Breslov (Hasidic dynasty) - Revision history

Chabad Bot: Add material from Biale et al., Hasidism: A New History (2018) on settlement, territorial withdrawal, Arabs/Palestinians, violence and Zionism

2026-10-29T14:50:18Z

Add material from Biale et al., Hasidism: A New History (2018) on settlement, territorial withdrawal, Arabs/Palestinians, violence and Zionism

Chabad Bot: Restore and add material from Biale et al., Hasidism: A New History (2018), pp. 710, 735–739, 798

2026-10-29T14:25:34Z

Restore and add material from Biale et al., Hasidism: A New History (2018), pp. 710, 735–739, 798

Show changes

Chabad Bot: v2 rewrite (pilot): sourced history, groups table, Uman, occupied territories, finances table, convictions/civil/allegations separated; unsourced claims removed

2026-10-26T22:48:08Z

v2 rewrite (pilot): sourced history, groups table, Uman, occupied territories, finances table, convictions/civil/allegations separated; unsourced claims removed

Show changes

Geography Bot: Remove Anti-Zionism category: the page does not describe an anti-Zionist position (stance varies by faction)

2026-10-22T16:49:21Z

Remove Anti-Zionism category: the page does not describe an anti-Zionist position (stance varies by faction)

Chabad Bot: Link fix: Nachman of Breslov; See also Soviet Jewish underground

2026-10-22T13:56:56Z

Link fix: Nachman of Breslov; See also Soviet Jewish underground

Jewish Charity Bot: Category overhaul (approved)

2026-10-17T13:02:28Z

Category overhaul (approved)

D-Backup at 10:49, 14 September 2026

2026-09-14T10:49:39Z

D-Backup at 10:47, 14 September 2026

2026-09-14T10:47:44Z

Show changes

David at 15:14, 23 September 2024

2024-09-23T15:14:58Z

David: Created page with "'''Breslov''' (also '''Bratslav''', also spelled '''Breslev''') is a branch of Hasidic Judaism founded by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (1772–1810), a great-grand..."

2024-09-23T09:32:01Z

Created page with "'''Breslov''' (also '''Bratslav''', also spelled '''Breslev''') is a branch of Hasidic Judaism founded by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (1772–1810), a great-grand..."

New page

'''Breslov''' (also '''Bratslav''', also spelled '''Breslev''') is a branch of [[Hasidic Judaism]] founded by [[Rebbe]] [[Nachman of Breslov]] (1772–1810), a great-grandson of the [[Baal Shem Tov]], founder of Hasidism. Its adherents strive to develop an intense, joyous relationship with [[God in Judaism|God]], and receive guidance toward this goal from the teachings of Rebbe Nachman.

The movement has had no central, living leader for the past 200 years, as Rebbe Nachman did not designate a successor. As such, they are sometimes referred to as the טויטע חסידים (the "Dead Hasidim"), since they have never had another formal Rebbe since Nachman's death. However, certain groups and communities under the Breslov banner refer to their leaders as "Rebbe".

The movement weathered strong opposition from virtually all other Hasidic movements in [[Ukraine]] throughout the 19th century, yet, at the same time, experienced growth in numbers of followers from Ukraine, [[History of the Jews in Belarus|Belarus]], [[History of the Jews in Lithuania|Lithuania]], and [[History of the Jews in Poland|Poland]]. By [[World War I]], thousands of Breslov Hasidim were located in those places. After the [[Bolshevik Revolution]], [[Communism|Communist]] crackdowns forced the movement underground in Russia. Thousands of Hasidim were imprisoned or executed during [[Stalin]]'s [[Great Purge]] of the 1930s, and killed by the [[Nazism|Nazis]], who invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. The movement was regenerated in the [[History of the Jews in United Kingdom|United Kingdom]], the [[History of the Jews in the United States|United States]], and [[Israel]], by those who escaped, with large numbers of [[Yemenite Jews]] and other [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahim]] joining the sect.

