Rebbe Nachman, who passed away two hundred years ago, in Fall 1810, at the young age of 39, was both a controversial Hasidic spiritual leader and a friend of the maskilim, the secularizing free-thinkers of his time.
"Rebbe" means a spiritual guide. Immersed in the cultural ferment of Jewish life during a time of great political and social change, Rebbe Nachman was a trailblazer in many ways. A healer, he devoted himself to practical guidance for those of us who struggle with depression, as he himself did. Like his great-grandfather the Baal Shem Tov, he communed with nature and taught about the aliveness and sanctity of the trees and all growing things. He affirmed the power and importance of the prayers of women, and boldly envisioned the Divine in feminine terms. He foresaw the coming of a messianic age not through war and the rebuilding of the ancient Temple, but through gentle and practical politics, love and song.
Rebbe Nachman was a master of song; he and his disciples created haunting melodies which continue to uplift and inspire. A deep philosophical thinker, he sought new ways through the age-old dilemmas of faith and reason. He exalted personal meditation and outpouring of the heart in one's own language, more than the standardized Hebrew of the prayerbook. He elevated dance to a spiritual practice, and taught the importance of cultivating joy in all ways, even through joking.
Rebbe Nachman's dreamlike stories, studied by his followers for their mystical meanings, have been as popular among secular intellectuals as among Hasidim themselves. Spontaneously told by Rebbe Nachman in the Yiddish vernacular, and printed by his followers both in Hebrew (loshn-koydesh) and Yiddish, these stories are recognized as among the early classics of modern Yiddish literature and are treasured by spiritual seekers today.
When Rebbe Nachman passed away, his followers did not disband or choose a successor, but continued to look to his teachings and his spiritual presence for leadership. His burial place in Uman, Ukraine, has become a place of pilgrimage, year round and especially at Rosh Hashanah, when (since the fall of the Iron Curtain) tens of thousands gather there for prayer and fellowship. Breslov Hasidism has grown from a small group in Rebbe Nachman’s own lifetime to a vital and very diverse movement within and beyond traditional Judaism. Rebbe Nachman inspires many who are not traditional, or not religious, or not Jewish ~ appropriately, since he yearned to be a Rebbe not only for Hasidic Jews but for all people.