Every year tens of thousands of Orthodox Jews make a pilgrimage to the city of Uman in Ukraine. Despite the war Ukraine is currently in, some 2,000 Jews have already arrived in the central Ukrainian town. More are expected to head that way to celebrate the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah), which begins after sundown on Sunday and lasts through Tuesday.
According to Israeli media, there are currently around 2,000 pilgrims in Ukraine for Rosh Hashanah. That number is expected to rise to 10,000 this year. Ukraine opened an airport in 2013 to receive the thousands of pilgrims who come to the town every year. “It has really become an event in recent years before corona,” says a spokesperson for the Jewish Cultural Quarter, a Dutch organization that includes the Jewish Museum and National Holocaust Museum.
The Ukrainian embassy in Israel has urged not to travel to Ukraine this year. Both the Ukrainian and Israeli governments also advise against moving to Uman now. While Jewish organizations in Uman deny that there is a dangerous situation. According to them, Uman is far enough from the front and for that reason Jewish travelers would not be in danger in the Ukrainian town.
However, that doesn’t seem to be the case. In early August, the Ukrainian army shot down another Russian missile near Uman. Two people were injured as a result of falling debris, one of whom later died in hospital. Yevhen Kerniychuk, of the Ukrainian embassy in Israel, has reported that such Russian attacks could potentially kill many Jews visiting Uman.
The Jewish New Year
Hasidic Jews – a branch of Orthodox Judaism – make an annual pilgrimage with Rosh Hashanah to visit the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, who was buried there in 1810. “Rosh Hashanah is considered an important time to visit the tomb because the rabbi felt it was important that Rosh Hashanah be celebrated with him,” said the spokesman for the Jewish Cultural Quarter.
The famous rabbi is the founder of the Breslover movement within Hasidism. Before his death, he promised that anyone who visits his grave and donates to the poor would be saved from hell by him.
In the Netherlands this pilgrimage plays a lot less. “We have a social service where people make special dishes,” says a spokesman for the Dutch Israelite Church Association. “There is singing, the shofar (a ram’s horn) is blown and prayers are read. “So then we also eat a lot of sweet things like apples with honey. Even the people who don’t celebrate many Jewish holidays celebrate Rosh Hashanah.”
This year the Hasidic Jews are longing for this pilgrimage even more than usual, because it could not take place in 2020 due to the corona crisis. At the time, Ukraine closed all borders to foreign travelers.
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