What Breslov is, and how it began

Breslov is the branch of Chassidus founded by Rebbe Nachman (1772–1810), a great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov. Its whole orientation is a warm, joyous, personal bond with Hashem, worked out in daily life through emunah, simcha, hisbodedus and teshuvah.

The name comes from the Ukrainian town of Breslov (also spelled Bratslav), on the River Bug between Nemirov and Tulchin, where Rebbe Nachman lived for the last eight years of his life. As was the custom, the group took its name from the Rebbe's town and has kept it ever since. The Rebbe gave the name a deeper meaning: בְּרֶסְלֶב has the same letters as לֵב בָּשָׂר, the "heart of flesh" of Yechezkel's prophecy (36:26). He said his followers would always be known as the Chassidim of Breslov.

One feature sets Breslov apart from every other Chassidus. Rebbe Nachman appointed no successor and rejected the idea of a dynasty. When he was niftar his Chassidim saw no one of his stature to replace him, and rather than choose a new Rebbe they continued to look to Rebbe Nachman himself as "the Rebbe," studying his writings and following his directives. This earned them the affectionate nickname toite Chassidim ("the dead Chassidim") — a name they wear with pride, holding that the tzaddik is greater after his passing than during his lifetime (Chullin 7b). In this sense the movement has been guided for over two hundred years by a succession of manhigim (guiding elders) rather than by a living Rebbe.

Rebbe Nachman (1772–1810)

Rebbe Nachman was born on Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh Nissan 5532 (4 April 1772) in Medzeboz, the town of the Baal Shem Tov. His mother Feiga was a granddaughter of the Baal Shem Tov; his father, Reb Simcha, was the son of Reb Nachman Horodenker, one of the Baal Shem Tov's closest talmidim, after whom he was named.

Even as a child he gave himself over to avodas Hashem, and from a young age practised hisbodedus — secluded conversation with Hashem in the fields and forests, often at night and often in tears. He married at thirteen, and over the years lived in Ossatin, Medvedevka and Zlatipolia. In 1798–1799, at the height of the Napoleonic upheaval, he made a perilous pilgrimage to Eretz Yisroel, visiting Haifa, Teveria and Tzfas.

The turning point came when he moved to Breslov in 1802. Nearby in Nemirov lived a young scholar from a family of Misnagdim, Reb Noson Sternhartz, who became his closest talmid and scribe. Rebbe Nachman later said: "Were it not for Reb Noson, not a page of my writings would have remained."

In his final years the Rebbe turned to teaching through maasiyos (tales). He contracted tuberculosis, which he said would take his life, and in 1810 — after a great fire destroyed his house in Breslov — he moved to Uman, choosing it deliberately to lie among the some twenty thousand kedoshim massacred there in 1768, and so his Chassidim would have access to his kever. There he issued his famous call, אֵין שׁוּם יֵאוּשׁ בָּעוֹלָם כְּלָל — "Never despair" — and gathered his Chassidim for Rosh Hashanah. He was niftar on the fourth day of Sukkos, 18 Tishrei 5571 (16 October 1810), aged thirty-eight, and is buried in Uman.

The seforim of Rebbe Nachman

לִקּוּטֵי מוֹהֲרַ״ן (Likutei Moharan) — his magnum opus and the foundational text of Breslov. Part I was printed in 1808, the second part (Tinyana) in 1811. These are his deep Torah discourses, weaving Tanach, Shas, Midrash, Zohar and Kabbalah into practical avodas Hashem. It is the heart of this entire website — every other work is shown growing out of it.

סִפּוּרֵי מַעֲשִׂיּוֹת (Sippurei Maasiyos) — "Rebbe Nachman's Stories," thirteen tales he told towards the end of his life. These are treated as Torah themselves, holding the deepest secrets possible: they contain the entire Torah within them, and were drawn down from an even higher spiritual dimension than the Torah itself — a dimension called Atik. Rebbe Nachman said that even just hearing one of these stories, without understanding any of the deep ideas behind it, can bring a person to do teshuvah (Likutei Moharan I:60). The longest and most celebrated is The Seven Beggars; the first is The Lost Princess.

