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Hundreds of Jewish pilgrims searching from Belarus to Ukraine to make a stopover at the tomb of a respected rabbi were not allowed in due to virus restrictions.
By Maria Varenikova
VINNYTSIA, Ukraine – They sang, They danced. They collapsed with exhaustion in their luggage. For the time being, for the consecutive night, many Japanese Jewish pilgrims remained outdoors along a road between checkpoints on the Ukraine-Belarus border on Tuesday, blocked by coronavirus-related restrictions.
Ukraine’s border guards have reinforced the passage through which pilgrims seek to enter the country to celebrate Rosh Hashaná, the Jewish New Year, in the town of Ouman, of the tomb of Rabbi Nachman, founder of the Breslov branch of Hassidic Judaism.
As Covid-19 cases increased in the country, Ukraine closed its borders last month, blocking the pilgrimage, which attracts tens of thousands of people, many of them from Israel. Israeli fitness officials supported Ukraine’s decision.
Pilgrims began arriving at a border crossing with Belarus on Monday afternoon, according to the Ukrainian border guard service. The Belarusian government allowed the organization to pass and accumulate on a road in the buffer zone between the two border crossings.
The men tried to convince the border guards to let them through to celebrate the New Year, the ultimate party devoted to the Jasidim. The seemingly dull and drowsy little children stared.
The pilgrims went to the Novi Yarylovychi border crossing after Belarus announced its opening, Israeli radio said in a tweet, but the border was closed. The Ukrainian government said that pilgrims had been notified in advance of the closure of the border.
Ukraine’s border guard said 690 pilgrims had accumulated along the border on Tuesday, and the agency’s director, Serhiy Deyneko, said they expected more on charter flights arriving in Belarus. .
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, said the closure of the border will be enforced. “The National Border Service has enough strength and means to ensure reliable coverage of the state border,” said a member of the presidential office. with a secondary fence, several hundred internal meters of Ukraine.
Ukraine reported on Tuesday 2905 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours and the country’s ban on foreign visitors, introduced last month, is in force until 28 September.
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