UKRAINE (AP) – Around 30,000 Hasidic Jewish pilgrims from around the world traveled to Ukraine to pay homage at the final resting place of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the founder of Breslov Hasidism, as part of a celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, on Friday.
The Hasidic Jewish pilgrims, many traveling from Israel and further afield, flocked to Uman, a small city in central Ukraine.
The city is the burial site of Nachman of Breslov, a respected Hasidic rabbi who died in 1810.
The pilgrims danced and prayed at the site.
Advertisements and directional signs in Hebrew blanketed the area.
Many had visited in previous years and wanted to continue despite the danger of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
“I was worried, but here I am. I think what we get by coming here gives more than the fear we have because of the war” said Asher Feworker, a Hasidic Jewish pilgrim from New York.
Uman is 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the capital Kyiv and typically attracts thousands of pilgrims for Rosh Hashanah, which ends on Tuesday.
Uman is relatively far from the front lines in Ukraine’s east and south, though it is within the range of Russian missiles and has been struck before.