סֵפֶר הַמִּדּוֹת (Sefer HaMidos, the Aleph-Bes Book) — practical advice on character and conduct, gleaned from Torah sources and arranged alphabetically by topic. He began assembling it in his childhood.

Tikkun HaKlali — the order of ten Psalms (16, 32, 41, 42, 59, 77, 90, 105, 137, 150) revealed as a general remedy, with commentary by Reb Noson.

שִׂיחוֹת הָרַ״ן (Sichos HaRan) and שִׁבְחֵי הָרַ״ן (Shivchei HaRan) — the Rebbe's conversations, sayings and biographical praises, recorded by Reb Noson. There are also the additional, collected stories that he told, and the hidden writings — the "Burned Book" and the "Hidden Book" — which he wrote and then destroyed, said to be too lofty for this world.

Reb Noson (1780–1844)

If Rebbe Nachman was the wellspring, Reb Noson was the vessel that carried the water to the world. Without him there would be no Breslov.

Reb Noson Sternhartz was born in Nemirov in 1780. Though raised among Misnagdim, he was drawn to Chassidus, and when Rebbe Nachman moved to nearby Breslov in 1802 the twenty-two-year-old became his closest talmid and his scribe, writing down the Rebbe's teachings and conversations.

After the Rebbe's petirah, Reb Noson bought a printing press, printed all of Rebbe Nachman's writings, wrote his own seforim, and travelled hundreds of miles by horse and wagon to strengthen the Chassidim. He organised the first Rosh Hashanah kibbutz at the Rebbe's kever (1811) and later built the large Breslov shul in Uman. He bore great poverty and, from 1834, fierce persecution instigated by the Savraner Rebbe, including imprisonment and exile, which only waned with the Savraner's death in 1838. Reb Noson was niftar on 10 Teves 5605 (20 December 1844) in Breslov.

The seforim of Reb Noson

לִקּוּטֵי הֲלָכוֹת (Likutei Halachos) — his own magnum opus, eight volumes following the order of the Shulchan Aruch, showing how every halachah flows from Rebbe Nachman's teachings in Likutei Moharan. It is often described as "Rebbe Nachman's mind in Reb Noson's words." On this site you can see, lesson by lesson, exactly how a Torah becomes a halachah.

לִקּוּטֵי תְּפִלּוֹת (Likutei Tefilos) — personal prayers Reb Noson composed out of the lessons of Likutei Moharan, fulfilling the Rebbe's teaching to turn Torah into tefillah. The English edition is titled The Fiftieth Gate.

לִקּוּטֵי עֵצוֹת (Likutei Eitzos) — practical advice culled from Likutei Moharan and arranged by topic.

He also wrote חַיֵּי מוֹהֲרַ״ן (Chayei Moharan, biographical material and teachings about the Rebbe), Yemei Moharnat (his own diary), Alim Litrufah (his collected letters of chizuk), the Kitzur Likutei Moharan (an abridgement made at the Rebbe's request), and Shemos HaTzaddikim — a compilation of the names of the tzaddikim, recited as a segulah, which rests on the Rebbe's teaching that mentioning tzaddikim can effect a change in מַעֲשֵׂה בְּרֵאשִׁית. You can browse those names in the שֶׁבַח הַצַּדִּיקִים section.

The chain of teachers after Reb Noson

Because there is no living Rebbe, the mesorah passed through a chain of outstanding manhigim, each of whom both led and wrote.

Second generation

Reb Nachman Chazan of Tulchin (1813–1884) — Reb Noson's most intimate talmid and the leader after him, who published the volumes of Likutei Halachos. Reb Nachman Goldstein, the Tcheriner Rov (d. 1894) — the towering scholar of the generation, who wrote the first systematic commentary on Likutei Moharan, Parparaos LeChochmah, along with many other works, and published Chayei Moharan. Also Reb Yitzchok Sternhartz (Reb Noson's son) and the close talmidim Reb Moshe Breslover and Reb Efraim b'Reb Naftali.

