Rosh Hashana in Uman 5788

There are no direct flights to Ukraine. You fly to one of the neighbouring countries — Poland, Romania, Moldova, Hungary or Slovakia — and continue by road through a border crossing to Uman.

It changes from hour to hour, which is why this page names no crossing. The map shows the waiting time at every crossing in real time, from official sources and travellers' reports.

It depends on the airport and on the crossing. Every route on the site has a page with its distance, driving time and stops; the wait at the border is added on top.

The detailed Uman map shows the synagogues, mikvahs, kosher restaurants, emergency points and the eruv, with navigation straight to each place.

The return wave begins when the holiday ends and lasts about six days, and the wait at the border is longest in its first days. Before leaving, check the map for the crossings in the direction out of Ukraine.

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov said: "My Rosh Hashana is above everything… my whole matter is only Rosh Hashana", and asked all who were close to him to be with him on Rosh Hashana, "let no one be missing". On the last Rosh Hashana of his life, in Uman, he stressed it again, and his disciple Rabbi Natan wrote that they understood from his words "that his will is firm that people be with him in Uman for Rosh Hashana always, after his passing, and that nothing is greater than this". Rabbi Nachman explained that on Rosh Hashana a person can receive a repair that is not possible during the rest of the year.

They say the Tikkun HaKlali — ten Psalms that Rabbi Nachman revealed (16, 32, 41, 42, 59, 77, 90, 105, 137, 150) — and give a coin to charity. Rabbi Nachman promised, before two witnesses, that whoever comes to his grave, gives a coin to charity and says these ten Psalms, he will do his utmost to help. Many add personal prayer and hitbodedut. On the eve of Rosh Hashana at 12:00 noon the worldwide Tikkun HaKlali gathering takes place in Uman and is broadcast live on the Tfilah site.

Already in Rabbi Nachman's lifetime his followers gathered to him for Rosh Hashana. On Rosh Hashana 5571 (1810), the last of his life, about a thousand people gathered with him in Uman. He passed away on 18 Tishrei of that year and was buried in Uman, and from Rosh Hashana 5572 (1811), led by his disciple Rabbi Natan, the gathering has been held by his grave every year.

Yes, in almost every year, until the 1980s. Breslov chasidim and others came to Uman in hiding, went to the grave in secret and held their prayers concealed. The structure over the grave was destroyed by bombing in the Second World War, and a private house was built in its place with the grave in its yard. In the 1980s, when most of those chasidim had already emigrated to Israel, the gathering stopped.

Breslov chasidim outside the Soviet Union held the gathering elsewhere: in Poland between the two wars it was held in Lublin, in the Land of Israel in Jerusalem and in Meron, and in the United States in the Breslov synagogue in New York.

In 5726 (1966) a foreign citizen reached the grave for the first time since the Second World War, and small groups followed. The journeys resumed in the late 1980s. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, in 5751 (1991), a tombstone was set on the grave and the yard was widened to hold the thousands, and in 5758 (1998) the present structure was built.