Once a year, the sounds of music and prayer fill the streets of Uman.
The city in Ukraine’s Cherkasy region is a pilgrimage destination for tens of thousands of Orthodox Jews, who travel here to celebrate the Jewish New Year.
Uman is the burial place of Rabbi Nachman, a religious leader who lived from 1772–1810 and founded the Breslov Hasidic movement. Members of this Orthodox branch of Judaism travel to the rabbi’s grave for Rosh Hashanah, one of the most important Jewish holidays.
A rabbi named Eli Heshen explains that the pilgrims are following Nachman’s own guidance.
“Rabbi Nachman, a famous spiritual leader and a righteous man, died a few weeks after Rosh Hashanah,” Heshen says. “He asked his disciples and followers to keep the tradition of coming here [to Uman] to celebrate Rosh Hashanah forever.”
This year, the holiday celebration drew more than 30,000 Hasidic Jews to the city.
Thousands gathered near the grave of Rabbi Nachman for mass prayers while others visited the synagogue or danced in the streets.
It’s the fourth Jewish New Year celebration to take place in Uman since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry warned travelers that it could not guarantee their safety from Russia air strikes.
Although Uman is some 300 kilometers from the front lines, it has come under fire in the past, with a 2023 missile strike killing 23 civilians in an attack on an apartment building.
With no civilian flights available in Ukrainian air space, pilgrims had to travel by land through Poland, Hungary, Romania, or Moldova.
Many traveled from Israel, where a separate conflict is raging. Some joked that they felt safer in Ukraine than at home.
“We feel, like, a protective bubble, almost like the Iron Dome,” one man told RFE/RL, referencing Israel’s high-tech air defense system. “We have a spiritual Iron Dome around Uman.”
Following a prayer session, RFE/RL asked one believer what he had prayed for.
He answered, “For peace everywhere.”