Third generation

Reb Avraham b'Reb Nachman Chazan (1849–1917) — one of the deepest minds in Breslov, author of Biur HaLikutim and Kochavei Or. Reb Avraham Sternhartz (1862–1955) — the great bridge from the Ukraine to Eretz Yisroel, baal tefillah for Rosh Hashanah for some seventy years, whose talmidim include almost every major twentieth-century leader. Reb Yitzchok Breiter (1886–1943) spread Breslov through Poland and was murdered in Treblinka. Reb Alter Tepliker pioneered the popular Breslov anthologies, and Reb Yisrael Karduner was a source of many Breslov niggunim.

Rebuilding in Eretz Yisroel and America

Reb Eliyahu Chaim Rosen founded the Breslov Yeshivah in Yerushalayim in the 1950s. Reb Levi Yitzchok Bender (1897–1989) headed the Breslov shul in Yerushalayim and drew thousands of baalei teshuvah. Reb Gedaliah Aharon Koenig rebuilt the community in Tzfas. Reb Zvi Aryeh Rosenfeld (1922–1978) brought Breslov to America and initiated the first English translations. Among today's leaders are Reb Yaakov Meir Shechter and Reb Elazar Mordechai Kenig.

Signature practices & the Uman Rosh Hashanah kibbutz

Rebbe Nachman's whole derech is avodah rather than theory. A few practices carry the entire path:

הִתְבּוֹדְדוּת (hisbodedus) — secluded, personal conversation with the Aibishter in one's own words, ideally an hour a day in the fields. The Rebbe called it higher than everything (Likutei Moharan II:25). You can explore it in its own Hisbodedus section.

שִׂמְחָה (simcha) — joy as the ground of all avodah: מִצְוָה גְּדוֹלָה לִהְיוֹת בְּשִׂמְחָה תָּמִיד (Likutei Moharan II:24).

Never despairing — אֵין שׁוּם יֵאוּשׁ בָּעוֹלָם כְּלָל — and the well-known teaching that the whole world is a very narrow bridge, the essence of which is not to make oneself afraid (Likutei Moharan II:48).

אֲזַמְּרָה (azamra) — finding the good point in oneself and in every Jew (Likutei Moharan I:282).

The Uman Rosh Hashanah kibbutz. The Rebbe placed enormous weight on his followers being with him for Rosh Hashanah, saying it was his entire endeavour and that no one should be missing. Reb Noson established the annual gathering at the kever after the Rebbe's petirah, and it remains the central event of the Breslover year, drawing many thousands to Uman.

Breslov also offers a remarkable map of the human being — the way each limb and faculty mirrors a spiritual reality. You can explore that in the גוּף הָאָדָם · Anatomy of the Soul section.

The Breslov Research Institute & the modern English corpus

The much-loved English Breslov library is largely the work of the Breslov Research Institute (BRI), whose chain runs straight back through the manhigim above. At Reb Zvi Aryeh Rosenfeld's urging, his talmid Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan (1934–1983) produced the first reliable English translation of any of the Rebbe's writings, Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom, in 1973. In 1979 his son-in-law Rabbi Chaim Kramer founded BRI to continue the work.

Since then BRI has produced Rabbi Nachman's Stories and Until the Mashiach (the day-by-day biography), the complete fifteen-volume annotated English Likutei Moharan, the English Kitzur Likutei Moharan, the Breslov Siddur, the elucidated English Likutei Halachos, The Fiftieth Gate (English Likutei Tefilos), and over a hundred titles in print — also in Hebrew, Spanish, Russian and French.

How to begin

The simplest way in is to start with the heart of it all — Likutei Moharan — pick a lesson, and watch how that single teaching blossoms across Likutei Halachos, Likutei Tefilos and Likutei Eitzos. From there, follow your curiosity. Everything on this site is an index and study map pointing you to the texts themselves.

Sources: drawn primarily from the Breslov Research Institute (Crossing the Narrow Bridge, Until the Mashiach, Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom) and breslov.org, supplemented by Sefaria and corroborating references.