Rosh Hashanah in Uman: Rebbe Nachman's Kibbutz

Every year, as Elul draws to a close, a small city in central Ukraine fills with tens of thousands of Jews who have come to spend Rosh Hashanah beside the kever of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. The gathering, known simply as the kibbutz, has continued in one form or another for more than two centuries. Here is why chassidim make the journey, how the tradition survived, and what a first-time visitor should keep in mind.

Rebbe Nachman and His Rosh Hashanah

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov zy"a, a great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, placed Rosh Hashanah at the very center of his avodah (service of Hashem). His chassidim came to him every year for the Yom HaDin, and he told them that nothing compared to being with him on that day. "My Rosh Hashanah is above everything," he said, and he urged every one of his followers, young and old, to make the effort to come.

He described his Rosh Hashanah as something entirely new, a day on which he worked for the tikkun (spiritual repair) of every soul that attached itself to him. For his chassidim this was not a matter of convenience or comfort. Travelling to the Rebbe for the new year was the single most important trip of the year, and they arranged their lives around it.

Why Uman

In the spring of 1810 Rebbe Nachman, weakened by tuberculosis, moved from Breslov to Uman. The city held a painful memory: in 1768 thousands of Jews had been murdered there by Haidamak rebels. Chassidim relate that the Rebbe said the souls of those kedoshim (martyrs) were waiting for him, and that he chose to end his days there in order to bring them their tikkun.

He spent his last Rosh Hashanah in Uman that autumn, surrounded by several hundred chassidim. A few weeks later, on the fourth day of Sukkos, 18 Tishrei 5571 (October 1810), he passed away at the age of thirty-eight. He was buried in the old Jewish cemetery of Uman, among the graves of the martyrs of 1768.

Reb Noson Begins the Kibbutz

Rebbe Nachman left no successor, and his foremost talmid, Reb Noson of Nemirov zt"l, understood that the Rebbe wanted his chassidim to keep coming to him for Rosh Hashanah even after his passing. The very next year, in 1811, Reb Noson gathered about sixty chassidim at the kever. That gathering was the first Rosh Hashanah kibbutz.

Reb Noson led the kibbutz every year until his own passing in 1844, often in the face of fierce opposition and even arrest. As the crowds grew he oversaw the building of a large Breslover shul in Uman, the Kloiz, completed in 1834. For a full century it hosted the Rosh Hashanah davening, and chassidim walked or rode for days across the Russian Empire to reach it.

The Soviet Years

After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 the border between Russia and Poland was sealed, and Uman was cut off from most of the Breslover world. Chassidim in Poland, led by Reb Yitzchok Breiter, held their own kibbutz in Lublin, while those inside the Soviet Union kept coming to Uman in secret at great personal risk. In 1934 a group of chassidim was lured to the city and arrested; most were murdered or exiled to Siberia. A few years later the authorities seized the Kloiz and turned it into a factory.

The Second World War and the Holocaust destroyed the community of Uman. After the war, devoted chassidim worked to locate and protect the kever, and from 1948 a tiny minyan of about ten or a dozen men gathered there almost every year. For decades a handful of brave Jews, and later a few visitors from abroad who slipped in without permission, kept the flame alive.

The Gates Reopen

In 1988, as the Soviet Union began to open, the authorities allowed some 250 foreign Jews to spend Rosh Hashanah in Uman. The following year several hundred came, and the numbers have climbed ever since. By the early 2000s more than ten thousand were attending, and in recent years the kibbutz has drawn tens of thousands of men and boys from Eretz Yisroel, America, Europe and beyond.

Today the area around the kever is lined with shuls, kitchens and lodgings, and the davening fills enormous halls. Alongside lifelong Breslover chassidim stand Jews of every background, many coming for the first time, all drawn by the same promise and the same longing for a fresh start.

The days themselves follow a familiar rhythm. Before dawn the line to the kever stretches down the street, as each person waits for a few minutes to say Tehillim and pour out his heart. The davening is long and full of song, with Rebbe Nachman's emphasis on simchah carried into every niggun. On Yom Tov afternoon, crowds walk to a nearby lake for Tashlich, and between the tefillos many find a quiet corner for hisbodedus (secluded personal prayer), speaking to Hashem in their own words, just as the Rebbe taught.

Tikkun HaKlali at the Kever

Part of what draws visitors to Uman throughout the year is the Tikkun HaKlali, the "General Remedy." Rebbe Nachman taught that ten specific kapitlach of Tehillim (Psalms 16, 32, 41, 42, 59, 77, 90, 105, 137 and 150) bring a deep tikkun for the soul, and he revealed the exact list shortly before his passing, calling two of his talmidim, Reb Aharon of Breslov and Reb Naftali of Nemirov, as witnesses.

He made a remarkable promise about his own kever: whoever comes there, gives even a small coin to tzedakah, and says these ten kapitlach, he would intercede on that person's behalf. Many visitors open their time at the kever by giving tzedakah and reciting the Tikkun HaKlali slowly and with feeling, and then pour out their own words to Hashem.

Planning the Journey

The Rosh Hashanah kibbutz is a gathering of men and boys, following long-standing Breslov custom; women and families usually visit the kever at other times of the year. Whether a person should leave home, family or Eretz Yisroel for Yom Tov is a personal question that depends on many factors, so it is wise to speak with your rav before deciding.

Conditions in the region can change quickly. Before booking, check your government's current travel advisories, travel with an established group or organizer that arranges lodging, meals and transport, and carry proper documents and travel insurance. Many visitors also come during Elul, on the Rebbe's yahrzeit or at quieter times, when there is more room to daven at length beside the kever.