Report: 50 charter flights booked to take Israeli pilgrims to Uman in Ukraine

More than 1,000 Hasidic pilgrims are already in Uman in Ukraine and some 50 charter flights are booked to take others there ahead of the Jewish New Year, Channel 12 reports.

Efforts to reach Uman come despite both Ukraine and Israel warning pilgrims not to come this year due to the war.

Last month, Ukraine’s embassy in Israel issued a statement saying that, due to the ongoing war, all tourists are banned from the country and that celebrations over the Jewish New Year, which falls this year at the end of September, were “uncertain.”

Nevertheless, many were undeterred.

The report says the charter flights will take the pilgrims to Moldova and they will then try and make their way overland to Ukraine.

Rabbi Nachman was an 18th-century luminary and founder of the Bratslav Hasidic movement. The city of Uman, the site of the rabbi’s grave, normally sees some 30,000 visitors, most of them from Israel, over the Rosh Hashanah holiday. More pilgrims also arrive from other Jewish communities around the world.

Jewish community leaders in Uman have insisted that Uman is far from the front lines and that a safe arrangement can be found for the pilgrimage.