Nachman of Breslov , also known as Reb Nachman of Bratslav, Nachman from Uman, or simply as Rebbe Nachman (in local Yiddish Reb Nokhmen Broslever) was the founder of the Breslov Hasidic dynasty.

Born at a time when the influence of his great-grandfather, the Baal Shem Tov, was waning, Rebbe Nachman breathed new life into the Hasidic movement by combining the esoteric secrets of Judaism (the Kabbalah) with in-depth Torah scholarship. He attracted thousands of followers during his lifetime, and after his death, his followers continued to regard him as their Rebbe and did not appoint any successor. Rebbe Nachman's teachings continue to attract and inspire Jews the world over.

His life-Nachman was born in the town of Medzhybizh in the Ukraine. His mother, Feiga, was the daughter of Adil (also spelled Udel), who was the daughter of Rabbi Israel, the Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidic Judaism. His father Simchah was the son of Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka (Gorodenka), one of the Baal Shem Tov's disciples, after whom Rebbe Nachman was named. He had two brothers and a sister; it is not known if he or another brother was the oldest.

Nachman told his disciples that as a small child, he eschewed the pleasures of this world and set his sights on spirituality. His days were filled with Torah learning, prayer, fasting, meditation, and other spiritual devotions. He would pay his melamed (teacher) three extra coins for every page of Talmud that he taught him, beyond the fee that his father was paying the teacher, to encourage the teacher to cover more material. From the age of six he would go out at night to pray at the grave of the Baal Shem Tov.

As was the custom in those times, he married at the age of 13 to Sashia, the daughter of Rabbi Ephraim, and moved to his father-in-law's house in Ossatin (Staraya Osota today). He acquired his first disciple on his wedding day, a young man named Shimon who was several years older than he. He continued to teach and attract new followers in the Medvedevka region in the coming years.

In 1798-1799 he traveled to the Land of Israel, where he was received with honor by the Hasidim living in Haifa, Tiberias, and Safed. In Tiberias, his influence brought about a reconciliation between the Lithuanian and Volhynian Hasidim. Upon his return to Ukraine, he visited the Shpola Zeide, who greeted him with great respect and affection and hosted a festive meal in his honor.

Shortly before Rosh Hashana 1800, Rebbe Nachman decided to move to the town of Zlatopol. The townspeople received him with great honor and invited him to have the final word on who would lead the Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur prayer services. The man chosen to lead Neilah, the final prayer service of Yom Kippur, did not meet the Rebbe's approval. Suddenly the man was struck dumb and forced to step down, to his great embarrassment. After the fast of Yom Kippur ended, Rebbe Nachman spoke in a light-hearted way about what the man's true intentions had been, and the man was so incensed that he denounced Rebbe Nachman to the Shpoler Zeide in nearby Shpola. This began the Shpoler Zeide's vehement campaign against Breslov Hasidism (see below, "Controversy about his beliefs").

In 1802 Rebbe Nachman moved to the town of Bratslav, Ukraine, known in the Jewish world as "Breslov". Here he declared, "Today we have planted the name of the Breslover Hasidim. This name will never disappear, because my followers will always be called after the town of Breslov" (Tzaddik #115).

His move brought him into contact with Nathan of Breslov ("Reb Noson"), a 22-year-old Torah scholar who was then living in the nearby town of Nemirov, located eight miles north of Breslov. In Rebbe Nachman, Reb Noson found a teacher and personal adviser with whom he was intimately associated for the next eight years. Reb Nusn became the Rebbe's scribe, recording all his formal lessons as well as transcribing Nachman's magnum opus, Likutey Moharan. After Nachman's death, Reb Noson also recorded all the informal conversations he and other disciples had had with him, and published all of Rebbe Nachman's works as well as his own commentaries on them.

Rebbe Nachman and his wife Sashia had six daughters and two sons. Two daughters died in infancy and the two sons (Ya'akov and Shlomo Efraim) both died within a year and a half of their births. Their surviving children were Adil, Sarah, Miriam, and Chayah. All their descendants came from Adil, Sarah, and Chayah.Sashia died of tuberculosis in 1807. At the same time as Rebbe Nachman became engaged to his second wife (name unknown) in the summer of 1807, he contracted tuberculosis, and predicted that this sickness would take his life.

In May 1810, a fire broke out in Bratslav, destroying the Rebbe's home. A group of maskilim (enlightened Jews) living in Uman, Ukraine invited him to live in their town, and made accommodations for him in rented homes when his sickness worsened. Many years before, Rebbe Nachman had passed through Uman and told his disciples, "This is a good place to be buried." He was referring to the cemetery where more than 20,000 Jewish martyrs were buried following the Haidamak massacre of 1768. Rebbe Nachman died of tuberculosis at the age of 38 on the second day of Chol HaMoed Sukkot, and was buried in that cemetery.

During the Rebbe's lifetime, thousands of Hasidim traveled to be with him for the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashana, Chanuka, and Shavuot, when he delivered his formal lessons. On the last Rosh Hashana of his life, Rebbe Nachman stressed to his followers the importance of being with him for that holiday in particular. Therefore, after the Rebbe's death, Reb Noson instituted an annual pilgrimage to the Rebbe's gravesite on Rosh Hashana.

