Rav Nosson Sternhartz

Early years

Rav Nosson Sternhartz zt"l was born on 15 Shevat 5540 (1780) in Nemirov, Ukraine. He was the firstborn son of Rav Naftoli Hertz Sternhartz, a talmid chacham who was also a wealthy businessman, and of Chaya Laneh. He had three brothers, Reb Yudel, Reb Yosef and Reb Leibush, and one sister whose name is not known.

As a boy Rav Nosson excelled in learning and was known as a lamdan (a sharp, thorough Torah scholar). He also learned his father's business. At thirteen he married Esther Shaindel, the daughter of Rav Dovid Tzvi Orbach, who served as rav in Mohilev, Sharograd and Kremenetz. Both his father and his father-in-law were firm opponents of Chassidus.

Although he was a learned scholar, Rav Nosson felt that something was missing in his ruchniyus (spiritual life). He began visiting the courts of Rebbes, among them Rav Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev and Rav Shalom Shachna of Prohobitch. He was impressed by the sincerity of their chassidim, yet he could not reach the same intensity in his own avodah.

Torah and leadership

In 5562 (1802) Rebbe Nachman moved to Breslov, about nine miles south of Nemirov, a three-hour journey by horse in those days. Rav Nosson went to meet him. Rav Nachman was only eight years older, but Rav Nosson found in him the guide he had been seeking and became his devoted talmid and chassid for life.

His family at first opposed his connection with Chassidus. They relented when they saw that his Torah learning and yiras Shamayim only grew stronger under Rav Nachman's influence.

Rav Nosson served as his Rebbe's scribe. Many of Rav Nachman's lessons were given on Shabbos and Yom Tov, when writing is forbidden, so they had to be recorded afterward. Rav Nosson had an extraordinary memory and could recall many lessons almost word for word. He then showed his manuscript to Rav Nachman, who made final corrections. Some lessons Rav Nachman dictated line by line in Yiddish after the Shabbos or Yom Tov, and Rav Nosson translated them into Hebrew. In his later publications he carefully marked whether a lesson had been reviewed and approved by Rav Nachman himself or was a more informal account, and he kept the Rebbe's own words clearly apart from his own comments.

Rav Nachman passed away in Tishrei 5571 (1810). Rav Nosson then moved to Breslov and became known as Rav Nosson of Breslov. He became the leader of the Breslover chassidim, but not their Rebbe, because Rav Nachman had not appointed a successor or founded a dynasty. He poured his energy into strengthening the movement while keeping a demanding schedule of his own learning. He bought a printing press, and he printed all of Rav Nachman's writings, along with the conversations that he and others remembered having with him. He also wrote and published original discourses of his own. He wrote to Breslover chassidim across Ukraine and visited them several times a year.

Rav Nosson made Uman, where Rav Nachman is buried, the center of Breslover Chassidus. Before Rosh Hashanah 5572 (1811) he organized the first kibbutz (gathering) at the tziyun (gravesite), which grew into an annual pilgrimage that he led until his passing. Around 1830 he raised funds for a shul in Uman to hold the growing crowds and composed prayers for the chassidim to say at the Rebbe's kever. In 5581 (1821) he traveled to Eretz Yisroel, as Rav Nachman had done years earlier.

Opposition to the Breslover chassidim, which had already existed in Rav Nachman's lifetime, now turned toward Rav Nosson, who would not take up the mantle of leadership and kept spreading his Rebbe's teachings as if the Rebbe were still alive. In late 1834, after the Breslover shul opened in Uman, Rav Moshe Tzvi of Savran led a campaign against him. Opponents denounced him to the Russian authorities as a false prophet acting against the Czar. Rav Nosson was arrested, charged with treason, exiled to Nemirov and kept under house arrest.

A week before Rosh Hashanah he obtained a travel permit and went secretly to Uman. He was discovered and arrested on the night before Rosh Hashanah, but non-observant Jews in Uman who had been friendly with Rav Nachman intervened for him and allowed him to stay for the Yom Tov. After the Savraner Rebbe passed away in 1838, his followers' opposition to Breslov cooled, and Rav Nosson was able to return to Breslov later that year.

Teachings and seforim

Rav Nosson arranged and published the writings of Rav Nachman. These include Likutei Moharan (volume one in Ostrog in 1808, volume two in Mohilev in 1811, volume three in Ostrog in 1815), Sefer HaMiddos (the Aleph-Bais Book, Mohilev, 1821), Tikkun HaKlali, which he published as a separate volume in 1821 with his own commentary, and Sipurei Maasios, the Rebbe's stories in Hebrew and Yiddish, first printed in 1815. The best known of these tales is The Seven Beggars.

He also wrote seforim of his own. Alim LeTerufah is a collection of his letters. Chayei Moharan gathers material on Rav Nachman's life, including how his lessons were revealed, his dreams and visions, and conversations and anecdotes. Kitzur Likutei Moharan follows the outline of Likutei Moharan and highlights its practical advice. Rav Nosson began it at Rav Nachman's own request in 1805 and published it in 1811. Rav Yisroel Halpern published an expanded edition with notes in 1913, which became the standard one. Likutei Eitzos lists practical advice from the lessons of Likutei Moharan in alphabetical order.

Likutei Halachos, his major work, follows the order of the Shulchan Aruch and explains halachos and practices in light of Breslover teachings. Likutei Tefillos is a collection of prayers based on Rav Nachman's lessons. Shemos HaTzaddikim lists most of the tzaddikim found in Tanach, Gemara, Midrash and Zohar, including the Geonim, Rishonim and Acharonim up to his own day. Shivchei HaRan and Sichos HaRan describe Rav Nachman's journey to Eretz Yisroel in 1798 to 1799 and collect his teachings and stories, and Yemei Moharnat is Rav Nosson's autobiography.

Later years and passing

His wife Esther Shaindel passed away in September 1826, and in October 1826 Rav Nosson married Dishel, a widow who had a son and a daughter of her own. With his first wife he had three sons, Shachneh, Yitzchok and Dovid Tzvi, and a daughter, Chana Tzirel. With Dishel he had two more sons, Nachman and Yosef Yonah.

Rav Nosson passed away on Erev Shabbos, 10 Teves 5605 (20 December 1844), shortly before Shabbos began. He is buried in Breslov, in the old Jewish cemetery overlooking the Bug River.

Legacy

Rav Nachman himself said that without Reb Noson not a single page of his writings would have survived. Through his scribing, his printing press and his devoted travels, Rav Nosson preserved his Rebbe's teachings, gave Breslover Chassidus its structure, and made it possible for it to continue to grow, even without a Rebbe at its head.