FACTIONS-----the Na-na-nachers

Who are the Na Nachs? (Nachis for short) I know they are not Breslover chassidim, at least not in the regular sense, but I see them all over Israel, especially Tsfat.

What exactly is there hashkafa and purpose? Is it really the Rotzon Hashem for us to spend our lives dancing and printing bumper stickers, all while putting torah on the back burner?

I never see any Nachi Yeshivas so I cant imagine where they come from and what they do with their lives.

Also, while on the same subject, I very often see in their company, or alone, many, well, strange looking bochurim. You know, frum Jews but with long hair humongous yarmulkes techeles on their tsitsis and 2 foot long peyos draped behind their ears. Are they baalei teshuvas? Confused bochurim looking for "spiritual meaning"?

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Sigh. The Na-na-nachers are a break off from Breslov. Their leader was a Rabbi Yisroel Odesser ZTL, who was a Tzadik, but a bit naive. He found a letter to him written by Rav Nachman way after Rav Nachman was niftar (the letter was obviously a prank) saying that, basically, the solution to all our problems is if people go around saying na-nach. I'm serious. Sigh.

The kids you see are usually baalei teshuva, or potential baalei teshuva who were brought back by the na-nachers.

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Just to clarify things - the note was only revealed when Reb Ber Odesser was quite old and living in a nursing home. He had known about the note for ages, but it was only when he became senile that he ever "revealed" this letter, as when he was younger and lucid he had suspected that it was a prank. There are even tapes of R'Odesser stating that he himself had become "Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman;" one does not have to be a neurologist or psychologist to realize that the man was senile when he said this.

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Who says that the letter was a prank? Maybe it was maybe it wasn’t. But that has no shaychis anyways to why these guys act weird. I mean lets say that the letter was real(what does it mean anyways to help with everything? for refuos? or in place of torah also? ) that doesn’t mean that these people had to trun out like that, ya no?

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It had to be a prank. It was written after Rav Nachman was niftar. And, it makes zero sense.

I mean normal people don't go around spray painting in har hamnuchos and other places in e"y their "shitos" (if this is a shita) so its like very weird and confusing why they turned out like that. That part has no shaychis at all to the letter. Mod, care to be mazbir?

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Orthodox Jews who believe without any evidence that a letter supposedly written by a long-ago niftar rebbe with a message that makes no sense according to Torah values (Torah and Mitzvos are what nurture the world - not a na-nach chant) is authentic and should be followed blindly, are already sufficiently off that spray painting Har Hamenuchos is not a great jump from where they already are to begin with.

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The grandson of the person who authored the prank letter to Rabbi Odesser claims that his grandfather actually told Rabbi Odesser afterwards that it was a prank, but he (Rabbi Odesser) would not believe him. The whole thing is due to a practical joke that got out of hand.

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Ok, so that’s the na-nachs- what about regular breslover chassidus? What do u think about that?

Breslov is a regular chasidus like any other. However, their teachings are very personal and not meant for everyone at every time in every place. All Chasidic teachings are like that, really, but Breslov is like that in the extreme. Therefore, if someone is learning Breslov seforim he should only do so if he also learns chasidishe seforim of other schools in order to get a balanced perspective in his chasidus. The same applies to the Tanya.

I don’t understand, if it was a prank and afterwards admitted to be a prank how could so many sensible people believe it? (also with lubavitch)

History and our own observations show that otherwise intelligent people can believe all kinds of crazy things. You think all suicide bombers are idiots in all other aspects of their lives as well? They’re not. You think crazy cults and wacko religions don’t have otherwise intelligent people believing in them? They do. As bizarre as this sounds, intelligence never stopped someone from believing stupid things.

This is because, on a simple level, believing is not the same as thinking. People believe what makes them feel good, or what they were brought up to believe, or what others around them believe, or what’s easiest to believe in terms of not having to be considered an outcast in society, etc, and then their Negiyus causes them to intellectually believe they’re making sense. Shochad yaavir ainei pikchim ---- totally.

On a more theological level, ain adam choteh ela im kein nichnas bo ruach shtus - they Yetzer Horah is adept at causing people to be stupid -and either acting or believing in stupid ways. Our vulnerability to stupidity is part of Hashem's way of keeping our Bechirah intact. If we would always make intelligent decisions, we would never sin. So Hashem, in order to even the playing field, so to speak, created a vulnerability to nonsense in the human being, just enough to make it an even choice for him to accept or reject it.