Rosh Hashana Kibbutz
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The Rosh Hashana kibbutz (; plural: kibbutzim: קיבוצים, "gathering" or "ingathering") is a large prayer assemblage of Breslover Hasidim held on the
Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
ish New Year. It specifically refers to the
pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...
of tens of thousands of Hasidim to the city of
Uman Uman (, , ) is a city in Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. It is located to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the east of the historical region of Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River. Uman serves as the administrative c ...
,
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,In first, Israel sets up temporary consulate in Uman for Rosh Hashanah
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(29 August 2018)
(annually 40,000 Jews, nearly entirely men visit Uman) but also refers to sizable Rosh Hashana gatherings of Breslover Hasidim in other locales around the world. In recent years the pilgrimage to Uman has attracted Jewish seekers from all levels of religious observance and affiliation, including introducing
Sephardic Jews Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
to Hasidic spirituality. This has added to Breslov's position in the
Baal teshuva movement In Judaism, a ''ba'al teshuvah'' (; for a woman, , or ; plural, , , 'owner of return God or his way]') is a Jew who adopts some form of traditional religious observance after having previously followed a Jewish secularism, secular lifestyle or ...
of Jewish outreach. Hasidic pilgrims and local Uman residents annually come into conflict.


Rosh Hashana with Rebbe Nachman

The first Rosh Hashana kibbutz was initiated by Rebbe
Nachman of Breslov Nachman of Breslov ( ''Rabbī'' ''Naḥmān mīBreslev''), also known as Rabbi Nachman of Breslev, Rabbi Nachman miBreslev, Reb Nachman of Bratslav, Reb Nachman Breslover ( ''Rebe Nakhmen Breslover''), and Nachman from Uman (April 4, 1772 – O ...
during his lifetime. He strongly encouraged his followers to spend each Rosh Hashana with him in the town of Breslov. Hundreds of followers would gather for the holiday prayer service, festive meals, and special
Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...
lessons taught by the Rebbe. When asked why Rosh Hashana was so significant, Rebbe Nachman explained, "My Rosh Hashana is greater than everything. I cannot understand how it is that if my followers really believe in me, they are not all scrupulous about being with me for Rosh Hashana. No one should be missing! Rosh Hashana is my whole mission." To one follower who said he preferred to visit the Rebbe on the
Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...
after Rosh Hashana, when he would have more space to pray, eat and sleep, the Rebbe replied, "Whether you eat or don't eat; whether you sleep or don't sleep; whether you pray or don't pray (i.e. with the proper concentration); just make sure to be with me for Rosh Hashana, no matter what!" Elsewhere, Rebbe Nachman explained that traveling to a
tzaddik Tzadik ( ''ṣaddīq'' , "righteous ne; also ''zadik'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadīqīm'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The root of the wor ...
on Rosh Hashana is a time-honored practice which helps to mitigate and "sweeten" Heavenly decrees at their source, at the beginning of the new year. The Rebbe also mentioned before the last Rosh Hashana of his life (in 1810) that there were people who were unable to achieve their ''tikkun'' (self-rectification) all year, nor was he able to help them then. On Rosh Hashana, however, these ''tikkunim'' could be effected. In 1843, on the last Rosh Hashana of his own life, Nathan of Breslov ("Reb Noson"), the Rebbe's closest disciple and leader of the movement after the Rebbe's death, expounded on the meaning of Rebbe Nachman's Rosh Hashana in this way:
We see that on Rosh Hashana, Jews flock to the synagogue, to their leaders. They come from all the towns and villages to be together on Rosh Hashana. This is because the Jewish People are likened to a flock of sheep who gather around their shepherd. When the shepherd wishes to call his flock, he blows his horn. This is the reason for the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashana. The shepherd, the true tzaddik, is calling his "flock" together, seeking ways to help each one of them fulfill his destiny."
Rebbe Nachman died in October 1810 and was buried in the Uman cemetery. Afterwards, Reb Noson explained to the other Hasidim that Rebbe Nachman had stressed the importance of the Rosh Hashana kibbutz that year because he wanted them to continue to "be with him" for the holiday even after his death. He encouraged them to continue to gather at the Rebbe's gravesite in Uman every Rosh Hashana.


