Yisroel Ber Odesser - Discovering The Na Nach Phrase

Discovering The Na Nach Phrase

When he was approximately 24 years old, Odesser came into possession of a document later published as The Letter from Heaven (known colloquially as the Petek).

Odesser succumbed to cravings during the fast of the Seventeenth of Tammuz and he stumbled and ate. He was severely grieved and distraught as a result. For six days he suffered intensely and felt like a dead man. He prayed and had a "powerful thought enter mind" to "Go to your room and open the bookcase, and put your hand and any book...and open it to wherever it opens...and there you will find good things that will enable you to revive yourself; there you will find a healing for your soul!" Acting on this thought, he chose a book, opened it, and found a letter inside containing words of greeting and encouragement, along with a phrase in the Hebrew language based on the four letters of the name Nachman (i.e., Rebbe Nachman of Breslov), added one letter at a time, in a Kabbalistic achorayim form.

Another Hasid by the name of Yoel said later that he had been the one who wrote the letter to Odesser after seeing how distraught he was over having to break his fast. Odesser claimed in rebuttal that his room had been locked and only he had the key, and maintained that this document was miraculously communicated to him.