ל

And Rabbainu zichrono livracha had already said, between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur of that year, that great sicknesses were spreading through the world. And likewise on Erev Yom Kippur, when he came out from the mikveh — he answered and said to the man who walked with him from the bathhouse to his home [specifically to this man who accompanied him on that intimate walk]: that he was holding his head and feeling it [to see] if he was alive — meaning, that he felt so greatly the suffering of the world from the sicknesses that had spread through the world, may the Merciful One protect, that he did not know if he himself was alive. And so indeed it came to pass: immediately after Yom Kippur, at the time of my journey to Mohilov, I saw in the places I passed through that people were lying on sickbeds, may the Merciful One protect — until it reached us too, may the Merciful One protect, after Chanukah as mentioned. And immediately when I fell bedridden, may the Merciful One protect, I commanded that a letter be written to Rabbainu zichrono livracha. And it reached him — and Rabbainu zichrono livracha had very, very great pain from this. And he answered me with a reply in his own holy handwriting — and he wrote to me sweet and pleasant words, and revealed to me the full wondrous extent of his love for me. And he revived me and strengthened me very greatly through his letter. And this letter is still in my possession. And in my estimation, it would have been impossible for me to bear the suffering of the illness — were it not for the letter mentioned above, which truly revived me.