Breslov Hasidism

Breslov Hasidism is a Hasidic court, contained within Hasidic Judaism specifically rather than the broader Haredi umbrella.

Nachman of Breslov, who died in 1810 and appointed no successor.

Breslov teaching is Kabbalistic in its frame while presenting itself in story and counsel rather than in the technical vocabulary of the schools.

The Shulchan Aruch is held as the standard authoritative code of practical halakha.

The grave of Nachman of Breslov, where his followers gather for the new year in numbers now reaching the tens of thousands, on the strength of his instruction to come to him on that day.

Breslov holds the form on a narrower footing, with a small concentrated repertory tied to its own teaching that joy is an obligation, rather than the large catalogued body Chabad maintains.

Breslov has appointed no rebbe since Nachman died in 1810. The tzadik is held to be Nachman himself in perpetuity, which makes this the one Hasidic group with a living community and a dead rebbe by principle rather than by accident.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Tzedakah is a duty of justice rather than an act of generosity, and the word does not mean charity.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. A boy becomes obligated at thirteen and reads from the Torah. A girl becomes obligated at twelve, and the manner in which that is publicly marked varies widely across this body and is not a Torah reading.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. The groom veils the bride before the ceremony.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. The search for leaven is made by candlelight on the night before Passover eve.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Brit Milah is performed by a mohel on the eighth day, and the day is not moved for convenience.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Burial is in the earth, without embalming, ordinarily within a day.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Chalitzah is performed where a man dies childless and his brother declines to marry the widow, and it is what releases her to remarry.

Israel's election is affirmed in the classical Hasidic and Orthodox form.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. The marriage is solemnised under the canopy.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Orthodox practice holds brit milah on the eighth day without exception unless the child's health forbids, performed by a trained mohel with blessings and the naming, and the day is not deferred for the Sabbath or a festival.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Coming of age is a matter of obligation taking effect at a fixed age rather than of a ceremony conferring it.

The judge of a rabbinical court sits under the law of the Shulchan Aruch's Choshen Mishpat, which governs the constitution of a beit din, the competence required of those who sit on it and the procedure it follows.

Devekut, cleaving to God, is cultivated distinctively through hitbodedut, Nachman of Breslov's practice of unstructured solitary speech to God in one's own language.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. The public fasts of the calendar are kept, the two full fasts from sunset to nightfall and the four minor fasts from dawn.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Conversion requires acceptance of the commandments before a rabbinic court, circumcision where applicable, and immersion, and conversions performed outside this body are not recognised.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Hakafot are made with the Torah scrolls on Simchat Torah.

Halakha is held divinely given and binding, observed within the wider Hasidic framework this stream shares with its parent movement.

Hitbodedut, an hour a day of unstructured speech to God alone in one's own language and preferably outdoors, is this body's central practice and was its founder's chief instruction.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Hoshanot are said with the four species on each day of Sukkot.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Kabbalat Shabbat opens the Sabbath on Friday evening.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Orthodox observance keeps the full detail: separate dishes and sinks for meat and dairy, a waiting period after meat before dairy, reliance on recognised rabbinic supervision for processed food, and separate arrangements for Passover.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Visiting the graves of parents and of the righteous is customary before the High Holy Days.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Betrothal and marriage, once separate by a year, are performed together under the canopy.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. A garment is torn by the mourners.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Maariv is prayed at night.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Marriage is contracted by the giving of an object of value in the presence of two witnesses, and it is followed by the seven blessings.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. The dead are remembered at Yizkor on four days of the year.

A personal Messiah is awaited in the classical Hasidic and Orthodox form.

Midrashic literature is held as authoritative rabbinic interpretation of scripture.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Immersion is required for conversion, for family purity, and for vessels bought from a non-Jew.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Mincha is prayed in the afternoon.

The Mishnah is held as authoritative rabbinic tradition reaching back to Sinai.

Circumcision and the fitness of the one who performs it are governed by the Shulchan Aruch's Yoreh De'ah, which fixes the rite, its timing and the conditions under which it may be deferred.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Musaf is prayed on Sabbaths, new moons and festivals, and it asks in plain words for the restoration of the Temple and its offerings.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Mussar, the disciplined work on character, entered the yeshiva world in the nineteenth century and is taught in many of them.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. A boy is named at his circumcision, a girl at a Torah reading.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Hands are washed with a vessel on rising and before eating bread.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. The laws of family purity are kept, with immersion in a mikveh at their conclusion, and they are among the observances that most distinguish this body in practice.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Nusach Sefard is used in the Hasidic congregations of this body.