UMAN, Ukraine (AP) – Hebrew wafted through the air, bearded men in black prayed and danced as thousands of Hasidic Jews from around the world descended on this Ukrainian farming town to celebrate the Jewish New Year.
The annual men-only pilgrimage, once outlawed during Soviet times, has become the central event in Uman, not only for the Jews who converge on this town, but for its poor residents who depend heavily on these temporary guests to supplement meager wages and pensions.
Participants set up giant tents and a big cafeteria to feed the estimated 20,000 people that organizers were expecting before Rosh Hashana begins at sundown Friday, while residents hawk souvenirs such as fur hats, knives and alarm clocks.
This quiet, far-off-the-tourist-track town, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Kyiv, has come alive as men pray, dance and recite psalms around the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, hidden in Soviet times in a dilapidated barn among old village houses and Soviet-era apartment buildings.
Nachman, who died in 1810, was renowned for his mystical interpretations of Jewish texts, and his belief that higher spirituality could be achieved through a combination of prayer, meditation and good deeds. On his deathbed, he is said to have promised to be an advocate for anyone who would come and pray beside his tomb.
That promise – and Nachman’s suggestion that prayer carried more power during Rosh Hashana – has been drawing thousands of pilgrims yearly.
“This is … a chance to touch the living faith of our fathers,” said Borys Varminshteyn, who was making the pilgrimage from Myrhorod in central Ukraine.
Nachman said, “‘You will pray for me here and I will pray for you there,”‘ said Avraam Levitsky, 51, who was making the pilgrimage from the Black Sea city of Odessa.
For decades, it wasn’t so easy for Jews to get here. In 1920, three years after the Bolshevik revolution, the Soviets ordered the old Jewish cemetery where Nachman’s grave lies to be destroyed, and for homes to be built in its place.
A wealthy Jew from the Ukrainian capital bought the plot of land and built a small house there to preserve the grave. The officially atheist Soviet Union sharply restricted access, although some Jews secretly made their way, risking arrest.
Since the Soviet collapse, Jews have been able to visit Uman freely and in the last six years, the commemorations have ballooned into a massive event. In the space of 10 days, Uman residents can earn up to 13 times the average monthly salary of Hr 982 ($196) by renting their homes to pilgrims coming to pray at their spiritual leader’s tomb.
“We live here from Hasids to Hasids,” said Svitlana Bevz, 66.
Not everyone in this town of 100,000 is pleased. Some 400 police patrol the gathering, setting up checkpoints around town. Residents complain that they are questioned if they want to go into an area occupied by the Hasids.
Uman was once home to thousands of Jews, but more than a century of pogroms, Nazi massacres, Stalinist repression and emigration have cut their numbers to just a few hundred.
While most of the devout go home at the end of Rosh Hashana, their presence in Uman has had lingering effects: a kosher supermarket has sprung up, and a new hotel is under construction that will respect their requirements _ the rooms have no mirrors and bathtubs are replaced with showers. The showers are needed so the Jews can take a mikvah, a ritual bath, which requires that water be living, and therefore running.
Nachman’s tomb has been renovated, and the Hasids are building a 4,000-seat synagogue, which would be the largest in Ukraine.
