ב

Thursday evening, the 8th of Adar, 5635 [= 1875 CE] — the Holy City of Teverya [פעה"ק — p'as ha'ir ha'kedoshah — "the corner of the holy city"], may it be established and built for good.

To the honor of my true beloved — our ohavainu, the learned, accomplished, and wondrous young Torah scholar — Morainu v'Rabbainu Reb Nussun, may his candle shine — together with his dear friend, Morainu v'Rabbainu Reb Aizik, may his candle shine.

Blessed be G-d — life and peace are with us. Your precious letters I received this very moment, and they were a reviving of my soul [mishiv nafshi — a resuscitation, a restoration of life-force to the soul] — for I heard of the great chessed [loving-kindness] that Hashem the Good and the Beneficent did for you: that your dear father-in-law, may his candle shine, and your dear mother, Hashem restored them to their full strength [l'eisonom — "to their former vigor, their solid foundation"]. And He further magnified His great kindness with you — to do for your son, may he live [שיח' — sheyichyeh — "may he live" — a distinct blessing from נ"י], for length of days and good years. It is good to give thanks to Hashem. And He will repay you with the fullness of good [כט"ס — k'tov shlom — "with the fullness of good"]. And also the letter from the people of Troyits [a town where the writer's family and friends reside] — it gave me life. With this letter, may Hashem Yisbarach give you life — in material matters and in spiritual matters. And also regarding your joy in the holy Purim [the joyous festival of the salvation of the Jewish people in the time of Queen Esther] — that too gave me life. For "I am a companion to all who fear You" [Psalms 119:63]. In the measure of your joy, so is drawn down upon you the supernal awe above all awe [yir'ah ila'ah d'ila'ah — Aramaic, from the Zohar: the highest level of awe of Heaven, which paradoxically flows from the deepest joy]. And I was bound together with you, and I myself rejoiced in my own home.

And I wanted to write to you some words that flow from our holy master and teacher [הננמ"ח — an honorific abbreviation for Reb Nosson of Breslov, the holy disciple] — but my mind is in turmoil. For my wife [may she live — תח'], daughter of Reb Leib [בר"ל — bas Reb Leib], daughter of Feige — is not well, ever since the Taanis Esther [the Fast of Esther, observed the day before Purim]. For she fasted without my agreement and did not heed me — and immediately she fell ill with weakness of the heart [cardiac weakness, heart palpitations]. This happened to her twice a day. And in this past week she has weakened greatly — she has weakness of the heart, no strength at all [ain spareinis — apparently from the local vernacular: "no reserves, no energy whatsoever"], and her hand and her foot are heavy upon her. And my own suffering is beyond measure and beyond reckoning — for even without this she is spiritually inclined and eats nothing at all. Therefore I have come to urgently request of all my true beloved, the Anash, to pray for her — that Hashem Yisbarach should send her a complete healing, swiftly and soon. The general rule is: not two weeks have ever passed since my arrival on holy soil without her having some new ailment or another. "In my distress You have broadened me" [Psalms 4:2 — the writer cites this as his own lived experience: in the very constriction, G-d makes room] — "and put a distance between flock and flock" [Genesis 30:36 — used here with rueful irony: just as Lavan kept interposing distance between Yaakov and the flocks, so does illness keep interposing itself between them and health].

And the two bishlikim [bishlik — a small Turkish coin, the currency of Ottoman Palestine] I received, and I will purchase olive oil and kindle it for you for the aliyyas neshomoh [elevation of the soul] of the Tanna [a sage of the Mishnaic era] the Rambam [Maimonides — רמבע"ה — buried in Tiberias]. And in the merit of this, may Hashem always do many miracles for you, and fulfill in you: "Before they call I will answer" [Isaiah 65:24]. And my gratitude and grace to your distinguished self for the loan of the bishlik — to give to Reb Nachman, may his candle shine, and to Reb Aitzikel, may his candle shine — for I fulfilled the mitzvah of gifts to the poor in Eretz Yisroel [one of the Purim obligations, fulfilled here in the Holy Land, which carries especial merit], and you were the shliach mitzvah [the agent of the commandment — a great distinction, as the agent shares fully in the merit]. And I urgently request of all our beloved, our true brethren, to pray on behalf of my wife, may she live — for she is the very foundation of the home [akeres habayis — the one who holds the household together, its essential pillar]. And blessed be G-d, she is a righteous woman — and does not let me go outside even for a minor matter.

And also the letters for Reb Moshe, may his candle shine — I will deliver them to him when I see him. And please write to me: the young scholar Reb Yosef, may his candle shine, came to your settlement with some kind of passport — why did he come here, and for what reason did he flee? — so that I may know. For my son Yitzchak, may his candle shine, also has a passport from Wallachia [a region of present-day Romania — the writer's family originated there], and my son-in-law Yisroel, may his candle shine, wrote to me that their passports are very good — so his arrival here puzzles me. Also, I do not know how strangers got their hands on my letters — for did I not seal them in an envelope and write upon them the ban of Rabbainu Gershom [Rabbainu Gershom of Mainz, 10th–11th century — his famous ruling included a ban on reading another person's mail without permission, observed to this day in Jewish law]? And I also sent them through Reb Bear, may his candle shine — the trusted agent of Reb Chaim Yehoshua, may his candle shine — and surely they reached Reb Chaim Yehoshua — so through what cause did the hands of strangers gain control of them?

As for news — there is none. But due to the pressing need for the afternoon prayer [Minchah — the daily afternoon prayer, which must be recited before nightfall; the writer cuts the letter short so as not to miss it — a small but telling detail of his priorities], I will be brief and say: peace! Be strong, dear beloved friends, in the words of Rabbainu ז"ל and his holy disciple — and it shall be good for you forever.

Nussun, son of our teacher Yehuda [זללה"ה — may the memory of the holy and righteous be a blessing]