Nachman of Breslov

The Besht's great-grandson: master of the broken heart — hitbodedut (daily solitary conversation with God, out loud, in your own language, preferably in a field) as the core practice; stories (the Seven Beggars) as vessels for lights too fine for doctrine; "the whole world is a very narrow bridge, and the essential thing is not to fear at all." Died at 38 in Uman; told his followers not to appoint a successor. Tens of thousands still travel to his grave each Rosh Hashanah; his paradoxical, depression-literate faith speaks to moderns like nothing else in the canon.