Why Breslov Rabbis Are Thanking Ukraine for Keeping Uman Open During the War

On August 7, 2026, an unusual message emerged from one of the oldest circles of the Breslov Hasidic world. Senior rabbis had asked that a letter of gratitude be conveyed to the President of Ukraine and to the Ukrainian people for continuing to make the traditional Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage to Uman possible — even as the country remains under Russian attack.

The initiative was reported by Anastasia Baryshnikova, PR director of the International Charitable Foundation named after Rabbi Nachman, and published by Uman Media.

According to the report, the gathering took place at the home of Rabbi Yaakov Meir Shechter, one of the most prominent senior Breslov spiritual figures in Jerusalem. Rabbi Shmuel Moshe Kramer, Rabbi Yaakov Shiloach of Uman and other religious leaders were also present.

They asked Natan Ben-Nun, head of the International Charitable Foundation named after Rabbi Nachman and a long-time figure involved in organizing the Uman pilgrimage and coordinating with Ukrainian authorities, to convey the message to Ukraine’s president and people ahead of the Jewish New Year.

The rabbis’ message was unusually direct:

“We deeply appreciate the efforts of Ukraine, which, while living under conditions of war, opens its doors to tens of thousands of Jews who come to Uman to pray. This is not something that should be taken for granted. Gratitude is our moral and Jewish obligation. The President of Ukraine, the central government and the local authorities devote significant attention to organizing the traditional pilgrimage despite the many security and logistical challenges,” representatives of the Breslov community said.

That statement matters not only because of what was said, but because of who said it.

Why a message from these rabbis carries particular weight

Rabbi Yaakov Meir Shechter belongs to the traditional Jerusalem Haredi world and has long been associated with circles connected to the Edah HaChareidis — a community historically wary of Zionist state institutions and hardly known for issuing diplomatic compliments to governments.

Rabbi Shmuel Moshe Kramer comes from the same old Jerusalem Breslov milieu.

This makes the gesture toward Ukraine rather different from a routine message exchanged between officials before a holiday. It comes from a religious environment whose relationship with states, governments and political establishments is often cautious by definition.

For NAnews — Israel News, this is precisely what makes the episode interesting. The relationship that has developed around Uman does not fit neatly into ordinary diplomacy. It is a practical relationship between a state at war and religious communities whose largest centers today are thousands of kilometers away, primarily in Israel and North America.

And that relationship becomes especially striking once one looks at what Ukraine is actually doing.

Ukraine is warning pilgrims not to come — and preparing for them anyway

There is an apparent contradiction in Ukraine’s approach to Rosh Hashanah 5787.

On the one hand, Ukrainian authorities are making preparations for a mass pilgrimage.

On July 14, the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience held an interagency meeting devoted to Uman. Officials discussed border crossings, public and fire safety, bomb shelters, medical services, accommodation, food supplies and other logistical issues.

Twenty-one border checkpoints are expected to be involved in processing pilgrims, while 16 mediators are due to assist law enforcement. An operational headquarters in Uman has already begun working.

On the other hand, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry warned prospective pilgrims on July 29 to take the risks seriously and advised against making the journey.

The reasons are obvious but worth spelling out.

Ukraine continues to face regular Russian missile and drone attacks. Transport infrastructure may be disrupted. There is a wartime curfew. The number of shelters in Uman is limited compared with the potential number of visitors, as is local medical capacity.

Ukraine, in other words, is not promising something it cannot guarantee.

It is telling people that traveling into a country under attack is dangerous, while at the same time preparing police, border services, emergency infrastructure and municipal systems for the tens of thousands who may decide to come anyway.

That distinction helps explain the rabbis’ gratitude.

The message from Rabbi Shechter’s circle is also not the first such expression this year. On May 28, Rabbi David Niederman, president of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn, also thanked Ukraine for preserving the possibility of the pilgrimage during the Russian invasion.

The appreciation is therefore being voiced by different parts of the Haredi world, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Why Uman matters so much

For Breslov Hasidim, Uman is inseparable from Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, who died and was buried there in 1810.

Rabbi Nachman, a great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, built his movement around teachings that eventually made Rosh Hashanah a central point of Breslov religious life.

During the Soviet era, reaching Uman was extraordinarily difficult. Only after the collapse of the Soviet Union did the pilgrimage develop into the mass international event familiar to Israelis today.

Rosh Hashanah 5787 will begin on the evening of September 11 and end on the evening of September 13, 2026.

The numbers explain why the pilgrimage has become a major logistical undertaking rather than simply a religious gathering.

More than 35,000 pilgrims arrived in Uman during the 2025 pilgrimage period. They generated roughly 20 million hryvnias in tourist tax for the city.

In July 2025, the Ukrainian government also upgraded the site of Rabbi Nachman’s grave to the status of a cultural heritage monument of national significance.

Uman Media says organizers expect this year’s flow to be broadly comparable with last year’s, although no precise figure has yet been officially stated.

Claims that exactly 40,000, 45,000 or 50,000 people will arrive should therefore still be treated as estimates rather than established fact.

Not everyone in Uman is a Breslov Hasid

There is another point that is often lost in Israeli news coverage.

When tens of thousands of “Hasidim” are reported to have traveled to Uman, the description is convenient but not entirely accurate.

Breslov Hasidim are the religious core of the pilgrimage, but modern Uman attracts a far broader Jewish public: members of other Hasidic and Haredi communities, Sephardi religious Jews, religious Zionists, baalei teshuva and Israelis who do not identify with any particular Hasidic court.

A pilgrim in Uman and a Breslov Hasid are not necessarily the same thing.

Breslov itself is also unusual among Hasidic movements.

