Head of Ukraine’s State Committee Discusses With Israeli Ambassador Issue of Improvement of Organization of Pilgrimages to Uman

The head of the State Committee of Ukraine on Nationalities and Religions, Yurii Bohutskyi, on October 18, 2008, held a meeting with Ambassador Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel in Ukraine, Zina Kalai-Klaitman. The parties discussed the questions of activity of Jewish public organizations in Ukraine, improvement of the law of Ukraine regarding protection of rights of national minorities, and further cooperation.

According to the press service of the State Committee on Nationalities and Religions, the parties particularly discussed the necessity to improve the organization of pilgrimages to Ukraine, especially to the town of Uman in order to minimize the possibility of repeated confrontation between the local residents and the Hasidim.

The Israeli ambassador invited Yurii Bohutskyi to participate in the opening of the Seminar of the International Target Group for the Immortalization of the Holocaus for Non-Governmental Organizations, which is to be held on October 26-27, 2010, with the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel and the Embassy of Israel in Ukraine.  

As RISU reported earlier, every autumn, Hasidic pilgrims travel to Uman to visit the gravesite of their spiritual leader Rabbi Nachman and celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

According to the police, around 24,000 Hasidic pilgrims from 23 countries arrived in Uman this year.

Ukraine has deported to Israel ten Hasidic pilgrims who attempted to disrupt public order in Uman, Cherkasy Region, and who were suspected of causing bodily harm to local residents.

Clashes between the residents of Uman and the pilgrims broke out on September 10. In particular, a conflict erupted near a local children's hospital between activists of the first Jewish Evangelical Church who arrived from Odesa to preach their faith in "the true God," and the Hasidim. The activists of the Jewish Evangelical Church distributed leaflets and T-shirts with the slogans of the unity of the Jews in a common faith, and they said they were not planning to create a conflict situation. The Hasidic pilgrims objected to the rally, and a conflict broke out. The participants of the rally were obliged to return to Odesa.

The second case was connected with a reaction to a remark by a woman from Uman who had leased her apartment to the Hasidim for the period of the pilgrimage but due to noise said she would call the police. A man from the neighboring apartment came out and phoned the police.

According to the police, "the Hasidim...started beating the man, chasing him onto the street. A passer-by came to his defense and suffered several blows.”

The two injured men were hospitalized in a local city hospital.