100 Years Since the Passing of the Tzaddik Rabbi Avraham ben Rabbi Nachman of

Rabbi Avraham Chazan (1849–1917), known as Rabbi Avraham ben Rabbi Nachman (or Raban, son of Rabbi Nachman of Tulchin), was one of the leaders of the Breslov Chassidim in the fourth generation and one of the founders of the Breslov Chassidut in Eretz Yisrael. R' Avraham was born in Tulchin to Rabbi Nachman Chazan, the close student of Rabbi Natan of Breslov, who was in turn the close student of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. Rabbi Nachman Chazan (also known as Rabbi Nachman of Tulchin) took upon himself the leadership of the Breslov Chassidim in Uman after the passing of Rabbi Natan of Breslov, and he published the series of books Likutey Halachot.

In his youth, Rav Avraham Chazan would seclude himself (hitbodedut) in the forest for the entire week while subsisting on very little food. After his father's passing in 1884, he began to record the stories and traditions he had heard from him. These historical anecdotes, along with stories about many of the followers of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, formed the basis for his series of books, Kochavei Or. In the introduction to the book, he described the level of accuracy he strove for while writing: "And after all this, even the things I heard from them through the chain of transmission from mouth to ear, where I did not know well who the people were through whom the story reached me, I did not want to write, for fear of the errors common in these stories."

In 1894, R' Avraham ascended to Eretz Yisrael and resided in Jerusalem. Every year, he would travel to Uman for the annual gathering of Breslov Chassidim on Rosh Hashanah at the gravesite of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. During his trip to Uman in 1914, he was forced by the outbreak of World War I to remain in Russia, where he lived and taught until his passing in 1917. On his tombstone in the Uman cemetery, it is written: "Here lies Rabbi Avraham b"r Nachman HaLevi Chazan from Eretz Yisrael." Over the years, the cemetery was destroyed and the tombstones disappeared. In 1999, the tombstone was restored by the Ohalei Tzaddikim organization.

The students of Rabbi Avraham Chazan in Uman, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Bender and Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Rosen, were among the leaders of the next generation of Breslov Chassidim in Eretz Yisrael.

(Information courtesy of Wikipedia)