The Ukrainian Interior Ministry announced on Monday that the Ukrainian government had banned all Jasidim and Orthodox Jews from making the annual pilgrimage to the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Ouman, founder of the Breslov and great-grandson of Baal Shem Tov, the next feast of Rosh Hashanah. .
Tens of thousands of Jews come to the grave each year to pray and practice the era of the wonderful holy days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The Ukrainian government in the early summer had in the past banned Hajj to the site only through the faithful of Israel, raising concerns about the contagion of COVID-19 due to the greater number of viruses in the Jewish state.
The Israelis are excluded from the pilgrimage from Breslov to Uman this Rosh Hashanah-Yom Kippur.
“We respect the national traditions of other devout peoples and communities and every year we do our best to ensure that they meet the highest security standards,” Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said Tuesday.
“However, in recent weeks Ukraine has noticed an increase in coronavirus epidemics among the population. The epidemiological scenario in the country and in the world allows the organization and realization of mass events, especially with the participation of foreigners.”
Avakov added that the devout processions to be organized soon through the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of his own nation, and that of the Orthodox Church of the Patriarchate of Moscow, had also been cancelled for the same reason, and he hoped for an understanding “of the representatives of the community of Jasidic clerics.”
Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein supported Avakov’s position and said from the outset that he opposed this year’s pilgrimage, expressing the view that it would have led to tragedy through the great contagion of coronavirus.
Printed from: https://www.jewishpress.com/news/global/europe/ukraine/covid-19-ukraine-cancels-pilgrimage-to-rebbe-nachman-in-uman-this-year/2020/08/18 /
Scan this QR code to this online page: