יח

Thursday, Nissan, 5637 — the month in which salvations surround us [החדש אשר ישועות מקיפות — "the month in which salvations encompass / surround" — Nissan is enveloped in salvations on all sides; exactly the right framing for a letter written after a near-death experience and recovery].

To the honor of my beloved and my cherished one [אהבי חביבי — two distinct terms: ahavi — my beloved; chavivi — my cherished, my dear one; chaviv is the Talmudic word for one who is especially favored — chaviv Adam she'nivra b'tzelem — "beloved is the person created in G-d's image" — a warmth deeper than ordinary affection] — engraved in the walls of my heart — Morainu v'Rabbainu Reb Nussun, may his candle shine — together with peace upon his father and upon all the members of his household.

It is good to give thanks to Hashem [טוב להודות לה' — Psalms 92:2 — the Psalm of the Shabbos day; the writer opens with a verse of gratitude rather than the usual health formula, because the health news itself is the subject] — for all the free, undeserved kindness [חסד חנם — chessed chinam — grace given purely, with no merit on the part of the recipient] and all the goodnesses [והטובות — the plural: not one goodness but many individual acts of goodness, each counted separately] that He dealt with me [אשר גמל עמי — asher gamal immi — "that He dealt with me / treated me with" — the verb gamal is the root of gemilus chassadim — acts of loving-kindness; it means to treat someone, to deal generously with them; not merely "bestowed" (one-directional) but "dealt with" — the warm, reciprocal language of someone who treats another as a person worthy of kindness] from Purim until now. For my wife, may she live, was gravely ill — a poor wretch — with several kinds of ailments. And afterward the illness of the cough [חלי ההוסט — der hust — Yiddish: the cough, described here as a full named illness] gained strength over her — until she nearly choked. And on the past Thursday, during the morning prayer, it gained such strength over her that nearly all the signs of the death-throes were visible in her [כל סימני גסיסה — the unmistakable physical signs that a person is in the final stages of dying; described with full, unflinching directness]. And this was her condition until the time of the evening before nightfall. And afterward Hashem Yisbarach helped — and gave her sleep, and she slept approximately seven hours continuously. And blessed be G-d, the weight of her illness was lightened — until, blessed be G-d, she now walks a little about the house here and there. May Hashem Yisbarach help us and all our true beloved — to do miracles for us always — only miracles such as these: that even the one upon whom the miracle is wrought does not recognize his own miracle [שאפילו בעל נס אינו מכיר בנסו — a Talmudic concept: the highest form of miracle is so naturally embedded in events that even the beneficiary does not perceive it as supernatural; the hidden, seamless miracle woven into the fabric of life]. May He save us from all kinds of illness and from all evil decrees and from all kinds of harsh judgments in the world — and save us in body and in soul and in money. And on account of this I did not write you any letter until now — for my very brain was scrambled [כי מחי היה מבלבל — ki moichi haya mevulbal — moichi is the most intimate word for the seat of thought, the very brain itself; mevulbal — disordered, scrambled, stirred beyond coherence; not merely troubled but physically unable to form thought].

And now I have come to request of you: our friend — the pious one, the poor, the destitute, crushed by suffering [החסיד העני האביון המדכא ביסורים — four epithets in succession, each adding weight to the portrait of Reb Kalman's condition] — Reb Kalman — wrote two letters to Reb Boruch regarding the money — the sum of twelve rubles — that lies resting with Reb Mordechai Segel. And in the end he has no reply whatsoever from Reb Boruch, may his candle shine. And he does not know what to reckon. And to come to your settlement — even once — is impossible [א"א מחמת שאין לו פ"א — eino yachol, mipnei she'ein lo pa'am achas — פ"א stands for פעם אחת — "even once, even one time" — it is not merely that he has no money; the situation is so impossible he cannot manage the journey even a single time; the impossibility is total]. And he has further troubles: he is a debtor on account of the ger [Azaryah the righteous convert — for whose food and care Reb Kalman has gone into debt] — approximately two hundred groshen — and creditors press him at all times. And I do not know by what means he lives.

Therefore I have requested of your distinguished self to inquire with Reb Boruch, may his candle shine, whether he received the two letters — one to Reb Mordechai and one to Reb Shmuel Heller, may his candle shine — and also the other letters he sent him — and what is the reply to them. And perhaps Reb Kalman needs to write from those appointed here [the official communal leadership of Tiberias, whose endorsement could carry legal or moral authority] and from the law of this place to Reb Mordechai — for all of them know the truth: that Reb Kalman became poor because of the converts, for whom he gave his soul and his body and his money. And in the end this poor and destitute one like himself is exploiting him [יעשק אותו — the Torah's word for exploiting the weak and powerless]. Therefore I make this urgent, prostrate request before your honor [בקשתי שטוחה מול כבודך — "my request laid flat / stretched out before your honor" — fully prostrate, holding nothing back] — immediately let us know every word of the root of the matter — so that we should know whether there is any substance to it, whether there is any way to rescue the oppressed from the hand of his oppressor. For never has such a sin been committed — to rob such a homeless, wandering pauper as this one [עני מרוד — ani marud — a specific biblical phrase from Lamentations 3:19: zachor ani v'morudi — "remember my affliction and my wandering"; marud means specifically "wandering, driven about, with no stable place" — not merely wretched but homeless, displaced, with no fixed ground under his feet; Reb Kalman is this figure: a wandering pauper with nowhere to lean] — whose poverty is beyond reckoning — and who has nothing to lean upon except our Father in Heaven. Surely Hashem Yisbarach will help him in some way that He knows — though we do not know it.