Rabbi Shimshon Barsky was the son of Rabbi Yisroel Menachem, a descendant of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov through his daughter Sarah. He thus belonged to the family of the founder of Breslov Chassidus and became one of its leading figures.

He lived in Uman, the town where Rebbe Nachman is buried, and was one of the foremost teachers of the Breslov community there in the decades before the Communist takeover and the Stalinist purges. Together with Rabbi Yisrael Kardoner he founded the "Anshei Maamad" yeshiva in Uman. He was among the teachers of Rabbi Yitzchak Breiter.

His main work is a Yiddish commentary on Rabbi Nathan's Likutei Eitzos, first published as "Likutei Eitzos Ivri-Teitch". It is more than a translation: the author explains and expands on Rebbe Nachman's advice. The book was later translated into Hebrew under the titles "Eitzos HaMevuaros" and "Gevuros Shimshon". Letters he wrote to family and friends were appended to various editions.

Rabbi Shimshon Barsky passed away on Rosh Chodesh Sivan, 1 Sivan 5695 (2 June 1935). After his death his family fled to Poland. He was buried in the newer Jewish cemetery of Uman, near the grave of Rabbi Avraham ben Rabbi Nachman of Tulchin. The cemetery was destroyed during World War II and the Communist era; the Ohalei Tzadikim organization located the approximate site from local testimony and built a monument there, which many visitors attend during the Rosh Hashanah gathering in Uman.