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30,000 Jewish Visitors to Make Rosh Hashanah Pilgrimage to Ukraine, Fewer Than Expected Due to Mideast Conflict
Hasidic Jews are seen praying at the synagogue in Uman, Ukraine. Photo: Reuters/Teun Voeten
Some 30,000 Hasidic Jews will reportedly go on this year’s annual Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage to the Ukrainian city of Uman to visit the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the revered founder of the Breslover Hasidim.
An Israeli diplomat had told The Times of Israel that the number of worshipers this year could reach a record 50,000. However, due to flight cancellations caused by escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terrorist organization in Lebanon, thousands of pilgrims will not be able to make the trip, according to the Ukrainian News Agency.
Citing the United Jewish Community of Ukraine and the Historical and Cultural Center of Uman charitable foundation, the news agency reported on the lower-than-expected attendance.
“This year, due to the escalation in the north of Israel, a number of airlines canceled the flights that the Hasidic pilgrims were supposed to use to reach European countries in order to get to Ukraine,” the charitable foundation said in a message. “Although the interested parties are looking for a way out of this situation, a significant part of the thousands of pilgrims who want to get to Uman will not be able to do so.”
Each year, tens of thousands of Jewish pilgrims visit Uman, a major pilgrimage site for Hasidic Jews to pray at Nachman’s tomb on the occasion of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which will take place next week.
Up to 500 Hasidim had already arrived in Uman as of last week, with a mass arrival of pilgrims expected in the coming days, according to the State Migration Service of Ukraine.
Since 2020, Ukrainian officials have warned against making the pilgrimage, first due to COVID-19 and then because of the war with Russia. The pilgrimage became more complicated when many commercial flights to Ukraine were suspended following Russia’s invasion of the country in 2022.
Earlier this month, Ukraine warned Hasidic Jews to forgo this year’s pilgrimage to Uman due to the war with Russia.
“Russia’s ongoing full-scale military aggression against Ukraine poses real threats to people’s lives and safety, [making] it impossible to guarantee the safety of foreign citizens on the territory of Ukraine,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Kyiv added that there is a “legal regime of martial law which provides for a number of additional regulations, including restrictions on freedom of movement, a curfew and enhanced patrols, a ban on holding mass events and gatherings, as well as the application of coercive measures against persons who will not comply with the established restrictions.”
Therefore, the ministry wrote, Ukraine “urges Hasidic pilgrims to refrain from this year’s pilgrimage to Uman as part of the celebration of Rosh Hashanah.”
The statement went on to say that due to the war, there are not enough bomb shelters or medical personnel in Uman, and the transportation infrastructure has been compromised due to shelling.
The foreign ministry’s warning came two days after the governor of the region where Uman is located issued a similar statement to Jewish worshipers ahead of Rosh Hashanah. Like the ministry, Cherkasy Region head Igor Taburets did not say that the pilgrims would be prevented from coming but asked them not to make the trip.
Nonetheless, local authorities were preparing for the pilgrimage with enhanced security measures, according to Taburets.
Earlier this month, Moldova said it would not allow pilgrims to pass through the country on the way to Uman, citing security costs and the limited capacity of their facilities. Some 20,000 pilgrims used Chisinau airport last year to get to Ukraine.
An alternative route into Uman has been prepared through Romania.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about preparations for the pilgrimage last month.
The United States recently issued a travel warning for Uman, urging American citizens not to visit the city due to the security situation.
Uman has been targeted by Russian forces on several occasions during the ongoing war. Last April, at least 20 people, including three children, were killed during a missile and drone barrage launched by the Russians.
Located in the south of Ukraine in the Cherkasy region, Uman was once home to a thriving Jewish community. In 1941, however, the Nazis deported the city’s entire Jewish community, murdering 17,000 Jews and destroying the local Jewish cemetery — including Nachman’s grave, which was later recovered and relocated.
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, several Jewish Orthodox families have moved to Uman.
Last year, more than 35,000 worshipers celebrated Rosh Hashanah at the grave of Nachman, despite Ukrainian authorities issuing similar warnings as they are now about visiting the city amid war with Russia.
The post 30,000 Jewish Visitors to Make Rosh Hashanah Pilgrimage to Ukraine, Fewer Than Expected Due to Mideast Conflict first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Treasure Trove: An Israeli stamp reflects the complex mix of emotions about Oct. 7
Michelle Shalmiev was born in a village in the Caucasian mountains and immigrated to Israel and settled on a kibbutz when she was 14. Her series “Putting Your Stamp on History” […]
The post Treasure Trove: An Israeli stamp reflects the complex mix of emotions about Oct. 7 appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Download a special Oct. 7 print edition of The Canadian Jewish News
Printable obituaries of eight Canadian victims and more of our original coverage.
The post Download a special Oct. 7 print edition of The Canadian Jewish News appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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The Jewish People Perform Another Miracle
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is seen addressing supporters, in Beirut, Lebanon. Photo: Reuters.
JNS.org – This Oct. 7 will not only be an anniversary of tears, of pure contrition, even if the memory is burning as the people of Israel live. As to how, it wasn’t at all obvious. Our whole history is made of miracles—from the splitting of the sea to escape from the Egyptians to the Inquisition to the pogroms to the thousand other genocidal attacks to which the Jews have been subjected. In every case, the results are always incredible and surprising, especially for how we have emerged active, faithful to our Torah tradition and committed to the return to Jerusalem until we made it happen.
The War of Independence in 1948 was fought by concentration-camp veterans, yet we defeated all the Arab armies, united in hatred, who marched against us. Later, in 1967, 1973 wars were won by a hair’s breadth with miraculous strokes of imagination and leaders who gave birth to ideas that people would have expected. No one would have ever bet a euro, penny or shekel on the idea that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and his entire hierarchy could be eliminated, petrifying Iran, especially since we have already reduced its other favorite proxy, Hamas, to pieces. And now we have bombed Iran’s other proxy, the Houthis, some 2,000 kilometers away, destroying the airport from which they receive their weapons and aid from the ayatollahs. The Islamic Republic’s leader, Ali Khamenei, is reportedly hiding underground, the Iraqi and Syrian Shi’ites are waiting to see if they are next, and cities controlled by Tehran are shaking.
As President Joe Biden said, it is a measure of justice, but one that Israel has undertaken in an impossible fashion, defending its citizens amid a thousand prohibitions with determination and without fear. Only in this way can a 76-year-old young state, which has been attacked from all sides, defend itself. The country’s existence is the latest chapter in the history of a people born many millennia ago in the Land of Israel, who are finally back home and defending their state.
The war is certainly not over, as Hezbollah reportedly had 100,000 fighters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows that he must see this fight through to the end, despite the international pressure to which Israel has been subjected for nearly a year. Israel’s leadership understands that its very existence is at definitive risk if there is no “new Middle East” in the aftermath of Oct. 7.
While previous generations and Israeli leaders hoped that peace agreements would establish peace in the region, today’s leaders know that there is also a need for battle to stop those who, dominated by absurd fanatical and religious beliefs, wish to kill you. (After all, what do the Houthi rebels in Yemen have to do with the Jews and Israel?)
This is the lesson of our time—not just for Israel and the Jewish people but for everyone. The Jewish people are writing a new page in history, one in which the free world must write and fight alongside them, as it is a battle for the survival of Western ideals. Israel has eliminated the two most dangerous terrorist groups in the world—Hamas and Hezbollah—with operations that will set a precedent for decades. And it challenges Iran. I would like to hear the applause, please.
The post The Jewish People Perform Another Miracle first appeared on Algemeiner.com.