Israel – Rolling With The Na Nachs

Israel – There is no escaping them. They have left their mark everywhere in Israel, in the form of a cryptic mantra painted in bold Hebrew lettering on security fences, sleek skyscrapers, graveyard walls, freeway billboards and sheer mountain cliffs.

Dressed in characteristic woven white skullcaps, adherents perform leaping dances on street corners in the secular bastion of Tel Aviv, to techno-Hassidic music blasting from vans bearing the slogan “Na Nach Nachma Nachman Me’uman,” which has informally lent its name to the newest of Hasidic sects.

The Na Nachs, as some of the group call themselves, are an offshoot of the Bratslav Hassidim, followers of the late Rebbe Nachman (1772-1810), great-grandson of the founder of Hasidism. But what separates Na Nachs from other Bratslavers is their belief that a mysterious letter found in 1962 by Rabbi Israel Dov Odesser, a Bratslaver Hasid from Tiberias, was a miraculous message from Rebbe Nachman himself, and that the mantra it contained, which mentioned Nachman and his burial place, Uman, Ukraine, was a “Letter from Heaven.”

All other Bratslaver groups reject the validity of the letter. But this does not deter Na Nachs from believing it to be “the new song through which all of Israel will be redeemed.”

Among them is Shmuel David Ravitch, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania into what he calls a “normal Jewish house.” His family was secular, but observed the holidays. In 1990, Ravitcher became religious, ultimately spending 13 years with Chabad. But he came to find the Chabad experience unsatisfying.

For others, the brightly colored vans were their introduction to Na Nach. Adorned in stickers bearing the picture of Rabbi Odesser and covered in large decals of the mantra, the vans have been key to attracting new devotees.

For secular onlookers, the vans and their broadly smiling crewmen evoke mixed reactions, often negative when the Na Nachs are nowhere in sight.

“They are crazy, they stop in the middle of the highway they put their car in the middle of the highway and get out and start dancing,” comments one bystander.

“They are good people, but they are all crazy,” concludes another.

When the van is present, however, onlookers’ expressed perceptions often tend to be more accepting.

“It’s good, they bring the Torah and people to the religion.”

“They’re the most amazing guys I ever heard about.”

“It’s just funny, it’s just nice.”

The vans belong to the Keren, which is the organization that prints the books of Rebbe Nachman and Rabbi Odesser. All gasoline is paid for by the Keren with the money that is made from the books which are sold at cost. The van serves two functions. The first is to spread the message through literature. Na Nachs can be seen regularly on street corners, music blaring, standing next to a table full of books.