The substitute for the 'refuseniks': Breslov Hasidim to establish an 'Uman' near the Kinneret

The journey to Uman in Ukraine ahead of Rosh Hashanah is becoming increasingly complex for Breslov Hasidim in recent years. While many Hasidim believe that the harder the path, the more the merit of spending the holiday days in the shadow of the righteous one is intensified, there are those who are trying to bring the spirit of our teacher to Eretz Yisrael without leaving the country.

After the years of the coronavirus, when the skies were closed and the journey involved great effort, came the Russia-Ukraine war, which also shut down the airports in the country where Rabbi Nachman is buried, to whom tens of thousands flock every year. In the last two years, the 'refuseniks' crisis means that many young people cannot fly out of the country. Hundreds of Breslov Hasidim plan to hold Rosh Hashanah at the Adama VeShamayim farm in Yavne'el, near the Kinneret, with the goal of bringing the Uman atmosphere there. The organizers are preparing for accommodation in tents, vacation cabins, and large sleeping complexes.

'Uman is always special and all the preparations around it are exciting,' says Nachman Rabani, one of the initiators together with Rikdusha Productions. 'This year we are making a kibbutz for those who for various reasons cannot manage to fly to Uman, or for families where the father flies and the children and the wife stayed at home. We are accompanying what is happening in Uman and doing it at the same times with us according to their schedule, with Tashlich on the farm. The idea is to make the atmosphere of Uman here.'

The one who will be the cantor for the prayers at the unique site that is opening is Rabbi Yanki Zilberman, who for 20 years was the cantor for the prayers in Uman. According to him, this year soldiers will also arrive at the complex in the north, and he himself is expected to be between rotations in Gaza and Lebanon.

'This year I am not traveling to Uman. The truth is that in recent years, since the days of the war, I have not traveled anymore,' he says. 'Last year I was in the reserves in Gaza, and this year I finished reserves two days ago, and immediately after Yom Kippur I start reserves in Lebanon. Therefore, this year I am taking the opportunity to be with this wonderful group here, which actually mimics Uman in prayers, in times, in the whole way of serving food, in singing, and in Tashlich. We will do everything at the times they happen in Uman.'

According to him, 'Whoever is here feels the same prayers, the same sermons, and the same atmosphere, only with more experiences. And of course, here is Eretz Yisrael, our place, the place of our ancestors. There is nothing more blessed than this. We hear every year, since the coronavirus and since the war in Ukraine, about more and more international crises that make it difficult to reach Uman. We hear about people who walk through entire forests on foot, travel on three trains, each of which takes half a day, and do everything to reach the righteous one. Who am I to prevent people from reaching Rabbi Nachman? There is no doubt that there is a point in a person making an effort and having trials on the way to reach the righteous one. Just last week we heard that a bridge connecting to Uman was blown up, and again it makes the roads difficult and creates traffic jams.'

Zilberman, who served as the manager of the Jewish community in Kyiv for almost twenty years, says that at the beginning of the 2000s, several rabbis arrived and proved that the grave of Rabbi Nachman, according to the maps, is not located exactly in the place where it is today. 'They gave an answer that holds true to this day, and will probably hold true until the Messiah comes: where several Jews came and believed that the Rebbe is there, and prayed, asked, and cried with all their heart, the Rebbe becomes there. The Rebbe arrives there. And so it is here. When we are a group of hundreds of Jews who come and believe with all their soul, first of all in the fact that we are in the Holy Land, which Rabbi Nachman spoke about endlessly, about the holiness of Eretz Yisrael, how important and how great it is, and when we believe that our teacher is also with us here, that he himself is with us in the prayers, then he is with us.

'For many years I was a cantor in Uman, and I would also give the sermons there before the blowing of the Shofar. This is the peak of the year, the sermon before the Shofar. I have been doing this for many years, and every year I get excited anew. I invite everyone, because it is an experience. The most liberal people, the most open people, people who love music, people who love to sing together, people who eat together with a good eye and wish each other a good and sweet year. And from the level of the catering to everything they bother to do there so that it will be comfortable, it is really worth it to come.'