According to Kikar Shabbos report, a deal was reached between the Breslov leadership and the government of Ukraine that will pave the way for a very small number of Chassidim to spend Rosh Hashanah in Uman this year. The Chassidim in question will be coming from Israel and will require a COVID-19 test prior to boarding the plane.
The report was based on an announcement that the Breslov leadership released to various communities around Israel, and has not been confirmed by the government of Ukraine.
The announcement states that the agreement allows 150 Breslov Chassidim from Israel to fly to Ukraine ahead of the Rosh Hashanah. This agreement would be a bit of a backtrack as the Breslov leadership got Israel to agree to allow 6,000 Chassidim to leave Israel and head to Uman. However, after the Ukrainian government announced a total ban on foreigners entering the country from September 1st through the 28th, getting them to agree to even this many took a lot of effort on the part of the Breslov leadership.
Both Israeli and Ukrainian authorities are worried that the mass gathering in Uman would lead to new outbreaks of the coronavirus in both countries, similar to how it led to the spread of measles a few years ago. Making the task of the Breslov leadership all the more arduous was the fact that over the past few weeks, a number of confrontations between visiting Jews and law enforcement as well as local residents have been reported, including several physical attacks by local youths on Israeli visitors, and a riot that took place inside the Kever of Rebbe Nachman itself with visitors tearing down partition dividers set up to prevent crowding. Two of the visitors who participated in the incident were expelled from the country.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
Good news…..it means that 5,850 Breslover chassidim will be at home spending a SAFE yom tov with their families. Hopefully, all will go well for the 150 chassidim who will travel to Uman and they should have a safe trip and return to their families motzi yom tov in good health.
Believe me Reb Nachman could not be happier,does anyone in his right mind think even for a second that Reb Nachman really wants tens of thousands of Jews leaving their wives and children on a Yom tov like rosh hashana and spend the holy days in that blood soaked anti Semitic hell hole called Ukraine
Let’s all hope this ban remains permanent
This is inaccurate. During his lifetime Rebbe Nachman encouraged his followers to leave their wives and kids to come to him, especially for a Yom Tov like Rosh Hashana. In the early 1800’s the Ukraine was already a blood-soaked anti Semitic hell hole. In fact, this is the exact reason Rebbe Nachman wanted to be buried in Uman as opposed to Breslov. He wanted to be buried in the cemetery with the 20,000 victims of the Haidernacks’ massacre in the late 1760’s. So in short – yes – this is exactly what he wants.