Rosh Hashana Kibbutz - International Focus

International Focus

In the 1960s, when the majority of Hasidim in the Breslover movement resided outside the Soviet Union, Rebbe Nachman's gravesite began to turn from being an internal Russian destination to an international one. A young New York Hasid named Gedaliah Fleer was the first foreign citizen to enter Uman without permission in 1963, with Dorfman's help. The Soviets would only issue tourist visas to larger cities like Kiev and Odessa, not to Uman. Fleer returned to Uman in 1965 to join the Rosh Hashana kibbutz with 12 other Russian Hasidim. Fleer pretended to be from the Soviet Republic of Georgia and that he did not speak Yiddish or Russian in order to protect his identity. Had the participants known that a foreign citizen was in their midst, they would have quit the kibbutz immediately.

From the 1960s until the fall of Communism in 1989, several hundred American and Israeli Hasidim made their way to Uman, both legally and illegally, to pray at the grave of Rebbe Nachman. Sometimes the government issued individual tourist visas to Uman, but no one was allowed to stay in the city overnight. In 1975, however, Rabbi Herschel Wasilski, the official American representative of Breslover Hasidut, received permission to conduct a minyan at the Rebbe's gravesite on the eve of Rosh Hashana with 11 other men and spent the holiday in the city. In 1988, glasnost and continuing international pressure finally forced the Soviet government to permit 250 foreign citizens to stay in Uman over Rosh Hashana.

The next year, the fall of Communism opened the gates entirely. Between 700 and 900 Hasidim gathered in Uman for Rosh Hashana 1989. In 1990, 2,000 Hasidim attended. Large factory sites were called into service to house the crowd. The numbers have continued to grow apace. The Rosh Hashana kibbutz in Uman surpassed the 10,000-person mark in 2000. In 2005, approximately 20,000 men and boys from all countries and all backgrounds converged on the town for the annual event. In 2008, the numbers reached 25,000.

Coordinators of the Rosh Hashana kibbutz fly in fully catered, kosher holiday meals for all participants, temporary lodgings, an infirmary and emergency medical technicians from Israel.

Despite the dormitory-style accommodations, the gathering is infused with much spiritual devotion and unity of purpose. Besides the communal prayer services, Torah classes are conducted in Yiddish, Hebrew, English, Russian, and French. A visual highlight of the Rosh Hashana kibbutz is the Tashlikh ceremony, held on the afternoon of the first day of the holiday (if the first day of Rosh Hashana falls on Shabbat, Tashlikh is postponed to the second day of Rosh Hashana). Thousands of Hasidim, dressed entirely in white, sing and dance through the streets of Uman as they make their way down to the river to perform this holiday ritual.