Pilgrimage established by Reb Nosson

Reb Nosson arranged the first Rosh Hashana kibbutz the following year (1811) and continued to run it until his death in 1844. In the following decades, hundreds of Hasidim arrived annually from
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,
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,
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and
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. So many joined the pilgrimage, in fact, that the local
synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
was unable to accommodate them. Fearing that people would stop attending the kibbutz, Reb Noson acquired a property, applied for a government permit, raised funds and oversaw the construction of a large Breslover synagogue in Uman in 1834. Also defined as a kloyz, it housed the annual Rosh Hashana kibbutz through the 1930s. Reb Noson once said, "Even if the road to Uman were paved with knives, I would crawl there — just so I could be with my Rebbe on Rosh Hashanah!" In each generation, the most pious representatives of the movement were honored with leading the prayer services at the annual Rosh Hashana kibbutz. They included: Nachman Chazan, Abraham Sternhartz, Levi Yitzchok Bender, Michel Dorfman, and Itzel Korsinski. The annual Rosh Hashana pilgrimage effectively redirected the focus of Breslover Hasidut from the town of Breslov to the town of Uman. Today, the town of Breslov is considered a side-trip for visitors to Ukraine, as the only sites of interest to Breslover Hasidim there are the graves of Reb Nosson and other Breslover figures.


Pilgrimage in the

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The Rosh Hashana pilgrimage ground to a halt with the
Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It was led by Vladimir L ...
of 1917, which sealed the border between
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and
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. Uman became a "closed city" and foreigners were strictly prohibited from entering. Rabbi Yitzchok Breiter, a Breslover Hasid in Poland who drew thousands of his countrymen closer to the Hasidut in the 1920s and 1930s, established a Rosh Hashana kibbutz in
Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...
for their benefit. Hasidim who emigrated to Israel established Rosh Hashana kibbutzim in
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and in Meron (the latter at the gravesite of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai), which continue to this day. Later, other Rosh Hashana kibbutzim were established in
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and in
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,
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. Shmuel Horowitz, a native of
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, Mandate Palestine, was the last foreign citizen to sneak across the Polish border into the
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around 1929. He participated in three Rosh Hashana kibbutzim in Uman before he was discovered and arrested for illegal entry. After spending three months in a Soviet prison, Horowitz was released with the intervention of the
Chief Rabbi Chief Rabbi () is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a capitulation by Ben-Zion Meir ...
of Mandate Palestine,
Abraham Isaac Kook Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook (; 7 September 1865 – 1 September 1935), known as HaRav Kook, and also known by the Hebrew-language acronym Hara'ayah (), was an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbina ...
, and returned in 1933. Despite the Communist ban on public prayer gatherings, Breslover Hasidim in the Soviet Union continued to gather clandestinely every Rosh Hashana during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1934, the Soviets ostensibly granted permission for 28 Hasidim to travel to Uman for Rosh Hashana. In fact, it was a ruse to discover their identities - 16 were murdered while still in Uman and 12 were exiled to Siberia. Only four of the exiles survived. In 1936, the authorities shut down the kloyz built by Reb Noson and turned it into a metalworking factory. The Rosh Hashana kibbutz was relocated to a rented apartment in 1936 and 1937. The last kibbutz before
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
was held in 1938. Twenty-seven Hasidim risked their lives to participate in this gathering.
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and the
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decimated the numbers of Breslover Hasidim living in the Soviet Union. In 1947, the city of Uman planned to raze the cemetery and build a housing project in its stead. Hasidim of Breslov, led by Zanvil Lubarski, mobilized to buy the property. With the assistance of
Chabad Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (; ; ), is a dynasty in Hasidic Judaism. Belonging to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) branch of Orthodox Judaism, it is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, as well as one of ...
Hasidim from
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the property was purchased from the city. Lubarski then located the gravesite by finding the wooden beams that were part of the structure. The Rosh Hashana pilgrimage resumed on a drastically smaller scale in 1948, when 11 Hasidim independently traveled from cities throughout the Soviet Union to Uman for Rosh Hashana. From then until the 1970s, when most of the remaining Hasidim were permitted to emigrate to
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, only between 9 and 13 Hasidim braved the annual trip. They were often forced to change the location of their prayer services from year to year to escape discovery by the authorities. Beginning in the 1950s, Michel Dorfman in Moscow became the official organizer of the Rosh Hashana kibbutz. Hasidim from throughout the Soviet Union would contact him for details about each year's event, and he wrote letters to others, encouraging them to continue this practice of being with Rebbe Nachman for Rosh Hashana despite the long journey and the threat of government surveillance. In the 1960s, when the majority of Hasidim in the Breslover movement resided outside the Soviet Union, Rebbe Nachman's gravesite began to turn from being an internal Russian destination to an international one. A young New York Hasid named Gedaliah Fleer was the first foreign citizen to enter Uman without permission in 1963, with Dorfman's help. The Soviets would only issue tourist visas to larger cities like
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and
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, not to Uman. Fleer returned to Uman in 1965 to join the Rosh Hashana kibbutz with 12 other Soviet Hasidim. Fleer pretended to be from the Soviet Republic of Georgia and that he did not speak Yiddish or Russian in order to protect his identity. Had the participants known that a foreign citizen was in their midst, they would have quit the kibbutz immediately. From the 1960s until the end of the
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1989, several hundred American and Israeli Hasidim made their way to Uman, both legally and illegally, to pray at the grave of Rebbe Nachman. Sometimes the government issued individual tourist visas to Uman, but no one was allowed to stay in the city overnight. In 1975, however, Rabbi Herschel Wasilski, the official American representative of Breslover Hasidut, received permission to conduct a
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at the Rebbe's gravesite on the eve of Rosh Hashana with 11 other men and spent the holiday in the city. In 1988,
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and continuing international pressure finally forced the Soviet government to permit 250 foreign citizens to stay in Uman over Rosh Hashana.


