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. Orthodox observance keeps the full thirty-nine categories of forbidden work, so no writing, cooking, carrying outside an eruv, or use of electricity, with timers set beforehand, and the day given to synagogue, meals, study and rest.

The Oral Torah in its entirety is held as revealed at Sinai and equally binding with the Written Torah.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. The Seder is conducted from the Haggadah in full, with the four cups and the four questions.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Pesukei Dezimra opens the morning service.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. A firstborn son of a mother is redeemed from a kohen on the thirty-first day, unless the father is a kohen or a levi.

The pilgrimage to Uman for the New Year draws tens of thousands of men annually and is the largest single gathering of this kind in the Jewish world.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Prayer is obligatory, fixed in text and in time, and the obligation falls on men three times daily.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. The Purim play is a licensed annual reversal, and in the yeshivot it is turned on the institution itself.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. The Omer is counted aloud, with a blessing, on each of the forty-nine nights.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Selichot are said in the penitential season and on the fast days.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. The Sabbath as a day of prescribed rest, prayer and meals is the frame the whole week is built on.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Shacharit is prayed daily, ordinarily with a quorum of ten, with tefillin on weekdays.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. The body is watched continuously from death until burial.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. The seven blessings are said under the canopy and repeated at meals through the following week.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Seven days of mourning are kept at home, the mourners seated low and not going out.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Thirty days of lesser mourning follow the seven.

The slaughterer's qualification and practice are governed in detail by the Shulchan Aruch's Yoreh De'ah, which sets both the law of shechitah and the requirement that a shochet be examined and licensed before he may act for a community.

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

The scribe's work is governed by the Shulchan Aruch's Yoreh De'ah, which sets the law for the writing of Torah scrolls, tefillin and mezuzot, down to the forming of the letters and the intention required while writing the divine name.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Scribal work on Torah scrolls, tefillin and mezuzot is done to the received halakhic standards, and a scroll that fails them is not used.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. The body is washed and purified by the burial society before dressing.

The Talmud is held as authoritative and binding, the shared Orthodox and Hasidic floor of this stream's legal observance.

The Tanakh is held as divinely revealed scripture.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. Maaser, the tenth, is given from income, and the practice survived the loss of the agricultural tithes it began as.

The Torah is held as verbatim divine revelation given at Sinai.

Affirmed in the classical Orthodox and Hasidic form shared across this stream's parent movement.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. A boy's first haircut is delayed to his third birthday.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. The Yahrzeit is kept with Kaddish and a lamp on the anniversary of a death.

Kept in Breslov Hasidism. The couple withdraw alone after the ceremony, which completes the marriage in halakhah.