Crowds of Israeli Jews celebrate Jewish New Year in Ukraine

Huge crowds of Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jews celebrated the Jewish New Year in the Ukrainian city of Uman on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

Tens of thousands of followers of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, who lived in the late 18th and early 19th century, gather in Uman every year to honour the rabbi, who chose the Ukrainian city as his resting place and was buried there in 1810.

This year’s Rosh Hashanah coincided with a sweeping ballistic missile attack on Israel by Iran, a response to the killings of civilians in Gaza and more recently, in Lebanon, in Israeli attacks – as well as the assassinations of leaders of the IRGC, Hamas and Hezbollah.

More than 30,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews arrived in Uman for Rosh Hashanah, according to the United Jewish Community of Ukraine. Another 14,000 were unable to reach the city, some of them because Iran’s attack thwarted their travel plans.

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Asked whether they had any concerns about the threat from Russia, which has been hitting Ukraine with missiles, drones and bombs as part of its full-scale invasion launched in 2022, pilgrim after pilgrim said they had none.

“Ukraine is safer than Israel. If you want a safe place, you come to Ukraine,” said Akiva, who did not wish to give his surname, joking that the distance from Uman to the Russian border was greater than the entire length of Israel.

He said he had called relatives back home when he heard about the Iranian missiles.

“I called, but in the bomb shelter there was no reception. So after they got out of the bomb shelter, we called up. They were good, perfect,” he said.

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