According to Odesser, he succumbed to cravings during the fast of the Seventeenth of Tammuz and he ate something. He was severely 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.