After many years of thousands of Jewish visitors flocking to Uman for Rosh Hashanah, the Uman municipality made a decision that every visitor will have to pay a ‘tourist tax’, Kikar H’Shabbat reported.
The municipality set up a stand where the tax can be paid with a sign stating: “This is the service station for paying the tourist tax. Tourists (pilgrims) are obligated to pay a tourist tax in order to have legal status in Uman.”
In recent days, municipality inspectors accompanied by local police have been knocking on doors on Pushkina Street, which leads to Rav Nachman’s kever, and requesting receipts for the tax, as well as stopping passerby on the street and requesting receipts.
The tourist tax is 300 Ukrainian hryvnias ($11.11) per day, which adds up to 900 hryvnias ($33.34) for those who come just for the days of Rosh Hashanah.
The Uman municipality has warned that anyone who fails to pay the tax will be prosecuted.
Breslover Rabbanim sent letters to their chassidim instructing them to pay the tax, stating: “As of now, there is nothing to do because the decision has already been made.”
Rav Yaakov Jan, the Rav of Uman, published a letter stating: “Whoever fails to pay will create difficulties that none of us can withstand at this time and place.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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16 Responses
Smart move by the locals but just highlights the insanity of these so called “Pilgrims” running to Uman to pump money into the coffers of one of the World’s most anti-semitic states. I hope they keep raising the tax. That should really test the emunah of these “Pilgrims”.
Before anyone complaining about this tourist tax, please bear in mind, that this is way less money than the Corona tests for anyone visiting Britain.
While the daily rate is rather high, Switzerland always charged tourists what some call “air-tax”.
I suppose they want to recover the high cost of safety and security but not really “melamed zechus” on those anti-Semites because with the high number of visitors they are making millions from people who bring enormous amount of dollars into the country.
you would actually pay a tax to those antisemites? feh !
A “pilgrim” and a “tourist” are two different things. Just what definition is used to identify those who are subject to the tax?
And why shouldn’t the city impose such a tax? Tourism both imposes burdens on the city, which it needs to defray. but also presents an opportunity for revenue collection from a population that doesn’t have the right to vote in municipal elections.
That is why many cities in the USA have such a tax, though since in the USA most tourists stay at hotels, it is usually imposed on hotel rooms rather than on the tourists themselves. I suppose Uman could have taxed the achsanyos per bed, but this is probably easier to enforce.
Is this the government doing it, with legal authority? Does the money go to the government (presumably to ay for services), or is this a shake-down by corrupt officials? Has the Ukrainian national government agreed to this (or even know about this)? Is such a tax on tourists collected elsewhere in Ukraine?
As P.T. Barnum said, “A fool and his money are soon parted.”
They dont want or like yidden, but they tolerate yidden because of the money they make. This is just another way to milk “the jews” of a few more dollars.
The Breslov seemingly couldn’t care about financing these anti-semitim…the Rav of Uman send out a warning saying “just pay up and shut up and don’t make problems”.
Why is this even news? Many, many places the world over have a tax payable on hotel rooms according to both the standard of the hotel and the number of people in the room. No-one complains when they go to Davos so why are people complaining when they go to Reb Nachman?
Read recent history
No Yid would give them a dollar if they read recent history
I’ve been saying for years that they should just move his body to Israel. The local government wouldn’t let so they should smuggle it out. I know typically it’s a big halachic problem to move a body once it’s been interred, but in this case where so many ppl are away from their family, and many poskim are against it, i think Israel is much better, where women also have a place.
GH
Are you sure you really want to be expressing (and publically as well – harder to do teshuva for) such extreme hatred towards your fellow Jews 4 days before Rosh Hashanah?
Especially, when such hatred is aimed at your fellow Jews Avodas Hashem.
One would hope that you think that growing closer to Hashem as these people certainly think they are by going to Uman is a good thing .
Not something to mock and denigrate, because that sounds like something those very same antisemites you mention would do. Do you really want to align yourself on their side before yom haDin?
they shouldn’t PAY any JUDEN taxes unless they want to make it normal for governments to suddenly ask for different types of JUDEN taxes on all JUDEN. STOP IT WHEN IT IS STILL POSSIBLE OR ELSE…….
BY, Reb Nachman moved to Uman specifically in order to be buried there; what kind of CHUTZPAH would it take to move him? What right does anyone in the world have to do so?
And those who complain that the Ukranians are antisemites, so what? Were they less antisemitic when Reb Nachman asked that people come to him for Rosh Hashana, and promised that he will help whoever does? What has their antisemitism got to do with it? It’s a given. There are antisemites everywhere. It can’t and shouldn’t stop us from going about our lives, from visiting tzadikim to ask them to intercede Above for us, etc.
Finally, this isn’t a “Jude Tax”, it’s a tourist tax, and that IS normal.