Pilgrimage since the end of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

In 1989 the end of the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
opened the gates entirely. Between 700 and 900 Hasidim gathered in Uman for Rosh Hashana 1989. In 1990, 2,000 Hasidim attended. Large factory sites were called into service to house the crowd. The numbers have continued to grow apace. The Rosh Hashana kibbutz in Uman surpassed the 10,000-person mark in 2000. In 2005, approximately 20,000 men and boys from all countries and all backgrounds converged on the town for the annual event. In 2008, the numbers reached 25,000. In 2018 40,000 Jews, nearly entirely men, visit Uman. Coordinators of the Rosh Hashana kibbutz fly in fully catered,
kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, ), from the Ashke ...
holiday meals for all participants, temporary lodgings, an infirmary and
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s from
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. Despite the dormitory-style accommodations, the gathering is infused with much spiritual devotion and unity of purpose. Besides the communal prayer services, Torah classes are conducted in
Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
,
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, English, Russian, and French. A visual highlight of the Rosh Hashana kibbutz is the
Tashlikh ''Tashlikh'' or Tashlich ( "cast off") is a minhag, customary Atonement in Judaism, Jewish atonement ritual performed during the High Holy Days on Rosh Hashanah. In some Judaeo-Spanish-speaking communities the practice is referred to as ''sakudirs ...
ceremony, held on the afternoon of the holiday. Thousands of Hasidim, dressed entirely in white, sing and dance through the streets of Uman as they make their way down to the river to perform this holiday ritual. In September 2014, a statement issued by the association of Breslov rabbis called on women to cease visiting the gravesite because the presence of women could detract from the sacredness of prayers said by male worshippers. According to the statement the increasing presence of women has created a "huge spiritual interruption." Others defend their position stating that the enormous volume of male worshippers would mitigate the possibility of proper separation of the genders. They say that this separation is necessary to stay focused on the sacred mission of the pilgrimage. In recent years there has been frequent friction between the predominantly Israeli Hasidic pilgrims and Uman locals, many of whom resent the cordoning off of neighborhoods by police and the internal trade that has developed among pilgrims. Sources at Ben Gurion airport have also complained about Hasidic pilgrim “passengers who arrive to the plane drunk, or even drugged". Anshel Pfeffer reported (for ''
Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...
'') in 2018 that an Israeli diplomat told him that "roughly only half of those who come to Uman do so for religious reasons, and the other half are simply the dregs who come to get drunk", despite this Pfeffer himself did not find any evidence of prostitution among Uman's Pilgrims.My Pilgrimage Into the Jewish Future: Partying, Praying, Prostitution and Absolution in Uman
Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...
(15 September 2018)
In September 2010, ten Hasidic pilgrims were deported back to Israel and banned from Ukraine. In June 2024, Ukraine declared its stance on the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA-IL) system implemented by
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, stating that it considers the ETA-IL to be a violation of the existing visa-free agreement between the two nations that had been in place since 2010. In response to Israel's decision, Ukraine announced it would implement similar pre-approval requirements for Israeli citizens. This reciprocal action was confirmed by the Ukrainian Embassy in Israel on June 20, 2024. These measures are intended to mirror the additional requirements imposed by Israel, including the requirement for visitors to the Rosh Hashana kibbutz. In January 2025, 90 Patriot air defense interceptors were transferred from Israel to Ukraine by the United States. Israeli officials denied they were supplying weapons to Ukraine but were only returning the system to the US and are unaware of their fate. However, Axios reported Netanyahu had approved their transfer in September 2024 in return for allowing the annual Uman pilgrimage.


