You're reading: Medzhybizh blends Kozak pride with Jewish piety

MEDZHYBIZH, Khmelmytska Oblast – Rumbling along in a bone-rattling bus toward Medzhybizh gives you an impression of what it must have been like for the armies of Poles, Turks, Ukrainian Cossacks and Russians who at various points in history rolled in to attack this fortress town.

MEDZHYBIZH, Khmelmytska Oblast – Rumbling along in a bone-rattling bus toward Medzhybizh gives you an impression of what it must have been like for the armies of Poles, Turks, Ukrainian Cossacks and Russians who at various points in history rolled in to attack this fortress town.

As the Soviet bus bounced into town, the stone castle rose majestically up ahead, flanked on both sides by the two rivers that give the town its name – the Southern Buh and Buzhok (meaning small Buh). Mezhybizh means “between the Buhs” in Ukrainian.

Alongside local villagers in the bus sat three Hasidic Jewish pilgrims, a hint of another page in the town’s rich history – as the birthplace of Hasidism, a branch of Judaism characterized by its mysticism.

While Uman is known as the center of Hasidism in Ukraine, it is in Medzhybizh that the movement’s founder, Baal Shem Tov, spent the last 20 years of his life and was buried.

Medzhybizh is now a small town of some 2,000 inhabitants, but its fascinating past is attracting increasing numbers of tourists.

While Uman is known as the center of Hasidism in Ukraine, it is in Medzhybizh that the movement’s founder, Baal Shem Tov, spent the last 20 years of his life and was buried.

But this is a town for more than just religious pilgrims.

Thousands of tourists visit the more famous nearby castles in Kamyanets-Podilsky and Khotyn every year, without knowing about another great castle in this region called the White Swan, located in Medzhybizh.

It takes some time effort to get to this town from Khmelnytsky by the uncomfortable bus, but it is worth it.

This picturesque area was inhabited since the times of ancient Kyivan Rus, but the stone fortress was constructed here in the 14th century by Lithuanians. Since then it passed from hand to hand to Poles, Turks, Ukrainian Cossacks and then to Russians.

As a reminder of those volatile times the religious building, located in the middle of fortress, has functioned as a Catholic church, a mosque, a Russian Orthodox church, and is now run by the Ukrainian Orthodoxies of the Kyiv Patriarchate.

Now the castle hosts a humble museum, which brings together a hotchpotch of Ukrainian ethnographic objects, such as wooden carts, tables and cannons, among others.

The castle experienced its most glamorous times at the turn of the 19th-20th century when part of it was turned into the quarters of the Russian Hussars, a cavalry unit, and the main hall hosted balls for the local nobility. Even Russian Emperor Alexander II visited the White Swan.

But when World War I started, the Hussars left the fortress and never came back. In the Soviet times, it was home to a warehouse, a machine-tractor station, a creamery and even a prison.

Now the castle hosts a humble museum, which brings together a hotchpotch of Ukrainian ethnographic objects, such as wooden carts, tables and cannons, among others.

A part of the fortress is under restoration but we ignored the signs, sneaked inside anyways and were rewarded by a chance to walk along the ancient walls, imagining people who lived there for centuries.

While the fortress was coming from one nation to another during its history, the town of Medzhybizh was developing as an important center of Jewish culture.

Jews composed more than half of the town’s inhabitants in the 19th century, but now they appear in Medzhybizh only as pilgrims and tourists, who come to visit the tomb of Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, better known as Baal Shem Tov (Yiddish for “Master of Good Name”) or Besht.

Historians describe Besht as a doctor and a preacher, who was born in the small Ukrainian village of Okopy, lived for a long time in the Carpathians and learned Kabbalah, a mystical branch of Judaism.

He settled in Medzhybizh in 1740, where one of the biggest Jewish communities lived. Besht taught his followers to enjoy life and communicate with God by praying, while they believed their teacher was able to perform miracles and protected the town from all the disasters.

He founded the new branch in Judaism that was called Hasidism, meaning “piety.”

Hasids believe that their righteous ones become even greater after their death than during their lifetime. As a result, their tombs became centers where thousands of pilgrims come to receive inspiration and blessing.

The descendants of Besht became the Hasid leaders, or “righteous ones,” including his great-grandson Rabbi Nahman, whose grave is located in Uman in Cherkasy Oblast.

Some houses in Medzhybizh still have Jewish decorations. You can find Besht’s tomb, a new synagogue and also a guesthouse for the pilgrims in the town.

Hasids believe that their righteous ones become even greater after their death than during their lifetime. As a result, their tombs became centers where thousands of pilgrims come to receive inspiration and blessing.

The white tiny building of Besht’s tomb is filled by light and calm, which inspires even non-believers.

Next to the synagogue were waiting the same three Hasids who had travelled to the town together with us. We nodded to each other as we passed on our way, the Hasids in search of spiritual enlightenment, and we to find the creaky bus to take us home from Medzhybizh.

Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be reached at [email protected]