Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz has given approval for flights to take off from Ben-Gurion International Airport for Uman throughout the night on motzei Shabbos erev Rosh Hashanah. The minister was asked to permit the flights as many persons intending to fly to Uman after Shabbos feared if they can only leave on Sunday morning, some travelers may be stuck close to yomtov as they travel from the airport to the tziyun.
Takeoffs are prohibited in the airport from 01:00 to 05:30 daily. Without Katz’s okay, the first flights for Uman would not have departed from Israel until Sunday morning and this would be cutting it close for many mispallalim who wish to daven at the tziyun of Rav Nachman ZT”L on Rosh Hashanah.
Deputy Education Minister Meir Porush has been working during recent weeks to persuade the minister to give the okay for the flights to take off on motzei shabbos and throughout the night. He was dealing with Transportation Ministry Director-General Uzi Yitzchaki and the Director-General of the Airport Authority, Yaakov Ganot. Porush works to assist the travelers to Uman every year, and this year he came through once again. It was Porush who was also instrumental a number of years ago in eliminating the need for obtaining a visa before traveling to Uman. This made it significantly easier for mispallalim heading to Uman for Rosh Hashanah and year-round.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
8 Responses
Stay home with your wife and children.
This poses a real issue. If they allow it for people to travel to Uman what will stop them from allowing flights on every motsei Shabbos? Going forward if they allow flights on every motsei shabbas, it will cause many people who are not shomer shabbos to be mechalel shabbos.
#1 – Rosh Hashana is about davening, not about family.
#2 – There are already flights early motzaei Shabbos. They are just permitting later flights. That means less chilul Shabbos.
Leon H: Then they’ll have a violent protest against Chillul Shabbos.
The blindfolds say it all on so many levels.
Yeshiva World News – Why do you choose such strange pictures whenever you write about Uman?
There are some beautiful pictures of the davening by slichos, or of the dancing, or even of the rabbonim and talmidei chachomim and others in the airports that you could have used.
Is this not mindless behavior? How can they not make the connection between supporting the rsehaim gemoorim with money, and the desecration by the same of the Vilna cemetary? Is the Rebbe more important than 500 years worth of other kevarim?
#6 – Uman is in Ukraine and Vilna is in Lithuania. Since the fall of the USSR there is no connection.
#4 I recognize those blindfolds. They can’t trick me