My story with rabbi Nachman started about 2 and a half years ago. Back then, I had started a process of Teshuvah for 3 years. I grew up traditional; kiddush on Friday nights and shopping on Saturdays, eating only kosher meat but non-kosher dairy was okay, I barely knew what the synagogue looked like, and my vacations in Israel were summarized by being in Tel Aviv beach and eating "kosher" McDonalds.

After already 3 years of keeping Shabbat, being tznius, and eating Kosher, I was a newlywed for about 7 months when I met a special friend through my mother-in-law. I had a great desire to learn Torah with someone and didn't know where to find that but Hashem, Who always times things perfectly, made me meet Karen. A French woman who loves learning Torah. She had a fire inside of her heart, the fire of Rabbi Nachman of Breslev. After a quick call to introduce ourselves, we met to learn the 7 pillars of Emunah by Rav Breiter, a Breslover from World War II time. From then on, we started learning weekly and she taught me a lot of her knowledge about Rabbenu's shita. My neshama fell in love. She recommended I listen to shiurim by Rav Avraham Ifrah and Nathan Uzan, 2 French Breslovers who give shiurim online regularly. Every time I listened to them, I felt so good. Instead of having guilt, I would have hope, instead of looking at people who don't keep the mitzvot correctly in a bad way, I would start looking at them positively. As we kept learning, Karen introduced me to Hitbodedut. We would go on hikes in LA and do hitbodedut. This process changed my life, from a judgy person, I started learning to look for the good points in people and in myself, instead of being intolerant, I started learning to open my mind and have compassion. Rabbenu's teachings were fire to my neshama and slowly but surely, a year later I grew an urgent desire to go to Uman.

Through the shiurim of Rav Ifrah, I heard that his wife was planning a trip for women on Lag Ba'Omer. Everyone was coming from France and Israel but nobody from LA. A few months before the trip I had met a new friend who also loved Rabbenu with an impressive fire. Rachel, an American girl who loves Rabbenu and is very devoted to Hashem. Somehow, I convinced her to go on this trip to Uman with me even though she didn't speak French, she didn't know Esther Ifrah or the Rav and all the ladies were French, which was in itself, a miracle as most people would probably decline the offer.

After getting through a few meniot (obstacles) from both sides (Rabbenu says that when someone travels to the tzadik, there will be obstacles) we finally met at LAX on a Monday. From that point on, we both felt that we were escorted by Rabbenu. From being called to the front of the line, to having great seats in the plane, everything went smoothly.

After 3 flights, we arrived at Chisinau, Moldova and the next day, we met the rest of the group as we arrived a day early due to the length of the trip. The next day we met the rest of the group. We all naturally introduced ourselves to each other, women from all walks of life, from newborns to 80-something-year-olds. A very diverse group, some of them would only speak French, and others would also speak Hebrew, from the not-so-religious women wearing pants to the frum ones covering head to toe, it was colorful. I was a bit worried that Rachel would not fit in because of the language barrier, but interestingly, as I was doing the translator I realized that she didn't need me that much because most women would adapt and they would find a way to communicate.

We all hopped on the bus for about 10 hours with a long pause at the border, but again a miracle happened. While they wanted to potentially open our suitcases, we all said Tikkun Haklali together and they let us go after a few minutes without opening anything.

When we arrived at the Baal Shem Tov around 4 am, we all were surprised to see our dear Esther Ifrah, standing there like a queen, waiting to greet us and show us where we would have "dinner". Everything was taken care of so smoothly, the bus with bathrooms, the food, the hotels, we didn't have to lift a finger. All we had to do was to go and pray at the holy sites. After a lush breakfast, we took the road to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchov, which was a surprise as we weren't supposed to go there. And then on to Rabbi Natan's of Breslov. During the bus ride, some were studying, some were sleeping, and some were chit-chatting. At some point we all danced and sang together as if we were in a summer camp, it was so fun and heartwarming. Thursday night we finally arrived in Uman where again, a warm buffet was waiting for us.

The moment we set foot in Uman, my neshama felt different, I knew I was in the right place, it felt so special.

After dinner, the first thing we did was to go see our Tzadik Rabbenu Nachman MeUman! The Tikkun Haklali I said there was like no other I said before. To me, this place was so incredible, that it felt like my bodily needs diminished. Instead of having to sleep 8 hours, I could run well on 3 hours, instead of thinking of eating, I was eating only to nourish myself and get energy to pray at the holy site. It was the weirdest thing. Shabbat was obviously incredibly fun, meaningful, and spiritual. After Shabbat we had the 4th meal and celebrated Lag Ba'Omer with a delicious BBQ, we all danced together and had a nice party, there was also a Medora in the street. After all this, we also "crashed" other Israeli women's party who were celebrating the bachelorette party of one girl who had come to Rabbenu a year before and came back to invite Rabbenu to her wedding and celebrate with her friends. While I was there I asked Rabbenu what's my purpose in life (because the Tzadik knows everyone's purpose), I had a great feeling that I had to spread Rabbi Nachman's teachings in LA and that I had to bring women from the US to Uman. So naturally I started to grow this great desire, at first, I wanted to come back in September but it wasn't possible for me. But now, I have a clear intuition that I should plan a trip to go to Uman on Lag Ba'Omer 2025 and that I should facilitate this to women who live in LA and all over the US and Canada. I wouldn't want to do it any other way than the way I did it the first time as I know how Esther and Rav Ifrah are dedicated to Hashem and Rabbenu and because they do it with a pure heart. They are expert in bringing people to Uman as they've been doing it for longer than I have been alive, they know the safest transportation companies, they know the people and the culture and I feel very safe and confident to collaborate with them on this trip.

Beezrat Hashem, I tried to keep the story short and I skipped many details, but if you want to know more you can contact me :D