At the age of 13 (as was the custom), he married Esther Shaindel, daughter of Rabbi Dovid Zvi Orbach, the leading rabbinical authority in Mohilov, Sharograd, and Kremenetz.

In 1802, Rebbe Nachman moved to Breslov, Ukraine, which is located nine miles south of Nemyriv (a three-hour journey by horse in those days).

Although Reb Noson's family was initially opposed to his association with Hasidism, they eventually relented when they saw that his Torah scholarship and personal piety only improved under the tutelage of Rebbe Nachman.

Reb Noson and Esther Shaindel had three sons — Shachneh, Yitzchok, and Dovid Zvi — and one daughter, Chana Tzirel.

Esther Shaindel died in September 1826, and Reb Noson married Dishel, a widow with a son and daughter of her own, in October 1826.

Reb Noson was personally responsible for preserving the teachings, stories and everyday conversations of his mentor, and for promulgating the Breslov movement after Nachman's death in 1810.

Instead, Reb Noson threw all his energies into strengthening the Breslover movement while maintaining his own rigorous schedule of Torah study.

Reb Noson was also responsible for making Uman, Ukraine, the city in which Rebbe Nachman is buried, into a focal point of the Hasidut.

In 1811, he organized the first annual Rosh Hashana kibbutz (prayer gathering) at the gravesite, and continued to lead this pilgrimage until his death in 1844.

Around 1830, he raised funds to build a synagogue in Uman to accommodate the increasingly large Rosh Hashana pilgrimage, and composed a number of prayers to be recited at Nachman's grave by his followers.

Opponents denounced Reb Noson to the Russian authorities, claiming that he was a false prophet whose activities opposed the interests of the Czar.