 |
| Snapshot of the event from 2013 (Times of Israel) |
I recently spoke to an acquaintance, a wonderful fellow and true Baal Chased who went to Uman for Rosh Hashana. I asked him what it was like and he went into a fawning description of his experience there. He said that it was by far the most exhilarating and Jewishly meaningful experience of his life. I nodded and went on my way. But I have tremendous reservations about this phenomenon.
For those that don’t know what this is all about, Uman is the city in the Ukraine where the Rebbe of Breslov, Rebbe Nachman MeUman, lived much of his life and where he is buried. He is the great grandson of the founder of Chasidus, known as the Baal Shem Tov. He attracted thousands of followers in his lifetime and is still a major influence on a great number of Jews that consider themselves Breslover Chasidim. Even though he left no heirs to his Chasidic dynasty. There is no Breslover Rebbe today.
Upon nearing his death in April of 1810, Rebbe Nachman called two of his closest Chasidim as witnesses and declared that anyone that visits his grave, gives some charity, and says certain chapters of Tehilim (Psalms) will be pulled by him from the depths of hell no matter what they did to deserve it (as long as they did not return to return to their foolish ways.)
This ‘promise’ has generated many pilgrimages to his grave by Breslover Chasidim and eventually evolved into an annual tradition during Rosh Hashanna. Today it attracts tens of thousands of Jews - 34,000 this year. And according to the Times of Israel 2700 hundred of them that became sick or injured (directly or indirectly) by this event were treated by United Hatzalah, a volunteer Jewish EMT organization based in Israel that accompanied them. One person there died of heart failure.
I can understand being swept up in the emotion of the moment. The fellow I spoke to really believed he had a deeply religious experience. I don’t really want to take that away from him. But still - I have to question just how much of that experience was actually a religious one. When a multitude of people show up to pray anywhere, it can generate those kinds of feelings.
Even though there is a source for doing this directly in the Torah, I am also not one to pray at the burial places of Tzadikim - great religious figures. The idea behind doing that is the desire to take advantage of the merit of the deceased Tzadik buried there when praying to God. But far too many people mistakenly pray to the deceased Tzadikim, themselves. Which is almost idolatrous!
For me, prayer involves a direct connection to God. Which can be done anywhere.
And if there is any place that one should seek to be closer to God, it is not the Ukraine, which was perhaps the most antisemitic European country during the Holocaust. That would be the last place I would go to seek closeness to God no matter who was buried there. Would not going to the place nearest the Holy of Holies be a better pilgrimage? Wouldn’t the Kotel be that place?
And yet Uman draws many thousands of people who testify to what they believe is a legitimate and unparalleled religious experience. Do the 34,000 people that attended this year and feel that way prove me wrong?
I don’t think so. For one thing the 2700 that needed medical treatment shows that it isn’t exactly the same experience for everyone. Certainly not for the fellow that had a heart attack and died - even if it was through natural causes.
We do not pray to intermediaries to deliver our prayers to God. We pray to God directly.
Then there is the fact that this is an all male event. Which means that their wives and children were left at home to fend for themselves on Rosh Hashaana. I don’t see how doing something like that pleases God in any way.
There is also the fact that the Ukrainian locals don’t really like it when so many Jews come into town and ‘suck up all the air in the room’:
The pilgrimage has created friction between the predominantly Israeli pilgrims and locals, many of whom resent the cordoning off of neighborhoods by police. Street brawls are not uncommon.
Is it really all that wise to stir up all that latent antisemitism?
I see nothing inherently positive about this trip. The experiences felt there are not in my very humble opinion - truly religious. No matter what they may seem like. I do not know the mind of God but I tend to doubt that this is what He has in mind for His people on Rosh Hashana.
What works better than going to the grave of a dead Chasidic Rebbe in the Ukraine is sincere Teshuva And that can be done by anyone, anywhere.