Yelensky promises to ensure comfort for Hasidim during pilgrimage to Uman

Meeting of the DESS Head with representatives of the Jewish community of the USA. Photo: DESS

The Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, Viktor Yelensky, discussed the organization of the annual Hasidic pilgrimage to Uman and the preservation of the Uman Jewish cemetery with a delegation of representatives of Jewish organizations from the USA, according to the agency's press service.

The central theme of the meeting was the issue of preserving the Ancient Jewish Cemetery in Uman. This cemetery is the burial site of tens of thousands of Jews who perished during the bloody massacre of 1768. Currently, due to illegal construction, the cemetery's preservation is under threat.

Yelensky assured the delegation that "the Ukrainian authorities respect the religious feelings of the Jewish people and will take all necessary measures to preserve religious shrines."

He also promised to ensure the safe and comfortable stay of pilgrims in Uman during the annual pilgrimage of the Bratslav Hasidim to Uman to the grave of Rabbi Nachman.

As previously reported by the UOJ, pilgrims traveling by bus from Rivne to Kamianets to participate in the cross procession to the Pochaiv Lavra were stopped by police and SBU officers and taken out of Khmelnytskyi region.

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