==Notes==
<references/>

@@ Line 78: / Line 78: @@
 In December 2010 ''Haaretz'' reported that Berland had "reinstated himself" at the head of the community. He said he had been "exploited for years by the powerful court built around him by his son and grandson".<ref name="Haaretz2010" />
-According to Biale and his co-authors, Berland (born 1937) first tried to attract students from Lithuanian yeshivot, but had most success with secular young people, some of them with links to the criminal underworld.<ref name="BialeBook737" /> Before his downfall he drew many students, some of whom, such as [[Shalom Arush]] and [[Ofer Erez]], became Bratslav leaders in their own right.<ref name="BialeBook738" />
+According to Biale and his co-authors, Berland (born 1937) first tried to attract students from Lithuanian yeshivot, but had most success with secular young people, some of them with links to the criminal underworld.<ref name="BialeBook737" /> They write that he adopted "a peculiar concoction of political ideologies, blending the radical anti-Zionism of Satmar, which usually demands political and military pacifism, with a sharply militant anti-Arabism, of a spirit close to that of the far-right in Israel".<ref name="BialeBook737" /> Before his downfall he drew many students, some of whom, such as [[Shalom Arush]] and [[Ofer Erez]], became Bratslav leaders in their own right.<ref name="BialeBook738" />
 === Na Nach ===

@@ Line 118: / Line 118: @@
 [[Category:Israel]]
 [[Category:Zionist movement]]
 [[Category:Yeshivas in the West Bank]]
 [[Category:Zionist movement UK]]

