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Those Who Carried On Rebbe Nachman’s Path

The people who devoted their lives to preserving, studying and spreading the light of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov’s teaching, from generation to generation.

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov passed away in Uman in 1810, at the age of thirty eight. He appointed no successor, and Breslov Hasidism never had another rebbe. What kept his teaching alive was a chain of people: his disciple Reb Noson, who wrote down and printed his words; Reb Noson’s students; and the teachers who carried the tradition from Breslov and Uman to Jerusalem and Safed.

This section introduces some of them. It distinguishes carefully between those who knew Rebbe Nachman himself, those who learned from Reb Noson, and the later generations. The biographies are in Hebrew, summarized from the sources listed on each page.

The generations

Who learned from whom. Arrows join teacher and student only where the link is documented.

  1. Disciples of Rebbe Nachman

    Knew Rebbe Nachman in his lifetime and learned from him directly.

  2. Students of Reb Noson

    Born or drawn close after Rebbe Nachman passed away in 1810; they received the path from Reb Noson.

  3. Bearers of the tradition

    Students of the students, in Uman and the Land of Israel, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

  4. Spreading the teachings in the 20th century

    Those who carried the tradition from Uman to the Land of Israel, built communities and institutions, and printed the books.

The figures

  • Disciples of Rebbe Nachman · 1780 to 1844

    Reb Noson of Nemirov (Breslov)

    רבי נתן מנמירוב

    The disciple who wrote down, arranged and printed Rebbe Nachman’s teachings and composed Likutei Halachot and Likutei Tefilot.

  • Disciples of Rebbe Nachman · Rebbe Nachman’s generation

    Reb Naftali of Nemirov

    רבי נפתלי מנמירוב

    Reb Noson’s friend from youth, who came to Rebbe Nachman together with him; remembered as one of the two witnesses at the revelation of the Tikkun HaKlali.

  • Students of Reb Noson · 1813 to 1884

    Reb Nachman of Tulchin (Chazan)

    רבי נחמן מטולטשין

    An orphan from Tulchin who became Reb Noson’s closest student and attendant, then led the Breslov community in Uman until his death and completed the printing of Likutei Halachot.

  • Students of Reb Noson · 1825 to 1894

    Reb Nachman Goldstein of Tcherin

    רבי נחמן מטשערין

    Rabbi of Tcherin and the first major commentator on Likutei Moharan; his Parparaot LeChochma and some twenty other works made Rebbe Nachman’s teaching a subject of systematic study.

  • Bearers of the tradition · 1849 to 1917

    Reb Avraham Chazan

    רבי אברהם ב״ר נחמן חזן

    Son of Reb Nachman of Tulchin; he recorded his father’s traditions in Kochvei Or, wrote the Biur HaLikutim commentary, and taught many of the 20th century’s Breslov elders.

  • Bearers of the tradition · Died 1919

    Reb Alter Tepliker (Moshe Yehoshua Bezhilianski)

    רבי משה יהושע בז׳יליאנסקי

    The great Breslov compiler, who arranged the teachings of Rebbe Nachman and Reb Noson by topic in works such as Meshivat Nefesh and Hishtapchut HaNefesh; killed in the pogroms of 1919.

  • Bearers of the tradition · c. 1850 to 1918

    Reb Yisrael Karduner (Halpern)

    רבי ישראל קרדונר

    A Polish Hasid drawn to Breslov through the Tikkun HaKlali, who settled in the Land of Israel and gathered Breslov Hasidim in Safed and Tiberias; teacher of Yisrael Dov Odesser.

  • Bearers of the tradition · Died 1935

    Reb Shimshon Barsky

    רבי שמשון ברסקי

    A descendant of Rebbe Nachman and one of the leading teachers of the Uman Breslov community before the Stalinist purges; Levi Yitzchak Bender was among his students.

  • Spreading the teachings in the 20th century · Early 20th century to the 1970s

    Reb Shmuel Horowitz

    רבי שמואל הורביץ

    Safed-born; drawn to Breslov by Alter Tepliker’s book, he crossed the Soviet border to reach Uman and founded a press that published Biur HaLikutim and the Breslov traditions.

  • Spreading the teachings in the 20th century · 1897 to 1989

    Reb Levi Yitzchak Bender

    רבי לוי יצחק בנדר

    Came to Uman from Poland at seventeen and stayed some twenty years, survived Soviet arrest and persecution, and in Jerusalem became a central transmitter of the oral Breslov tradition.

  • Spreading the teachings in the 20th century · 1899 to 1984

    Reb Eliyahu Chaim Rosen

    רבי אליהו חיים רוזן

    A leader of the Uman community who emigrated to Jerusalem in the 1930s, founded the Breslov Yeshiva there and headed it for about fifty years.

  • Spreading the teachings in the 20th century · 1888 to 1994

    Reb Yisrael Dov Ber Odesser

    רבי ישראל דב אודסר

    Born in Tiberias, drawn to Breslov as a youth by Yisrael Karduner; he devoted his life to printing and spreading Rebbe Nachman’s books, and remains both well known and disputed within Breslov.

  • Spreading the teachings in the 20th century · 1921 to 1980

    Reb Gedaliah Aharon Kenig

    רבי גדליהו אהרן קניג

    Born in Jerusalem’s Old City, the leading student of Rabbi Avraham Sternhartz; he founded the Breslov community in Safed and wrote Chayei Nefesh on binding oneself to the tzaddik.