a child prodigy who excelled in his torah studies even as a young boy, goldstein was the grandson of rabbi aharon, the chief rabbi of breslov in rebbe nachman's day, and the son of rabbi zvi aryeh, the succeeding rabbi of breslov. he grew up in the town of breslov. however, in his youth he shied away from reb noson. once reb noson said to him, "nachman, who knows? maybe the reason rebbe nachman worked so hard to bring your grandfather to breslav was because of "you"?" after that, goldstein became a follower of reb noson, and after the latter's death, became very involved with reb noson's works.