Hasidic pilgrims will come to Uman this autumn to celebrate the New Year.
The Minister of the Cabinet, Oleg Nemchinov, wrote about this in his Telegram channel,
1NEWS reports.
“Today, a meeting of the State Commission on technogenic and environmental safety and emergencies was held. One of the key issues discussed was the planned mass pilgrimage of Bratslav Hasidim to the city of Uman in the Cherkasy region in September 2020 to celebrate Rosh Hashanah (new year according to the Jewish calendar). This year, between 5,000 and 10,000 Hasidic believers are expected,” the official wrote.
According to him, this is of great concern both in Ukraine and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs because of the epidemic situation with COVID-19.
The Commission decided that the Ukrainian state “will intensify its activities in three areas:
The Foreign Ministry will inform Israeli citizens about restrictions in Ukraine;
The Interior Ministry will strengthen security measures;
Border guards will issue a reminder when entering Ukraine and warn of a possible ban on entering Ukraine in case of violation of quarantine restrictions.
It is worth noting that back in July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stated that it was "impossible" for so many pilgrims to arrive because of the epidemic.
“...the arrival of tens of thousands of Hasidic pilgrims to the city of Uman for the celebration in the traditional format is impossible ...” the Foreign Ministry noted at the moment.
The Commission on Technogenic and Environmental Safety and Emergency Situations was then obliged to "consider intensification of restrictions on holding mass religious events (including the introduction of appropriate restrictions at the legislative level on the entry of foreign citizens into Ukraine)."
The Cabinet's Minister also noted that other religious communities refrained from their mass events during the COVID-19 epidemic.
"Also, at the meeting of the Commission, it was noted that in 2020, Ukrainian Christians and Muslims refrained from mass events during the celebration of their major religious holidays," Nemchinov wrote.