Lazar Berman is the diplomatic reporter for The Times of Israel
UMAN, Ukraine – Residents of the central Ukrainian city of Uman have become accustomed to welcoming tens of thousands of Jewish worshippers on the annual Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage. Many paintings in Jewish-owned businesses in September, some have learned more Hebrew than one might expect, and maxim speak with some pride of their hometown’s fame and prestige as a holy place.
Now, with a five-month war between Russia and Ukraine still underway, the pilgrimage is highly uncertain. Israel and Ukraine have issued warnings to deter worshippers, it is unclear to what extent they have had an effect.
Uman residents told The Times of Israel this week that they expect thousands of Chassidim and others to do so anyway.
Even before the war, the annual pilgrimage, the city’s main economic engine, had been severely disrupted by the pandemic. tried to introduce the country.
Only 3,000 worshippers managed to cross before Kyiv closed its borders over an outbreak, while others spent the holidays camped on the side of the road near the border begging to be allowed in.
“I know they will come,” said Dmytro, an employee of the local structure who enjoys a beer and a cigarette near a pond below the Jewish Quarter. “We will take care of your protection. “
Dmytro, eager to show his wisdom from Hebrew swearing, worked for nine years in a shop on Pushkin Street, in the center of Uman’s Jewish Quarter.
“Because rabbi Nachman’s bones are here, we think they’re coming,” he said, referring to Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, an eighteenth-century Hasidic leader whose tomb attracts pilgrims every year.
Others expect a much more modest performance.
“We expect it to be like two years ago in the first year of the pandemic,” said Sergei, a driver. “About another 2000 people who arrive earlier, will come in and stay here for a while. “But we don’t expect a large influx of other people.
Non-Jewish citizens are unanimous that, in the absence of a pandemic or war, pilgrimage is a blessing to their city.
“Normally, everything is fine,” sasha said, smoking a cigarette next to a Judaica store. “Everyone benefits, the local economy benefits, other people make money, the city thrives when other people arrive. pleased to have them here. “
“It’s smart for the city,” said Alina Turkolava, 25, who works at a kosher pizzeria on Pushkin Street. He will study Hebrew for a year in college after meeting with Israelis every September.
“That way we can communicate with other people and get to know them, and Israelis can also visit our city and I can ask them about their reports in Uman,” he said.
The pilgrimage to Uman dates back many years. During his lifetime, Rabbi Nachman suggested to his disciples that they spend Rosh Hashanah with him and, after his death in 1810, they began to make a pilgrimage to his tomb.
The Jews saw their fortunes vary greatly in Uman. While a vital center of Hasidism and the Jewish Enlightenment movement, the city was also the scene of bloody pogroms in 1749, 1768, 1919 and 1942.
Despite the economy for the city, tensions between Jewish citizens and pilgrims have persisted in some neighborhoods, and some citizens have expressed doubts about how Jewish visitors act when they arrive.
“Most don’t behave well,” Dmytro lamented. “They look like they’re the owners of the place. We hope they perceive that they are visitors here and that they will have to respect that.
Sasha felt the same way. ” It is true that many of them are very wise. We would prefer them to be taller.
Fights between Jewish visitors and locals, which have turned into stabbings and other riots in the past, have become so common that Israeli police now send officials during the holiday to help the local government maintain order. young people and others who come to Uman for the festive atmosphere rather than for a purely devout experience.
“Every year there are many incidents with passengers traveling to Uman,” a senior source at Ben Gurion Airport told the Ynet news site in 2018. “There are passengers who arrive at the plane drunk, even drugged; there are those who arrive with plastic bags of suitcases. Some travelers arrive at the flight without tickets and ask for the “generosity” of other passengers, and many of them arrive at the flight literally at the last moment, as if it were a bus.
Even refugees staying lately in kosher hotels have already heard of the locals’ frustrations with some visitors.
Alyona, a refugee from Kherson, discovered a task with young Jews in Uman. “The kids tell me about the culture and other stories. We’ve heard smart things and we’ve heard bad things. We have heard that when many other people come in, they feel legal and are not visitors but they are guilty here and conflicts arise.
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