After Rabbi Nachman’s death, no hereditary rebbe succeeded him. He appointed no new leader, and for more than two centuries Breslov has existed without a single living rebbe at its head.

Rabbi Nachman’s teachings, the writings of his principal disciple Rabbi Nathan of Nemirov, and a network of rabbis and communities became the movement’s connecting structure instead.

Breslov is not one uniform community

That is why today’s Breslov world is remarkably diverse.

There is the old Jerusalem Haredi current associated with Mea Shearim and rabbis such as Yaakov Meir Shechter and Shmuel Moshe Kramer. This world is far closer in lifestyle and religious culture to traditional Jerusalem Haredi society than to the colorful image of “dancing Breslovers” often seen on Israeli streets and social media.

There are Sephardi and baal teshuva communities, including circles associated with Rabbi Shalom Arush.

There is Heichal HaKodesh, historically connected with Rabbi Eliezer Shlomo Schick.

There are other organized Breslov environments as well.

And then there are the highly visible Na Nach followers of Rabbi Yisrael Dov Ber Odesser — familiar to many Israelis from music vans, street dancing and the white kippot bearing the phrase Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman.

But the Na Nachs are one current within Breslov. They are not synonymous with the entire movement.

Where Breslov Hasidim live today

The movement’s everyday demographic center is now primarily in Israel.

Significant Breslov communities and institutions exist in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Safed, Beit Shemesh, Beitar Illit, Yavne’el and Ashdod. There are also less insular groups devoted to Rabbi Nachman’s teachings in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities.

Outside Israel, New York became the most important historical center of Breslov life. Communities, synagogues, yeshivas and study groups can be found in Brooklyn, including Williamsburg, as well as in Monsey, Lakewood and other large Orthodox Jewish centers.

Breslov communities and study groups also exist in Canada, France, Britain, South Africa and elsewhere in the Jewish world.

Ukraine, however, occupies a completely different place in this geography.

It is no longer where most Breslov Hasidim live. But it remains home to the movement’s most important sacred destination.

The everyday center of modern Breslov life is primarily in Israel and North America. Its spiritual geography still points toward Uman.

There is also a permanent Breslov community in Uman

Uman is not inhabited by Jewish pilgrims only for a few days around Rosh Hashanah.

Over the years, a permanent Breslov community has developed around Rabbi Nachman’s grave. Families live there throughout the year, and religious and communal infrastructure has grown around them.

By 2025, a local estimate put the permanent Breslov community in the area commonly known as “New Uman” at roughly 110 families.

This number should not be confused with the tens of thousands of people who arrive temporarily for Rosh Hashanah.

The permanent community is relatively small, but its existence changes the nature of Uman. The city is not merely the location of an annual pilgrimage. For part of the Breslov world, it has become a year-round place of Jewish religious life.

An Israel-Ukraine relationship that does not run through embassies alone

For Israelis, this may be the most interesting part of the story.

Uman has created a channel of interaction between Ukraine and the Jewish world that operates alongside conventional diplomatic relations.

Ukrainian ministries, border officials, police and municipal authorities find themselves dealing directly with Haredi organizations, rabbis and community representatives from Israel and the United States on questions of religious freedom, security, transportation, medicine, border access and the preservation of a Jewish holy site.

That relationship is practical rather than ideological.

The gratitude expressed by Rabbi Shechter and the other rabbis should not be interpreted as an endorsement of every Ukrainian government policy, nor as a political declaration made on behalf of all Haredim.

The published message is much narrower: it concerns Uman and Ukraine’s willingness, despite war, to continue facilitating the pilgrimage.

Why NAnews — Israel News follows the Uman story

NAnews — Israel News treats Uman as more than a seasonal story about thousands of Hasidim traveling abroad for Rosh Hashanah.

It is one of those places where several subjects that are usually discussed separately suddenly meet: Israeli society, the Haredi world, Jewish history in Ukraine, religious freedom, the Russian war against Ukraine, border security, local economics and relations between Jewish communities and state institutions.

That is why we follow the story from year to year rather than treating each pilgrimage as an isolated news event.

Who are the rabbis negotiating with Ukrainian authorities? Which communities do they actually represent? What changes in the organization of the pilgrimage? How does a country at war balance religious freedom with security risks? And what does Uman tell us about the relationship between Israelis and Ukraine beyond official meetings between politicians?

For NAnews — Israel News, these questions are part of a broader effort to cover the Israeli-Ukrainian and Jewish-Ukrainian relationship through people, communities and institutions — not only through diplomatic statements.

It is equally important to separate what has actually been confirmed from what is merely assumed.

The initiative to convey the letter, the names of the rabbis involved and their public expression of gratitude have been reported. Ukrainian preparations for the pilgrimage are also documented. At the same time, the full text of the letter has not yet been made public, and there is still no confirmed exact figure for the number of pilgrims expected in 2026.

Those distinctions matter, especially when a religious event involving tens of thousands of Israelis is taking place inside a country at war.

Sometimes a simple “thank you” says more than a diplomatic statement

Ukraine is effectively telling Jewish pilgrims: we cannot promise you safety from Russian missiles, and we would prefer that you not expose yourselves to the danger — but if you come, we will still try to make the pilgrimage function.

And senior Breslov rabbis are answering that this effort should not be treated as something obvious.

In a region where relations between states and religious communities are too often discussed only through politics, diplomatic votes or ideological disputes, Uman offers a different picture.

It is a Jewish tradition rooted in a Ukrainian city, sustained today largely by communities in Israel and the United States, and preserved by a country trying to maintain religious life while fighting a full-scale war.

That is a complicated relationship.

But sometimes a simple “thank you” reveals more about it than another official communiqué.