Rabbi Israel Yitzchak Besançon zt"l

Rabbi Israel Yitzchak Besançon zt"l, a Breslov chassid and Holocaust survivor, was born in 1944 in Nice, France. The Rav began making art as a small child, and as he drew closer to Judaism his artistic work gathered momentum.

Discovering his roots in his youth was both a challenge and a central source of inspiration. He began painting works of Jewish meaning, with no small influence from the Jewish painter Marc Chagall, but over time he forged his own distinctive style in oil painting and Judaica.

At 17 the Rav studied at the Lucerne yeshiva in Switzerland. He later settled for a time in Antwerp, Belgium, where he became a member of the household of Reb Itzikel of Pshevorsk, a figure who influenced him deeply.

A few years later, on a journey to the United States, he was providentially introduced to Reb Moshe Grossman, who brought him close to Breslov chassidut. From there he travelled to the Land of Israel and became one of the close disciples of Reb Levi Yitzchak Bender zt"l. In 5741 (1981), with Rav Bender's blessing, he founded a house of study for Torah and prayer and a centre for spreading the teachings of Rebbe Nachman, and built a community of baalei teshuvah in Aix-les-Bains, France.

That same year Rav Besançon zt"l suffered a heavy tragedy: his first wife, Bracha Basha a"h, passed away suddenly, leaving five young children. Steeped in grief and refusing to be comforted, he took up his pen and began writing a book called Courage, describing how to face a time of crisis. According to Rebbe Nachman, despair does not exist; no hardship befalls a person except to signal something to him from Heaven, and from any place, even the very lowest, a person can rise upward. Indeed, the Rav did not surrender to the crisis. A few months later he remarried, to Rebbetzin Devorah, and they were blessed with another child.

His book Courage resonated widely and was distributed in thousands of copies, bringing hundreds of testimonies of lives saved and of people who came out of crises, suicide attempts, addictions and emotional illness. The book has been translated into seven languages; in Hebrew it is called Ometz and has been distributed in hundreds of thousands of copies.

In 5749 (1989) Rav Levi Yitzchak Bender passed away. The void left by his passing led the Rav to settle in the Land of Israel, where he continued spreading the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. Over time a core of students formed around him, from which grew a community of some 100 souls living with the Rav in Tel Aviv. The community runs a house of study, a yeshiva, a Talmud Torah and two outreach centres in the heart of Tel Aviv.

Today the works of Rav Besançon zt"l are known worldwide and adorn thousands of homes and offices around the globe. They bring an impressive presence of colour into a room, offer a heavenly view of the world of chassidut, and give the viewer's soul glimpses of a better world: a future, a vision and redemption.