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 '''[[Breslov]]''' (also '''Bratslav''', '''Breslev''') is a branch of [[Hasidic Judaism]] founded by [[Nachman of Breslov]] (1772–1810), a great-grandson of the [[Baal Shem Tov]]. Adherents seek a joyous, personal bond with God through his teachings, especially daily ''hitbodedut'' (solitary spoken prayer) and the annual Rosh Hashanah gathering at his grave in [[Uman]], Ukraine.<ref name="BRIUman">Breslov Research Institute, [https://breslov.org/getting-to-uman/ Getting to Uman] ''Breslov.org'', accessed September 2026.</ref>
-[[Nachman]] named no successor. Followers are therefore sometimes called the “dead Hasidim” (טויטע חסידים). Distinct groups still style their own rabbis “rebbe.”<ref name="Otzar">Otzar Breslov, [https://otzarbreslov.com/ A Treasury of Breslov Torah, Stories & Advice] ''Otzar Breslov'', accessed September 2026.</ref> Unlike closed hereditary courts such as [[Satmar]] or [[Ger (Hasidic dynasty)|Ger]], Breslov is a cluster of networks, many built by ''baalei teshuvah'' (returnees), including large numbers of so called [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]] and [[Yemenite Jews]].
+[[Nachman of Breslov|Nachman]] named no successor. Followers are therefore sometimes called the “dead Hasidim” (טויטע חסידים). Distinct groups still style their own rabbis “rebbe.”<ref name="Otzar">Otzar Breslov, [https://otzarbreslov.com/ A Treasury of Breslov Torah, Stories & Advice] ''Otzar Breslov'', accessed September 2026.</ref> Unlike closed hereditary courts such as [[Satmar]] or [[Ger (Hasidic dynasty)|Ger]], Breslov is a cluster of networks, many built by ''baalei teshuvah'' (returnees), including large numbers of so called [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]] and [[Yemenite Jews]].
 [[Marcin Wodziński]] put fully committed Breslov households at about 7,000 in the mid-2010s, while noting that affiliation is looser than in other courts and that admirers and occasional pilgrims far outnumber core Hasidim. Popular Israeli estimates of “100,000 or more” mix committed Hasidim with a wider cultural following.<ref name="Rosenfeld">Shlomi Rosenfeld, [https://www.shlomirosenfeld.co.il/en/kmusa/israeli-breslavers The Breslovers: Joy, Uman, and Hasidism in Israeli Culture] accessed September 2026.</ref>
@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 == History ==
-[[Nachman]] settled in Bratslav in 1802. His scribe [[Nathan of Breslov|Noson Sternhartz]] (Reb Noson) preserved ''Likutei Moharan'' and organised the first Rosh Hashanah ''kibbutz'' at the Uman grave in 1811 after [[Nachman]]’s death.<ref name="Otzar" /> Other Hasidic courts in Ukraine attacked Breslovers through the nineteenth century.
+[[Nachman of Breslov|Nachman]] settled in Bratslav in 1802. His scribe [[Nathan of Breslov|Noson Sternhartz]] (Reb Noson) preserved ''Likutei Moharan'' and organised the first Rosh Hashanah ''kibbutz'' at the Uman grave in 1811 after [[Nachman of Breslov|Nachman]]’s death.<ref name="Otzar" /> Other Hasidic courts in Ukraine attacked Breslovers through the nineteenth century.
 By the First World War there were thousands of Breslovers in Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Poland. [[Yitzchok Breiter]] spread the teaching in interwar Poland and was murdered at Treblinka. Soviet rule drove the movement underground; [[Michel Dorfman]] later coordinated clandestine Uman visits. Nazis and Stalinist purges destroyed most East European communities.<ref name="BRIUman" /> Survivors rebuilt in the [[United Kingdom]], the [[United States]] and Israel.
@@ Line 44: / Line 44: @@
 == Uman pilgrimage ==
-[[Nachman]] said his “entire mission is Rosh Hashanah.” The Uman ''kibbutz'' grew from a few dozen visitors in the early 1990s to tens of thousands, overwhelmingly Israeli men.<ref name="YnetWhy">Ynet, [https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/bjpbfv2ygx Why do tens of thousands of Israelis travel to Uman on Rosh Hashanah?] ''Ynet News'', 27 August 2025.</ref> Organisers have spoken of more than 35,000 in peacetime years.<ref name="BRIUman" /> An Israel Democracy Institute survey reported that 8 per cent of adult Jewish Israelis have visited the grave at least once (13 per cent of Mizrahi Jews).<ref name="RISU2026">Religious Information Service of Ukraine, [https://risu.ua/en/8-of-adult-jews-in-israel-have-pilgrimage-experience-at-rabbi-nachmans-tomb-in-uman_n166302 8% of adult Jews in Israel have pilgrimage experience at Rabbi Nachman's gravesite in Uman] ''RISU'', 11 September 2026.</ref>
+[[Nachman of Breslov|Nachman]] said his “entire mission is Rosh Hashanah.” The Uman ''kibbutz'' grew from a few dozen visitors in the early 1990s to tens of thousands, overwhelmingly Israeli men.<ref name="YnetWhy">Ynet, [https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/bjpbfv2ygx Why do tens of thousands of Israelis travel to Uman on Rosh Hashanah?] ''Ynet News'', 27 August 2025.</ref> Organisers have spoken of more than 35,000 in peacetime years.<ref name="BRIUman" /> An Israel Democracy Institute survey reported that 8 per cent of adult Jewish Israelis have visited the grave at least once (13 per cent of Mizrahi Jews).<ref name="RISU2026">Religious Information Service of Ukraine, [https://risu.ua/en/8-of-adult-jews-in-israel-have-pilgrimage-experience-at-rabbi-nachmans-tomb-in-uman_n166302 8% of adult Jews in Israel have pilgrimage experience at Rabbi Nachman's gravesite in Uman] ''RISU'', 11 September 2026.</ref>
 Ukraine has refused Israeli requests (including from [[Chaim Herzog]] and [[Tzipi Hotovely]]) to move the remains, calling the grave a cultural asset.<ref name="YnetWhy" /> During the Russia–Ukraine war the pilgrimage continued. In 2025–26 Israeli coverage focused on wartime state funding (reports of 10 million shekels) and on arrests of draft-age Haredi men at Ben Gurion Airport. Arutz Sheva reported about 70 Breslov Hasidim among those jailed as alleged deserters while trying to fly to Uman in September 2026; legal desks were set up at the Ashkenazi Kloiz in Uman for men fearing arrest on return.<ref name="INN2026">Israel National News, [https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/433073 70 Breslov Hassidim jailed after attempting to fly to Uman] ''Arutz Sheva'', 11 September 2026.</ref> Parallel Rosh Hashanah gatherings have been held at Adama V’Shamayim farm in [[Yavne'el]].<ref name="YnetGalilee">Ynet, [https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/hkmtaotuzl Breslov Hasidim recreate Uman in Israel] ''Ynet News'', 12 August 2026.</ref>
@@ Line 90: / Line 90: @@
 * [[Nachman of Breslov]]
 * [[Nathan of Breslov]]
 * [[Yisroel Ber Odesser]]