Controversy

Personnel of Ben Gurion airport, other Israeli tourists and
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pilots have complained about pilgrims abusing drugs and hard liquor and harassing fellow passengers to Ukraine.Watch: Fighting on Uman-bound flight, shenanigans at Kiev airport
Itay Blumental, Published: 06.10.16, ynetnews
Common complaints from Uman residents relate to the loud noise, singing, rowdiness, widespread drinking, drug use, and fighting the pilgrims cause. Locals have also complained about the cordoning off of neighborhoods by police and the internal trade that has developed among pilgrims.In first, Israel sets up temporary consulate in Uman for Rosh Hashanah
The Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist Dav ...
(29 August 2018)
Heavy
alcoholic drink Drinks containing alcohol (drug), alcohol are typically divided into three classes—beers, wines, and Distilled beverage, spirits—with alcohol content typically between 3% and 50%. Drinks with less than 0.5% are sometimes considered Non-al ...
ing and
cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...
smoking is prevalent amongst the pilgrims, many of them young men, with some describing it as a party event. Participants have been seen taking
LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD (from German ; often referred to as acid or lucy), is a semisynthetic, hallucinogenic compound derived from ergot, known for its powerful psychological effects and serotonergic activity. I ...
on the pilgrimage.Rosh Hashana in Uman: A Jewish anarchy
By NATAN ODENHEIMER, 10/02/2016, Jerusalem Post
Dancing in the streets to trance music is common and the event has been likened to the
Burning Man Burning Man is a week-long large-scale desert event focused on "community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance" held annually in the Western United States. The event's name comes from its ceremony on the penultimate night of the event: the ...
festival.
''How Do You Say Shofar in Ukrainian? The strange and wonderful Hasidic pilgrimage to Uman, Ukraine.'', By Menachem Kaiser
The pilgrimage has led to several clashes over the years. In September 2010, several cases of violence and riots broke out among pilgrims after members of the Evangelical Church arrived from
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to preach their faith, leading to 10 pilgrims being deported. A few days later, ten pilgrims were deported back to Israel and banned from Ukraine for five years for disrupting public order and causing bodily harm to citizens. At the end of September 2010, an Israeli was stabbed and killed in an altercation that broke out following the vandalism of a car owned by Jews. Allegedly, his stabbing was a retaliation for the stabbing and wounding of a local (Ukrainian) by an Israeli. In September 2013, three Israeli police officers were deported after getting involved in a bar brawl during the Rosh Hashanah gathering in Uman. In the 2014 pilgrimage, organizers were fined $15,000 by the city of Uman for illegally operating a "tent city" to house 2,500 pilgrims. The controversy is the subject of the 2015 documentary film, '' The Dybbuk. A Tale of Wandering Souls''. In 2015, pilgrims staying in a residential tower began tossing rocks and bottles from above onto a car, and when at one point a local policeman's hat was knocked off, police with
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s were called to scatter the crowd. In 2010, an Israeli police officer sent to monitor security commented "people get drunk and act crazy in the streets, go out to pubs and hit on women and harass them. They do all types of things that they would never do in Israel, but they come out here and feel like they can do it." Anshel Pfeffer reported for ''
Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...
'' in 2018 that an Israeli diplomat told him that "roughly only half of those who come to Uman do so for religious reasons, and the other half are simply the dregs who come to get drunk, take drugs and visit prostitutes," Pfeffer himself did not find any evidence of prostitution in Uman.My Pilgrimage Into the Jewish Future: Partying, Praying, Prostitution and Absolution in Uman
Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...
(15 September 2018)
After the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022, authorities in Ukraine warned against Chasidic pilgrims coming to Uman. The Ukrainian embassy in Israel issued a statement saying: “When the echoes of the Russian enemy explosions on Ukraine don’t stop, we must take care of ourselves. Please, avoid coming to Uman on Rosh Hashanah and pray that peace will return to Ukraine and the blessed pilgrimage will be renewed.” Numbers increased over subsequent years, with an estimated 35,000 pilgrims coming to Uman in 2024.


Notes


References

*Feldman, Rachel Z. (Number 1, 2022)
"Pious Mobilities: Jewish Pilgrimage to Uman During the Pandemic"
''An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies'', Volume 40, pp. 107-132. *Fleer, Gedaliah (2005). ''Against All Odds''. Jerusalem: Breslov Research Institute. *Greenbaum, Avraham (1987). ''Tzaddik''. Jerusalem: Breslov Research Institute. . *Kramer, Chaim (1989). ''Crossing the Narrow Bridge''. Jerusalem: Breslov Research Institute. . *Kramer, Chaim. ''Through Fire and Water: The Life of Reb Noson of Breslov''. Jerusalem: Breslov Research Institute. . *Levine, Rabbi Menache
Uman: What you Need to Know About the City of Souls
Aish.com *Marchenko, Alla. (2018). "In the Eyes of Uman Pilgrims: A Vision of Place and Its Inhabitants". ''Contemporary Jewry'', ''38''(2), 227–247.


External links

{{commons category, Pilgrimage to the tomb of Nachman of Breslov, Rosh Hashana kibbutz in Uman

Breslov Hasidism Rosh Hashanah Jewish pilgrimages Uman History of Cherkasy Oblast Hasidic Judaism in Ukraine Jewish Ukrainian history Jewish Russian and Soviet history Israel–Ukraine relations Israel–Soviet Union relations