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| Photo Credit: AP. |
UMAN, Ukraine (AP) — Thousands of Hasidic Jewish pilgrims flocked to central Ukraine to mark the Jewish new year Sunday, ignoring international travel warnings as Russia struck more targets from the air and mobilized its citizens to stem losses in the war that has entered its eighth month.
The
pilgrims, many traveling from Israel and further afield, converged on the small
city of Uman, the burial site of Nachman of Breslov, a respected Hasidic rabbi
who died in 1810.
The streets
of one of Uman’s central neighborhoods were packed with men of all ages wearing
traditional black coats and long side curls. Some chanted prayers. Others
screamed, shouted and danced. Advertisements and directional signs in Hebrew
blanketed the area.
Some
visitors, like Nahum Markowitz from Israel, have been making the journey for
years and weren’t about to let the war get in the way this year.
“We are not
afraid. If we come to Rabbi Nachman, he will protect us for the whole year,”
said Markowitz, who has been visiting Uman since 1991, when the collapse of the
Soviet Union made the pilgrimage accessible to foreign visitors.
Besides, he
said, he is already familiar with the risk of war and the wail of sirens that
comes from living in Israel.
The city,
200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the capital, Kyiv, typically attracts
thousands of pilgrims for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, which begins in
the evening Sunday and ends on Tuesday.
The
Ukrainian embassy to Israel repeatedly urged those planning a pilgrimage to
stay home, warning on Facebook that Russia has repeatedly targeted heavily
populated areas and that “attacks cause real danger to your lives!”
The Israeli
and American governments also cautioned citizens not to make the trip this year
— and some of those warnings may have worked.
More than
35,000 pilgrims visited last year even in the face of pandemic travel
restrictions, said local official Oleh Hanich.
This year’s
turnout was smaller, though still substantial, considering that no commercial
flights are arriving in the country. The United Jewish Community of Ukraine
said 23,000 pilgrims were in Uman as of Sunday.
“Neither
coronavirus nor war stops them. For them, this is a holy place,” Hanich said,
while acknowledging “we can’t guarantee their complete safety.”
Rav Mota
Frank, 54, initially had reservations about making the trip from Israel this
year. But he decided it was worth the risk after realizing that the situation
in Uman is calmer than at the front and seeing how Ukrainians themselves have
reacted to the dangers of war.
“When there
are air alarms, they do not hide in the basement, but try to be near the
shelter,” he said of the Ukrainians. “We in Israel are used to it — there is
also a constant war. We are used to what life is like. And that’s why it doesn’t
scare us much.”
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.
In 2020,
thousands of pilgrims failed to reach Uman after Ukraine closed its borders due
to a surge in COVID-19 infections.
Associated
Press writer Adam Schreck in Kyiv contributed reporting.
Follow the
AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine