מט

Monday, the Torah portion of Ki Savo [Parshas Ki Savo — "When you come" — the first fruits and the blessings and curses; late August or early September, close to Rosh Hashana], 5638 — the Holy City of Teverya, may it be established and built for good.

To the honor of my strong beloved, our beloved, the great rabbi, the veteran Chassid, the wondrous and exceptional, etc., etc. — Morainu v'Rabbainu Reb Tzvi, may his candle shine. [This letter is addressed to the father, Reb Tzvi — not to the son Reb Nussun; one of the few letters in the collection addressed directly to the father]

When the young scholar Reb Nussun son of Reb Yekusiel came to our holy encampment [למחננו קדוש — "to our holy encampment / our holy settlement" — the word machaneh — camp, encampment — echoes the Israelite encampment in the wilderness, machane Yisroel; the Breslov-Chassidic settlement in Tiberias is described with this resonant biblical word for the holy camp of Israel] on Thursday at night — the eve of Friday — he told me that your precious and modest daughter-in-law Miriam Leah, may she live, is very weak. And afterward in the morning I went to Reb Yosef Aizler — and he told me that G-d forbid she has illness and fever. And my heart shuddered and trembled greatly from all that is passing over you and over your son and the entire household. And the entire night I could not sleep even for a single moment. And I presented my arguments to advocate merit before Hashem Yisbarach [והצעתי טענותי לזכות לפני השי"ת — "and I presented my arguments to find merit / to advocate for acquittal before Hashem Yisbarach" — the specifically forensic-legal act of lezkos — finding merit, arguing for acquittal in the divine court; the writer lay awake all night presenting his arguments in the role of defense advocate before G-d, seeking merit on the family's behalf]. And afterward in the morning I went with the young scholar Morainu v'Rabbainu Nussun, may his candle shine, to the resting place of the Tzaddik Morainu v'Rabbainu Reb Nachman of Horodenka [the grandfather of Rabbainu ז"ל; one of the earliest disciples of the Ba'al Shem Tov; buried in Tiberias], and Reb Mendel of Premishlan [an early Chassidic master, disciple of the Ba'al Shem Tov; buried in Tiberias], and Reb Mendel of Vitebsk [the leader of the first Chassidic immigration to Eretz Yisroel in 1777; a founding figure of Chassidic settlement in the Land; buried in Tiberias], and Reb Avraham of Kalisk [a close disciple of Reb Mendel of Vitebsk; one of the most prominent Chassidic leaders in Eretz Yisroel; buried in Tiberias; all four graves visited in a single urgent morning of intercession], and the other Tzaddikim. And I received from the said young scholar half a bishlik — and gave it as a redemption at the resting place of Reb Nachman the said one on her behalf — and I recited the prayer which our master and teacher Reb Nosson ז"ל composed to recite for the sake of a redemption. Therefore — return to me the half bishlik. And I am sending the half bishlik to Tzfas — to give three coins of 20 to Reb Dov, may his candle shine, and two coins of 20 to Reb Kalman, may his candle shine — and it will count as a redemption and a sweetening of all your troubles. And may the One Who said to His world "enough!" say to your troubles likewise "enough!"

And I have greatly asked to inform me — through the young scholar Morainu v'Rabbainu Nussun, may his candle shine — what your daughter-in-law, may she live, has done. For I and my wife and my sister are not alive from the great grief.

May Hashem Yisbarach bestow upon you a good inscription and a good sealing in every kind of that which is good [בכל מילי דמיטב — b'chol milei d'meitav — Aramaic: "in every kind of that which is good" — a specific quotation from the Talmudic wedding blessings formula [Kesubos 8a], the seven blessings recited under the wedding canopy; milei is Aramaic for "matters, things"; d'meitav — "of goodness / that is good"; the writer invokes this formula here as Rosh Hashana draws near — connecting the New Year's blessing of a good inscription with the language of the most joyous human blessing; joy and blessing united in the same Aramaic phrase] — and arouse over you and over the members of your household great mercies which have no admixture of judgment at all — only entirely good. Words of one who truly loves you, Nussun from Breslov