The Ukrainian government has issued to appeals in two days urging Breslover chassidim not to travel to Uman for Rosh Hashanah, citing grave security concerns.
“We recommend pilgrims to consider the security situation in our country and refrain from visiting Uman,” urged Igor Taburets, governor of the Cherkasy Regional Military Administration on Wednesday. “Regular Russian attacks and damage to civilian objects, provocations are Ukrainian everyday life, unfortunately.”
The Ukrainian statement emphasized that Uman lacks sufficient air raid shelters to accommodate the anticipated travelers, and that the country’s martial law, curfew, and movement restrictions would impact chassidim.
“Russia’s ongoing full-scale military aggression against Ukraine poses real threats to people’s lives and safety,” the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, “[and] makes it impossible to guarantee the safety of foreign citizens on the territory of Ukraine.”
The minister warned that there is a “regime of martial law which provides for a number of additional regulations, including restrictions on freedom of movement, a curfew and enhanced patrols, a ban on holding mass events and gatherings, as well as the application of coercive measures against persons who will not comply with the established restrictions.”
The US State Department has also issued a travel warning, advising citizens against going to Rebbe Nachman’s kever for the Yom Tov.
Despite the warnings, up to 50,000 chassidim are expected to at least try to make it to Uman for Rosh Hashana.
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9 Responses
Rubbish rubbish rubbish.
Every year there is another “warning”, when in reality it is all down to who was paid what/how much….
Absolute rubbish.
the rabbonim have asked all meshugayim to stop the madness
avodah zarah is forbidden on the yom hadin
there is a chiyuv of mesirat nefesh not to do avodah zara
I’ve never heard of a din of mesirat nefesh to commit avodah zarah
Lbj:
Not nice
What will happen if Ukraine bans bringing in techeles
This could be a humanitarian situation
It will c’v probably take a Russian missile landing in Uman to finally stop this annual rush to party in the epicenter of antisemitism.
How would Israel react in a bunch of tourists decided that now was a good time to go sight-seeing in Gaza?
This raises an issue raised by legal philosophers (not frum ones, obviously), “should suicide be a crime”. In all fairness, most people thought that tourism in war zones has been out of style since 1861 (Battle of Bull Run, apparently many people didn’t realize what war was like, especially with weapons that even then were approaching modernity).
@Lbj it’s never to late to join in. You’ll have a Rosh Hashana like you never had before. If you go to the right places, you could mamash feel that you’re mamlich Hashem