כג

Sunday, the Torah portion of Ki Tetze [Parshas Ki Tetze — "When you go out to war" — the portion containing more commandments than any other; it falls in late August or early September, in the month of Elul before Rosh Hashana], 5637 [= late summer 1877 CE] — here in Teverya, may it be established and built for good — written from the home. Omain Selah.

May He Who suspends the earth upon nothingness [התולה ארץ על בלימה — from Job 26:7; G-d suspends the earth in the void with nothing beneath it — a striking image of absolute divine sovereignty; chosen here instead of the more common High Holiday blessing formula, drawing from the cosmic poetry of Job] bestow upon us a good inscription and a good sealing.

To the honor of all who love my soul — and in particular to the honor of our friend, the senior rabbi, the veteran Chassid, discerning and wise, wondrous and exceptional in Torah and in the fear of Heaven, the honor of the name of his Torah — Morainu v'Rabbainu Reb Tzvi, may his candle shine — together with his son, our dear ohavainu, Morainu v'Rabbainu Reb Nussun, may his candle shine — and together with peace upon all the Anash.

After inquiring after your good welfare as is right and proper — I have come to give thanks and acknowledgment before you — to G-d Who bestows good acts of loving-kindness [לאל הגומל חסדים טובים — the precise liturgical formula of the HaGomel blessing, which opens with these very words] — for the goodness and for the loving-kindness He bestowed upon us [אשר גמל עמנו הטוב והחסד — "Who bestowed upon us the goodness and the loving-kindness" — two distinct divine gifts named separately: ha'tov — the goodness, the positive benefit received; and ha'chessed — the loving-kindness, the quality and manner of the giving; each deserves its own weight].

During our journey, close to our settlement — approximately three-quarters of an hour before our arrival — robbers and murderers [רוצחים ושודדים — "murderers and brigands" — both words together; not merely thieves but violent, dangerous men] fell upon us. And a woman with a baby girl [תינוקת — tinokes — specifically a female infant, a baby girl; not merely "an infant" but a girl-child; the feminine form is precise and deliberate] was traveling last in the group — and one donkey-driver [מיקער — meiker — a donkey-driver, a road-guide who walks alongside and leads the animals on the road; not a letter-courier but the person responsible for conducting the donkeys safely; the same word appears again below] was walking behind her — and they fell upon them: they beat the donkey-driver with deadly blows until his teeth fell out [מכת רצח עד שנפלו שניו — "with murderous blows until his teeth fell out" — a precise, unsparing description of the violence]. And they also beat the woman and threw her to the ground — and there was a great outcry [גיוואלד גדול — gevald — Yiddish: the standard cry of distress; embedded naturally mid-Hebrew sentence]. And on the second donkey rode the man who had been in your home — and they also threw him to the ground, and seized his donkey together with all his belongings. And I was riding ahead of this man, and my sister, may she live, was riding ahead of me — and the robber fell upon her as well and struck her too upon the hand, and she fell to the ground — almost close to the sea [כמעט סמוך לים — Tiberias sits on the shore of the Sea of Galilee; she fell so close to the water that had the attack gone differently she could have fallen in]. And her donkey together with her belongings fled to the city. And because I cried out gevald [גיוואלד — the Yiddish cry for help, a second time; the writer's shout of gevald is precisely what drove the robbers back — the same word he uses at the climax of Letter 24 addressed to his son-in-law] with a great shout — the robbers fled backward. And I and three women remained alone — and we walked on foot to the city in great fear. And also my donkey I led by hand all the way to the city. And from the two hindmost donkeys they looted all the belongings — ornaments and valuables worth approximately one thousand five hundred groshen — and from all the donkeys they took the panniers [הינוחי — di hinekhe or similar — the panniers or side-bags hung on the flanks of the donkeys for carrying goods; a regional or Yiddish term for this specific type of saddlebag; everything stored in them was seized]. And we arrived in the city at night.

And upon my sister Hashem Yisbarach performed two miracles: one — that they did not strike her on the head, only on the hands and on the back. And the second — that her donkey fled — for she had upon it money from some time ago of approximately five hundred groshen, and all her belongings. And I — blessed be G-d — was saved from everything. And on Friday I went to the house of study and recited the blessing of thanksgiving [ברכת הודאה — the HaGomel blessing — recited publicly after surviving danger: a dangerous journey, illness, imprisonment, or similar peril; recited in the presence of a minyan]. And also before you I give thanks and acknowledgment to Hashem Yisbarach. And may the suffering and the fear serve as atonement for sin [יהיה לנו לכפרת עון — the writer does not rage at what happened but receives it as a spiritual opportunity; suffering endured atones and cleanses]. And may all our beloved be saved from such a trouble to spaciousness — and may Hashem Yisbarach merit me to hear from you good tidings, quickly and soon, from all the places.

And now I have come to request of my beloved Morainu v'Rabbainu Reb Nussun, may his candle shine: I forgot at your home my glasses [הבריל שלי — di bril — Yiddish: "my glasses / spectacles"; a small domestic detail in the midst of drama — he left his spectacles during his stay] — either in some book or on the table — to please send them to me through a trustworthy person. And to write to me what the wife, may she live, has done regarding your son, may his candle shine [מה היא עשה זוג' תח' עם בנך נ"י — "what has she done — the wife, may she live — with your son, may his candle shine" — the question is specifically about what action she took, what she did in relation to the son's illness; not a general health inquiry but a report of her efforts and actions on his behalf] — whether the weight of his illness has lifted.

And regarding the house matter — the brother-in-law [מש"ב — min shver-ben — Yiddish: "from the father-in-law's son" — a brother-in-law; the same Yiddish code-switch as ש"ב in Letter 20] — it is a falsehood. And the sister-in-law Miriam Sasia was with me and received the document [הקויטל מהעסקה — "the note / document from the transaction" — a legal or financial document relating to the house matter] from the transaction. And she said that her husband is at peace with her, and her health is complete — only that sometimes at night she is frightened from sleep [a poignant domestic detail: amid all the legal matters and the robbery, a woman who sometimes wakes from fearful dreams].

More news there is none — only life and peace and the fullness of good. Your friend who always seeks your good, Nussun from Breslov