of Cain's curse [Genesis 4:12,14]: "a wanderer and a rover shall you be"; applied here with gentle self-deprecating humor — the writer wanders homeless within his own walls because the furniture has been moved for Passover cleaning] — and I had no writing implements — and I had no place to write. And because of this I did not reply to the letter of your brother, may his candle shine, as well — for my mind is confused — for I have no table — and we eat on the floor — because before Passover it is so. May it be for good long years.