@@ Line 120: / Line 120: @@
 [[Category:Zionist movement]]
 [[Category:Yeshivas in the West Bank]]
-[[Category:Zionism in the United Kingdom]]
+[[Category:Zionist movement UK]]

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 '''[[Breslov]]''' (also '''Bratslav''', '''Breslev''') is a branch of [[Hasidic Judaism]] founded by [[Nachman of Breslov]] (1772–1810), a great-grandson of the [[Baal Shem Tov]]. Adherents seek a joyous, personal bond with God through his teachings, especially daily ''hitbodedut'' (solitary spoken prayer) and the annual Rosh Hashanah gathering at his grave in [[Uman]], Ukraine.<ref name="BRIUman">Breslov Research Institute, [https://breslov.org/getting-to-uman/ Getting to Uman] ''Breslov.org'', accessed September 2026.</ref>
-[[Nachman]] named no successor. Followers are therefore sometimes called the “dead Hasidim” (טויטע חסידים). Distinct groups still style their own rabbis “rebbe.”<ref name="Otzar">Otzar Breslov, [https://otzarbreslov.com/ A Treasury of Breslov Torah, Stories & Advice] ''Otzar Breslov'', accessed September 2026.</ref> Unlike closed hereditary courts such as [[Satmar]] or [[Ger (Hasidic dynasty)|Ger]], Breslov is a cluster of networks, many built by ''baalei teshuvah'' (returnees), including large numbers of [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]] and [[Yemenite Jews]].
+[[Nachman]] named no successor. Followers are therefore sometimes called the “dead Hasidim” (טויטע חסידים). Distinct groups still style their own rabbis “rebbe.”<ref name="Otzar">Otzar Breslov, [https://otzarbreslov.com/ A Treasury of Breslov Torah, Stories & Advice] ''Otzar Breslov'', accessed September 2026.</ref> Unlike closed hereditary courts such as [[Satmar]] or [[Ger (Hasidic dynasty)|Ger]], Breslov is a cluster of networks, many built by ''baalei teshuvah'' (returnees), including large numbers of so called [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]] and [[Yemenite Jews]].
 [[Marcin Wodziński]] put fully committed Breslov households at about 7,000 in the mid-2010s, while noting that affiliation is looser than in other courts and that admirers and occasional pilgrims far outnumber core Hasidim. Popular Israeli estimates of “100,000 or more” mix committed Hasidim with a wider cultural following.<ref name="Rosenfeld">Shlomi Rosenfeld, [https://www.shlomirosenfeld.co.il/en/kmusa/israeli-breslavers The Breslovers: Joy, Uman, and Hasidism in Israeli Culture] accessed September 2026.</ref>

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 The movement weathered strong opposition from virtually all other Hasidic movements in [[Ukraine]] throughout the 19th century, yet, at the same time, experienced growth in numbers of followers from Ukraine, [[History of the Jews in Belarus|Belarus]], [[History of the Jews in Lithuania|Lithuania]], and [[History of the Jews in Poland|Poland]]. By [[World War I]], thousands of Breslov Hasidim were located in those places. After the [[Bolshevik Revolution]], [[Communism|Communist]] crackdowns forced the movement underground in Russia. Thousands of Hasidim were imprisoned or executed during [[Stalin]]'s [[Great Purge]] of the 1930s, and killed by the [[Nazism|Nazis]], who invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. The movement was regenerated in the [[History of the Jews in United Kingdom|United Kingdom]], the [[History of the Jews in the United States|United States]], and [[Israel]], by those who escaped, with large numbers of [[Yemenite Jews]] and other [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahim]] joining the sect.
 ==Notes==
 <references/>