The Life of Rebbe Nachman
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov was born in the house of the Baal Shem Tov, his great-grandfather, in the year 1772. From an early age, he devoted his existence to avodas Hashem and began to remove himself from all physical desires. In later years, the great Tzadik would remember the many struggles he endured along his journey. He told how he would fall from a particular devotion many times a day, each time finding the strength to begin anew. The ever-present hope, yearning for success, and refusal to submit to despair that Rebbe Nachman relied on for his own spiritual triumph would later become a main focus of the “Breslover path” to avodas Hashem.
Throughout his childhood, Rebbe Nachman concealed his holy devotions and acted like the other children. By the age of thirteen, Rebbe Nachman had mastered the entire Torah. On the day of his Bar Mitzvah (which was also the day of his wedding!), Rebbe Nachman revealed his secret to a friend and began to attract a group of followers. His brilliant originality and radiant personality, combined with his prestigious lineage, formed a magnet which drew the simple and the scholarly alike to drink from his holy waters.
In the year 1798, Rebbe Nachman set out on an eventful pilgrimage to Eretz Yisrael with one of his followers. Upon his return to the Ukraine, Rebbe Nachman moved his court to Zlatipolia, the domain of the elderly Chassidic leader, Reb Aryeh Leib of Shpoli, known as “the Shpoler Zeide” (1725-1811). Around this time, a troubled Jew fabricated terrible lies about the Tzadik and his followers, inciting fierce opposition toward Rebbe Nachman and the Breslover movement.
Despite the opposition toward his Chassidus and his difficult personal life, Rebbe Nachman flourished as a uniquely original figure. He was a brilliant gaon, poet, composer, storyteller and Rebbe, and thousands of Chassidim flocked to his court in Breslov seeking his warmth and guidance.
In the year 1802, Reb Nosson Sternhartz of Nemirov (1780-1844) traveled to the town of Breslov to meet Rebbe Nachman. A child prodigy who had developed into a tremendous talmud chacham, Reb Nosson was one of many young men who felt a lack in their avodas Hashem and were looking for a more soulful connection. Reb Nosson soon became the closest follower of Rebbe Nachman, and it was by his hand that all information regarding Rebbe Nachman’s life was recorded. Rebbe Nachman once said, “If not for Reb Nosson, not one word of my teachings would have survived.”
Over his short lifetime of thirty-nine years, Rebbe Nachman suffered terribly from a debilitating illness, a fire that destroyed his home and the loss of his first wife and four children. But despite his pain, he revealed a brilliant light of hope and optimism whose light continues to grow brighter and brighter. Rebbe Nachman passed away on the 18th of Tishrei, 1810. He left no directives to appoint a second “Breslover Rebbe,” although Reb Nosson soon became the ad hoc leader of the movement, ensuring that the Rebbe’s fire would burn until the coming of Moshiach.
Why is Everyone Talking about Breslov?
Despite the destruction of nearly 90% of the Breslover community in the Holocaust, Rebbe Nachman’s path has flourished in the most unimaginable way. Although complicated by the recent war in Ukraine, the annual Rosh Hashana gathering by Rebbe Nachman’s burial place in Uman (which numbered in the low hundreds only a few short decades ago) has grown to tens of thousands, amassing more and more Yidden every year. Rebbe Nachman’s messages are spreading like wildfire via new seforim and books, social media content, as well as through contemporary Jewish music (think “V’Afilu B’Hastarah,” “Od Yoter Tov,” and so many of the TYH songs that have swept the Jewish world).
If I had to sum up Rebbe Nachman’s popularity in a single world, I would say “relevance.” Rebbe Nachman made it clear that his message wasn’t for “Breslov Chassidim,” but for every single Jew, and that he was speaking primarily for the generations to come. The themes that show up throughout his teachings — hope, faith, personal connection with Hashem, authenticity, encouragement, etc. — directly address the challenges of our generation. The Tzadik taught that the word “Breslov” was a hidden reference to the pasuk in Yeshayahu describing the era of Moshiach’s arrival, where “I will remove from you your heart of stone, and I will replace it with a heart of flesh (lev basar).” The letters of Breslov rearranged spell “Lev basar.” This is what Rebbe Nachman intended — to help the Jewish nation wake from the spiritual coma of galus and begin to transform our stony hearts of apathy, cynicism, arrogance, and despair into a feeling, sensitive, humble, simple, hopeful “lev basar”. When Rebbe Nachman said, “My fire will burn until Moshiach arrives”, it isn’t simply that the Tzadik’s messages would last until that period of time. It’s deeper — the coming of Moshiach is dependent on the spread of this Tzadik’s Torah and the consciousness it holds: “My fire will burn — spreading from wick to wick, healing and illuminating soul after soul with the deepest and most exalted secrets of the Torah — until our entire nation is spiritually activated and Moshiach is ready to come.”
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 31 Special Pesach.
