40,000 passengers: Why is nothing stopping the Hasidim from reaching Uman? | With Shilo Fried

ynet's Haredi affairs correspondent, Shilo Fried, explains why nearly 40,000 Hasidim chose to travel to Uman this Rosh Hashanah, despite the war in Ukraine, the threat of arrest due to the draft law, and calls from within Breslov itself not to fly. Some of the travelers are deserters who risked themselves upon returning to Israel, while others endured an exhausting journey through alternative destinations.

ynet's Haredi affairs correspondent, Shilo Fried, explains in the podcast episode 'The Headline' why nearly 40,000 Hasidim chose to travel to Uman this Rosh Hashanah, despite three significant obstacles: the war in Ukraine, the threat of arrest under the draft law for deserters, and calls from within the Breslov Hasidic sect itself not to fly. Fried describes how some of the travelers, deserters from military service, risked themselves upon returning to Israel, while others endured an exhausting journey through alternative destinations and dozens of hours of overland travel to reach the city of Uman, which suffers from power outages and air raid sirens. He explains the Hasidic tradition of traveling to the rebbe for Rosh Hashanah, with a special focus on the Breslov Hasidic sect and the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, to whom the saying 'Uman Rosh Hashanah of mine outweighs everything' is attributed. Fried notes that despite wars and the coronavirus, there has been a significant increase in the number of travelers to Uman over the past decade.