This annual pilgrimage, called the Rosh Hashana kibbutz, drew thousands of Hasidim from all over Ukraine, White Russia, Lithuania and even Poland until 1917, when the Bolshevik Revolution forced it to continue clandestinely. Only a dozen or so Hasidim risked making the annual pilgrimage during the Communist era, as the authorities regularly raided the gathering and often arrested and imprisoned worshippers. Beginning in the mid-1960s, Hasidim who lived outside Russia began to sneak into Uman to pray at Rebbe Nachman's grave during the year. After the fall of Communism in 1989, the gates were reopened entirely. Today, more than 20,000 people from all over the world participate in this annual pilgrimage.

His teachings - In his short life, Rebbe Nachman achieved much acclaim as a teacher and spiritual leader, and is considered a seminal figure in the history of Hasidism. His contributions to Hasidic Judaism include the following:

He rejected the idea of hereditary Hasidic dynasties, and taught that each Hasid must "search for the tzaddik ('saintly/righteous person')" for himself -- and within himself. He believed that every Jew has the potential to become a tzaddik (Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom, p. 29).

He emphasized that a tzaddik should magnify the blessings on the community through his mitzvot. However, the tzaddik cannot "absolve" a Hasid of his sins, and the Hasid should pray only to God, not to the Rebbe. The purpose of confiding in another human being is to unburden the soul as part of the process of repentance and healing. (Modern psychology supports this idea, which is the "Fifth Step" in many 12-step programs for recovery.)

In his early life, he stressed the practice of fasting and self-castigation as the most effective means of repentance. In later years, however, he abandoned these severe ascetisms because he felt they may lead to depression and sadness. He told his followers not to be "fanatics". Rather, they should choose one personal mitzvah to be very strict about, and do the others with the normal amount of care (Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom #235).

He encouraged his disciples to take every opportunity to increase holiness in themselves and their daily activities. For example, by marrying and living with one's spouse according to Torah law, one elevates sexual intimacy to an act bespeaking honor and respect to the God-given powers of procreation. This in turn safeguards the sign of the covenant, the brit milah ("covenant of circumcision") which is considered the symbol of the everlasting pact between God and the Jewish people.

He urged everyone to seek out his own and others' good points in order to approach life in a state of continual happiness. If one cannot find any "good points" in himself, let him search his deeds. If he finds that his deeds were driven by ulterior motives or improper thoughts, let him search for the positive aspects within them. And if he cannot find any good points, he should at least be happy that he is a Jew. This "good point" is God's doing, not his.

He placed great stress on living with faith, simplicity, and joy. He encouraged his followers to clap, sing and dance during or after their prayers, bringing them to a closer relationship with God.

He emphasized the importance of intellectual learning and Torah scholarship. "You can originate Torah novellae, but do not change anything in the laws of the Shulchan Aruch!" he said. He and his disciples were thoroughly familiar with all the classic texts of Judaism, including the Talmud and its commentaries, Midrash, and Shulchan Aruch.

He frequently recited extemporaneous prayers. He taught that his followers should spend an hour alone each day, talking aloud to God in his or her own words, as if "talking to a good friend." This is in addition to the prayers in the siddur. Breslover Hasidim still follow this practice today, which is known as hitbodedut (literally, "to make oneself be in solitude"). Rebbe Nachman taught that the best place to do hitbodedut was in a field or forest, among the natural works of God's creation.

Tikkun Ha-Klali (The General Remedy) - Another prominent feature of Rebbe Nachman's teachings is his Tikkun Ha-Klali ("General Remedy") for spiritual correction. This general rectification can override the spiritual harm caused by many sins, or one sin whose ramifications are many. Rebbe Nachman revealed that ten specific Psalms, recited in this order: Psalms 16, 32, 41, 42, 59, 77, 90, 105, 137, and 150, constitute a special remedy for the sin of wasting seed, which defiles the sign of the covenant (the brit milah) and, by extension, all the other mitzvot. Most Breslover Hasidim try to say the Tikkun Ha-Klali daily.

In April 1810, Rebbe Nachman called two of his closest disciples, Rabbi Aharon of Breslov and Rabbi Naphtali of Nemirov, to act as witnesses for an unprecedented vow:

"If someone comes to my grave, gives a coin to charity, and says these ten Psalms [the Tikkun Ha-Klali], I will pull him out from the depths of Gehinnom!" (Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom #141). "It makes no difference what he did until that day, but from that day on, he must take upon himself not to return to his foolish ways" (Tzaddik #229).

This vow spurred many followers to undertake the trip to Rebbe Nachman's grave, even during the Communist crackdown.

Rabbi Nachman had to move from Breslav due to a horrible fire in the city. The fire destroyed many homes, as well as the Rabbi’s house. He relocated to Uman, which was the last city he lived in. Rabbi Nachman had much work to be done in the city. A few years before the city had a catastrophe. Thousands of Jews were murdered. Children, woman and men. Rabbi Nachman wanted to pray for the souls of the dead, to help them lift their souls to the afterlife. Rabbi Nachman asked to be buried in this city because he wanted to be berried close to the brother grave of the thousands of people who were murdered for God’s name.

In the lat years of his life Rabbi Nachman got very sick and suffered much from pain. Rabbi Nachman Died at on Sukkot’s eve and was berried in the city of Uman, near the Brother Grave, at the early age of 39.