The dancing at the end of the holiday, in Zion Rabbi Nachman. Photo: Noam Zvoloni
With the end of the holiday, the followers of Breslav conclude with satisfaction the days of Rosh Hashanah that passed them in relative peace in the city of Oman in Ukraine. The local authorities imposed a night curfew on the city, in the shadow of the war that has been going on in the country for seven months now. According to witnesses obtained by the JDN system, it is claimed that due to the relative calm, an unusual incident also occurred, during which Ukrainian police officers beat several worshipers and even entered a sleeping area with weapons drawn.
Bowman summarizes the holiday, which they claim passed relatively quietly, “without unusual events”. The estimates are that there were about 23,000 people in the city, the estimates are much higher than the estimates of the MLA and foreign ministry officials in a conversation with reporters. Hundreds of people received medical treatment during the holiday, in the various clinics set up by Jewish rescue teams, when, by the grace of heaven, there were not a large number of Difficult medical cases.
But from the testimony of a worshiper to the JDN system, a picture emerges of a serious case that occurred on the night of the holiday. “We were a group of about a hundred people, who ate as guests at Shiner’s at night,” testifies the worshiper who asked to remain anonymous. According to him, “Someone mentioned that the night curfew would start at 12 midnight, and around 11:30 PM we left the dining room towards the accommodation complex. On Pushkina Street, the main street in the city, we were seen by a large group of local policemen.” The reason for this, apparently, is that the curfew actually started already at 11:00 p.m.
The end of the prayer on the night of the holiday, in Beit Hamdresh “Hodesh Temple” with Rabbi Yitzchak Lezer Shlita. Taken by Noochri
From here, according to the worshiper, a violent incident took place: “The police started chasing us, each of us fled to a different place. Later, they claimed that the police managed to catch 2 worshipers, and even beat them. I slept in a lodging complex called ‘Magometer,’ and after I managed to return to the place together with other diners – The group of police officers went inside, with weapons drawn. After a few minutes they left.” When we tried to inquire with officials in Uman, they claimed that they were not aware of such an incident.
Another worshiper, who arrived in Uman via the border crossing with Romania, says that there were no unusual incidents: “I have been coming to Uman for many years, this year there were many people. Everything went smoothly, the night curfew was perfectly fine – everyone understood that it was necessary to respect, and at eleven everyone went home Or to Zion, it was allowed to enter to pray for five minutes and leave. There were also those who prayed all night in Zion and left only in the morning. The police were actually kind.”
As the holiday ended, dancing and singing began inside Rabbi Nachman’s Zion. Alongside the celebrations, thousands are making their way out of Oman and back to their homes in different countries around the world. According to the official organizations there, tonight at the end of the holiday, about 15,000 are expected to leave for their countries of origin. One of the worshippers, who received a document taken by a stranger from the dances at the Beit Midrash in Uman with Rabbi Yitzhak Lazer, also added that “there were indeed alarms during the holiday, but we do not address them. We hope there will be no delays at the borders on the way back.”
Saying the general correction on the eve of the holiday, on the main street in Uman. Photography: Benjamin Hirsch
It is claimed that the Bowman complex was entered by policemen with drawn weapons. Courtesy of the photographer