יז

Date not given — no date or place header appears on this letter. [The letter opens directly with the addressee — no date, no city, no opening blessing. It may be a fragment, or the header was lost in transmission. Context suggests it belongs to the Teverya period, likely 5637 (1877 CE).]

To the honor of my friend — our ohavainu — engraved in the walls of my heart [הנחקק בקירות לבי — permanently carved into the stone of the heart, not merely remembered] — the veteran Chassid — the honor of our teacher Reb Nussun [כבוד מורנו ר' נתן — "the honor of our teacher" — a fuller and more formal title than the usual מו"ה abbreviation, marking a particular degree of respect], may his candle shine — together with peace upon his wife and his son Sender Chaim, may he live. And to the honor of his companion, my friend, our ohavainu — Morainu v'Rabbainu Reb Nussun son of Reb Yekusiel, of blessed memory [ז"ל — Reb Yekusiel has passed away since he was last mentioned; the writer adds this quietly, without dwelling on the loss].

Blessed be G-d — life and peace are with us. May I merit to hear from you at all times life and peace — Omain Netzach Selah Va'ed. Your letter I received properly — and upon seeing your letter [בראית מכתבכם — bir'ias michtavechem — "in the seeing of / upon seeing your letter" — the preposition ב indicates that the very act and moment of seeing was itself the reviving; it was not merely the content but the sight of their handwriting that restored his soul] it was a reviving of my soul — knowing that your souls are bound to my soul. And my very soul — I have written it, I have given it [אנא נפשי כתבית יהבית' — the Aramaic formula of total soul-commitment, first invoked in Letter 1; the writer returns to it here as the expression of this enduring bond] — to speak with you upon the pure and restful air — avira d'Eretz Yisroel [אוירא דא"י — Aramaic: "the air of Eretz Yisroel" — a deliberate code-switch into Aramaic invoking the Talmudic principle: avira d'Eretz Yisroel machkim — "the air of Eretz Yisroel makes one wise" [Bava Basra 158b]; the writer is not merely describing pleasant air but consciously citing this teaching: he writes from within the spiritually clarifying atmosphere of the Holy Land] — and particularly through beloved companions such as you — to engrave the words that Mordechai the Jew declared with the pen of the scribe [לחקק הדבורים שהגיד מרדכי היהודי בעט סופר — an allusion to the Book of Esther and Psalms 45:2: "the pen of a skilled scribe"; the writer sees himself as a scribe engraving the teachings of Rabbainu ז"ל into distant hearts] — to renew our days at all times with a new beginning, to engage in the words of Rabbainu ז"ל. For he always occupies himself with seeking new glory — new tif'eres [התפארות חדש — new splendor and beauty — one of the ten sefiros; the dimension of harmonious beauty and truth] — each day from us — to bring to Hashem Yisbarach. For through this one merits awe and love and complete teshuvah.

Therefore we must arouse ourselves at all times with some act [באיזה עבדא — b'eizeh avda — Aramaic: "with some act / deed" — a code-switch into Aramaic mid-sentence; immediately paired with its Hebrew twin: באיזה מעשה טוב — "with some good deed" — a bilingual pair, each word enriching the other], with some good deed — and not sleep away our days and our years with excuses from the accuser [בתרוצים מהבע"ד — "with justifications / excuses from the adversary" — the prosecuting angel provides endless rationalizations for delay and spiritual inaction]. For he wishes to cast upon us sleep from both worlds [להפיל עלינו שנה משני עולמות — spiritual inertia in both this world and the World to Come simultaneously] — and to the many vapors of this world [ולהבלי עולם הזה — u'l'havlei olam hazeh — "and to the vapors of this world" — the plural construct: havlei — vapors, vanities in their many forms; each trivial attraction of the world is one more vapor; the adversary stirs us actively toward them all while casting sleep over the eternal] he arouses us eagerly. Therefore we must study greatly in the books of Rabbainu ז"ל — for he was literally the very opposite: regarding this world, he was blind and deaf and heavy of mouth [עור וחרש וכבד פה — applying to Rabbainu ז"ל the description of Moshe — "heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue" (Exodus 4:10); deliberately blind and deaf to the seductions of this world] and so on — regarding this world. Only all his affairs were the World to Come. And the more we attach ourselves to his holy words, the more we turn ourselves away from this world toward the World to Come. Therefore, my beloved brothers — let us incline our single shared shoulder to bear [נטה שכמנו לסבל — niteh shichmenu lisbol — literally "let us incline our shoulder" — shichmenu is singular: one shared shoulder, not plural shoulders; the image is of all of them together placing one collective shoulder under the yoke of Torah, prayer, and hisbodidus — a communal act, one body, one shoulder] — the yoke of Torah and prayer and private speech between a person and his Creator [שיחה בינו לבין קונו — hisbodidus — the daily intimate conversation between the person and his Maker] every single day — a fixed statute that shall not pass [חק ולא יעבר — an echo of Psalms 148:6: "He gave a statute that shall not pass" — the writer elevates this daily practice to the level of an inviolable divine law]. Surely our end will be for good.

And know, my brothers, may their candles shine — that now there is no one who can heal the princess [הבת מלכה — "the king's daughter" — an allusion to the famous story of the Seven Beggars told by Rabbainu ז"ל; the princess is the soul of Israel, which has forgotten its royal origin and must be healed by one who knows all ten kinds of melody] — who is our souls — except one who can sing the ten kinds of melody [the ten kinds of melody correspond to all the Torahs, all the prayers, and all the holy counsels in the books of Rabbainu ז"ל and his holy disciple] — which are all the Torahs and all the prayers and all the holy counsels. And without him no man can raise his hand or his foot to heal himself with a single remedy [ובלעדיו לא ירים איש את ידו ואת רגלו — echoing Genesis 41:44: without Yosef "no man shall raise his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt"; applied to Rabbainu ז"ל: without him no spiritual healing is possible]. Only when one first receives these medicines — then through them one is healed from everything.

And believe me — I am now studying the laws from Choshen Mishpat, Part 1 [the section of Likutay Halachos dealing with civil and monetary law — the most apparently "dry" domain, revealed here as a voice of living fire] — and I sit in astonishment and bewilderment: is this the voice of one born of woman? Has such a thing ever been? Has a voice of G-d speaking from within the fire ever been heard — and lived? [הנהיה כדבר הזה הנשמע קול אלהים מדבר מתוך האש ויחי — Deuteronomy 4:33 quoted in full: "Has any people heard the voice of G-d speaking from within the fire as you have heard — and lived?" — the word ויחי — "and lived!" — is the culmination of the verse; the miracle of Sinai was not only that G-d spoke from fire but that Israel heard it and survived; the writer applies this to Likutay Halachos: these words burn like fire from G-d — and we can hear them and live] And can one merit such treasures through wholeness and simplicity [תמימות ופשיטות — the two great Breslov crowns: sincerity and plain straightforwardness] — through the eldest of elders [ע"י זקן שבזקנים — Rabbainu ז"ל himself; the supreme elder]? Therefore — awaken now, do not sleep! Rouse yourselves now for our love — and let each one strengthen his companion, let each one arouse his companion — that we should not sleep away our days in vapor and hollow void [להבל וריק — l'hevel v'rik — two distinct qualities of nothingness: hevel — vapor, breath, vanity — the word of Ecclesiastes; and rik — hollow emptiness, a void; two complementary faces of wasted existence] — but only in Torah and in prayer.