ו

Sunday, the Torah portion of Tavo [Parshas Tavo — the Torah portion containing the great blessings and the fearsome curses; it falls in late August or early September, just before Rosh Hashana — the writer is standing at the very threshold of Elul], 5635 [= 1875 CE] — Teverya, may it be established and built for good.

May Hashem Who is good and Who does good bestow upon you a good inscription and a good sealing — in the midst of all Israel — Omain. [The High Holiday blessing for a favorable judgment, with the addition "in the midst of all Israel" — the writer prays not for them alone but for the entire Jewish people together with them.]

To the honor of the senior rabbi, veteran Chassid, discerning and wise, wondrous and exceptional — our ohavainu — Morainu v'Rabbainu Reb Tzvi — and to the honor of your son, the wondrous and exceptional, our ohavainu — Morainu v'Rabbainu Reb Nussun, may his candle shine — together with peace upon all the members of your household.

Thanks to G-d for our lives — Blessed be He, Blessed be He [תל"ח ב"ה ב"ה] — here with us is life and peace. May I merit to hear at all times life and peace — in body, and in soul, and in money [בגוף ונפש וממון — the writer enumerates three distinct categories: the body, the soul, and financial wellbeing; mammon — money — is named explicitly and without apology, as it is a real and legitimate human need] — with length of days and good years, in material matters and in spiritual matters. Omain Netzach Selah Va'ed. [אנס"ו — "Omain, forever, Selah, and ever."]

After inquiring after your good welfare, I have come with a great request of your distinguished selves: I wish — G-d willing — to travel to Yerushalayim, the Holy City, together with my wife, may she live, and with my sister. And I do not have at this time the means for the expenses. And G-d willing, after the festival of Sukkos [the Festival of Tabernacles, falling in the autumn, approximately two to three weeks after Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur] I will have money. Therefore I am requesting of your distinguished selves to lend me the sum of four hundred groshen. And G-d willing, by the middle of the month of Marcheshvan [the month following Tishrei, roughly October–November; approximately six to seven weeks after Sukkos] — without any delay — I will repay you to the last penny, without any doubt whatsoever. For I do not wish — G-d forbid — to travel to the Holy City with the money of others [a striking principle: he refuses to arrive in Yerushalayim in spiritual and financial debt — the sanctity of the journey demands that it be his own]. And if my sister, may she live, had money I would borrow it from her — but on account of the panic and disruption that has been here, there are people who owe her money and they are not here for her to claim it from them. Therefore I am compelled to ask of you that you do this act of gemilus chassadim [an act of loving-kindness — lending without interest is itself a great mitzvah] with me. And I am confident in Hashem Yisbarach that by the stated time I will repay you — and I will not repay — G-d forbid [ח"ו — chalilah — a second, emphatic invocation of "G-d forbid," applying to the very thought of repaying evil for good] — evil in return for the good that you will do for me.

And if you wish to fulfill my request, send it to me through the nagid [nagid — a communal leader of standing and means] Reb Chaim Yehoshua, may his candle shine — to Reb Dov, his trusted agent. And together with the conveying of this letter, send me a letter explaining how and what. And on account of my great confidence that this will not fall short — and this one benefits while this one loses nothing [זה לא חסר וזה נהנה — the Talmudic principle: zeh neheneh v'zeh lo chaser — "this one benefits and this one loses nothing"; the writer applies it to the act of lending: the lender is not diminished while the borrower is greatly helped] — I have been brief and say peace to you and to all the members of your household. May Hashem Yisbarach give us a good Elul [Elul — the month of spiritual preparation before Rosh Hashana; a time of repentance, prayer, and return to G-d] — with complete teshuvah, as Rabbainu ז"ל has taught us [not merely as a general wish but as a specific Breslov teaching: how to make a true Elul]. And my intention — G-d willing — is to travel, G-d willing, on Tzom Gedalyah [the Fast of Gedaliah — observed on the 3rd of Tishrei, the day after the two days of Rosh Hashana; it commemorates the assassination of Gedaliah ben Achikam, the last Jewish governor of Israel after the Babylonian destruction; the writer plans to depart for Yerushalayim on that solemn day], which is coming upon us for good.

May Hashem Yisbarach give us a good inscription and a good sealing — for us and for all the members of our household, and for our sons, and for our daughters.

The small one [הקטן — "the small one" — a formula of genuine humility: I consider myself the least among you]

Nussun, son of my lord my father [נתן בן אדני אבי — ben adoni avi — "son of my lord, my father" — a tender and reverent formula, combining the title of lordship with the intimacy of fatherhood; not a mere honorific but an expression of deep love and veneration], Morainu v'Rabbainu Yehuda [זללה"ה — may the memory of the holy and righteous be a blessing]

And convey greetings of peace to all the Anash — each and every one — with strong love. For we all depend upon, we are all suspended in, this love [כי אנן בחביבותא תליא' — Aramaic from the Zohar: our entire spiritual existence is suspended in and held together by the love between us]. For we are all one gathering — one with the gathering that will assemble at the holy resting place of Rabbainu ז"ל for the holy Rosh Hashana [an explicit reference to the Breslov practice of traveling to Uman for Rosh Hashana to pray at the grave of Rabbainu ז"ל — a practice already deeply established at this time, more than sixty years after Rabbainu's passing in 1810]. And also last week I sent to your son Reb Nussun, may his candle shine, a letter — and I also asked him therein to reply to me on every matter that I wrote to him: and to inform me of your grandson, may his candle shine — what has become of him; and about your apartment — how and what will be the outcome of the mortgage; and also to write to me what has become of the wife of our friend Reb Aitzikel, may his candle shine. Words of one who pleads on your behalf at all times, Nussun, the above-mentioned.