Tiku emunah

Nachman of Bratslav

1809

Indeed, what is necessary is precisely to “cast away the mind,” because it is necessary to cast aside all rational processes and serve God simply. This is because a person’s deeds should outweigh his wisdom—and mental understanding is not essential, but rather the deed. And so a person must cast aside his thoughts and serve God simply, without any…

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Creator Bio

Nachman of Bratslav

1772–1810

Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav (or Breslov) was the great-grandson of the Ba‘al Shem Tov. As a young man, Nachman felt drawn to commune with God and reveled in the outdoors; his religious identity and antipathy toward other Hasidic leaders strengthened after his visit to the Land of Israel in 1798–1799. In 1802, he moved to Bratslav in Ukraine and attracted followers to a new, introspective form of Hasidism. He later settled in the town of Uman, leaving no successor after his death to lead Bratslav Hasidism. Rabbi Nathan Sternhartz, his disciple and amanuensis, published Nachman’s teachings. Nachman’s most significant writings are his Sipure ma’asiyot, fantasy tales with kabbalistic and folkloristic elements; and his Likute MoHaRaN, an anthology of his homiletic teachings.

Related Guide

Rabbinic Scholarship, 1750–1880

Despite the challenges of the early modern period, rabbinic scholarship flourished in Central and Eastern Europe in the latter half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century.

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