The plan being drawn up by the Israeli ministerial team is expected to allow around 6,000 pilgrims to travel to Uman from Israel, a figure which is acceptable to the Breslov leadership.
By JEREMY SHARONJEWISH PILGRIMS pray at the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in Uman during the celebration of Rosh Hashanah in September 2017.(photo credit: VALENTYN OGIRENKO/REUTERS)
A plan to allow several thousand Breslov hassidim to participate in the annual pilgrimage to Uman is currently being drafted by a ministerial team appointed last week, and is based on several of the primary proposals by the Breslov leadership itself.The ministerial team, chaired by Minister for Higher Education and Water Resources Ze’ev Elkin, is yet to finalize the plan but is expected to publicize its recommendations later this week.The Ukrainian government, which two weeks ago closed its borders to foreign travelers, has itself convened a special governmental commission to evaluate how to allow the pilgrimage to go ahead on a limited basis.The plan being drawn up by the Israeli ministerial team is expected to allow around 6,000 people to travel from Israel, a figure which is acceptable to the Breslov leadership.Breslov hassidim who belong to Breslov communities will be given preference in the allocation of flights and space in Uman ahead of the large number of people not directly associated with the Breslov community who attend the event every year.Every pilgrim will need to present a negative test result for COVID-19 before they get on the flight to the Ukraine.In Uman itself, pilgrims will not be able to leave the designated area for the event, and will not be able to establish the annual market or visit local stores.Specific areas close to the main site will be designated for each Breslov community from around Israel participating in the pilgrimage, and will all be separated from each other.Access to the tomb of Breslov founder Rabbi Nachman of Breslov will be possible via a moving procession of pilgrims along two routes to prevent the usual mass crowding of extremely large numbers of people seeking to touch the tomb.Specific groups will be given predetermined times for their processions.
One of the principal Breslov leaders lobbying for the adoption of the plan has been Rabbi Shalom Arush, who is also the head of an institute for people returning to Jewish faith.Arush is close to Elkin and supported his bid for mayor of Jerusalem back in 2018.In recent days, Arush has met with Elkin, as well as Science Minister Yizhar Shai, another member of the ministerial team formulating the Uman pilgrimage plan.Arush initially dismissed the danger of the COVID-19 pandemic, making unsubstantiated comments such as that the disease does not affect Jews.The rabbi said that “the corona[virus] affects non-Jews, not the Jewish people,” and that the Jewish people need to merely increase their faith in God and their religious observance.“Smile, speak with God in your own language, and you have nothing to worry about,” said the rabbi in a video made available on Arush’s social media channels.Arush is also one of the principal disciples of disgraced rabbi Eliezer Berland who was convicted on two counts of indecent assault against two women in 2016, and is currently about to be indicted again for fraud, attempted tax evasion and money laundering.Arush also reportedly met with Netanyahu in December last year at the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem, after the indictments in the criminal cases against the premier were filed.In parallel with the Israeli ministerial team’s work, a commission of Ukrainian government officials has also been convened to examine how the pilgrimage could go ahead, in what format and how many pilgrims could attend.The commission officials reportedly visited Uman last week to take a look at the situation on the ground and recommend measures to enable a certain number of pilgrims to arrive and celebrate Rosh Hashanah safely.The commission has instructed that the area of pilgrimage for visitors be limited by establishing quarantine checkpoints in order to make restrictions on the number of people in the area enforceable.It also gave a directive for an operational headquarters to be established “for the safe celebration of Rosh Hashanah in Uman with the involvement of law enforcement agencies, medical services, local governments, representatives of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine and NGOs.”A hotline at the Cherkasy Regional State Administration, in which Uman lies, will also be created to receive citizens’ complaints about any violations of coronavirus regulations in the area of pilgrimage.
