KYIV (Reuters) – The governments of Ukraine and Israel issued a set tuesday calling on Israeli Hasidic Jews to cancel their annual pilgrimage to the city of Uman in central Ukraine this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tens of thousands of Hasidic Jews descend to Ouman every Jewish New Year to stop at the tomb of Rabbi Nachman in Breslov, who revived the Hasidic movement and died in 1810.
This year’s Jewish New Year celebrations take place from September 18 to 20.
“Guided through the recommendations and warnings of the Ukrainian and Israeli Ministries of Health, we urge all pilgrims who make plans to participate in the ongoing festive bodies on the Rosh Hashanah instance in Ukraine to run from visiting the city of Ouman due to the threatening epidemic situation,” governments said in the communiqué.
It was posted on the Ukrainian government’s online page and on the Facebook page of the Israeli Embassy in Kiev.
Ukraine has recorded 94436 cases of coronavirus and 2,116 deaths since the start of the pandemic in March.
Some regions have had to re-impose some restrictions, such as mandatory masking due to an increase in the number of new instances to more than 1,500 last week.
Ukraine’s ministry of fitness reported on Tuesday 1,616 new ones.
Reporting through Natalia Zinets; Edited through Gareth Jones
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