Everything about Rosh Hashana Kibbutz Breslov totally explained
The
Rosh Hashana kibbutz (
Hebrew: קיבוץ; plural:
kibbutzim: קיבוצים, "gathering" or "ingathering") is a large prayer assemblage of
Breslover Hasidim held on the
Jewish
New Year. It specifically refers to the
pilgrimage of tens of thousands of
Hasidim to the city of
Uman, Ukraine, but also refers to sizable
Rosh Hashana gatherings of Breslover Hasidim in other locales around the world.
Rosh Hashana with Rebbe Nachman
The first Rosh Hashana kibbutz was initiated by Rebbe
Nachman of Breslov during his lifetime. He strongly encouraged his followers to spend each Rosh Hashana with him in the town of
Breslov. Hundreds of followers would gather for the holiday prayer service, festive meals, and special
Torah lessons taught by the Rebbe. When asked why Rosh Hashana was so significant, Rebbe Nachman explained,
"My Rosh Hashana is greater than everything. I can't understand how it's that if my followers really believe in me, they're not all scrupulous about being with me for Rosh Hashana. No one should be missing! Rosh Hashana is my whole mission" (Tzaddik #403).
To one follower who said he preferred to visit the Rebbe on the
Shabbat after Rosh Hashana, when he'd have more space to pray, eat and sleep, the Rebbe replied,
"Whether you eat or don't eat; whether you sleep or don't sleep; whether you pray or don't pray (for example with the proper concentration); just make sure to be with me for Rosh Hashana, no matter what!" (Tzaddik #404).
Elsewhere, Rebbe Nachman explained that traveling to a
tzaddik on Rosh Hashana is a time-honored practice which helps to mitigate and "sweeten" Heavenly decrees at their source, at the beginning of the new year (Kramer,
Crossing the Narrow Bridge, p. 363). The Rebbe also mentioned before the last Rosh Hashana of his life (in
1810) that there were people who were unable to achieve their
tikkun (self-rectification) all year, nor was he able to help them then. On Rosh Hashana, however, these
tikkunim could be effected (Tzaddik #406).
In
1843, on the last Rosh Hashana of his own life,
Nathan of Breslov ("Reb Noson"), the Rebbe's closest disciple and leader of the movement after the Rebbe's passing, expounded on the meaning of Rebbe Nachman's Rosh Hashana in this way:
We see that on Rosh Hashana, Jews flock to the synagogue, to their leaders. They come from all the towns and villages to be together on Rosh Hashana. This is because the Jewish People are likened to a flock of sheep who gather around their shepherd. When the shepherd wishes to call his flock, he blows his horn. This is the reason for the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashana. The shepherd, the true tzaddik, is calling his "flock" together, seeking ways to help each one of them fulfill his destiny. (Likutey Halachos, Netilas Yadayim 6:89, quoted in Kramer,
Through Fire and Water, p. 512).
Rebbe Nachman died in October
1810 and was buried in the Uman cemetery. Afterwards, Reb Noson explained to the other
Hasidim that Rebbe Nachman had stressed the importance of the Rosh Hashana kibbutz that year because he wanted them to continue to "be with him" for the holiday even after his passing. He encouraged them to continue to gather at the Rebbe's gravesite in Uman every Rosh Hashana.
Pilgrimage established by Reb Noson
Reb Noson arranged the first Rosh Hashana kibbutz the following year (
1811) and continued to run it until his passing in
1844. In the following decades, hundreds of Hasidim arrived annually from the
Ukraine,
White Russia,
Lithuania and
Poland. So many joined the pilgrimage, in fact, that the local
synagogue was unable to accommodate them. Fearing that people would stop attending the kibbutz, Reb Noson acquired a property, applied for a government permit, raised funds and oversaw the construction of a large Breslover synagogue in Uman in
1834. Known as the
kloyz, it housed the annual Rosh Hashana kibbutz through the
1930s.
Reb Noson once said,
Even if the road to Uman were paved with knives, I'd crawl there — just so I could be with my Rebbe on Rosh Hashanah! (
Tovot Zichronot, p. 137).
In each generation, the most pious representatives of the movement were honored with leading the prayer services at the annual Rosh Hashana kibbutz. They included:
Nachman Chazan,
Abraham Sternhartz,
Levi Yitzchok Bender,
Michel Dorfman, and
Itzel Korsinski.
The annual Rosh Hashana pilgrimage effectively redirected the focus of Breslover Hasidut from the town of Breslov to the town of Uman. Today, the town of Breslov is considered a side-trip for visitors to Ukraine, as the only sites of interest to Breslover Hasidim there are the graves of Reb Noson and other Breslover figures.
Under Communism
The Rosh Hashana pilgrimage ground to a halt with the
Bolshevik Revolution of
1917, which sealed the border between
Russia and
Poland. Uman became a "closed city" and foreigners were strictly prohibited from entering. Rabbi
Yitzchok Breiter, a Breslover Hasid in Poland who drew thousands of his countrymen closer to the Hasidut in the
1920s and
1930s, established a Rosh Hashana kibbutz in
Lublin for their benefit. Hasidim who
emigrated to Israel established Rosh Hashana kibbutzim in
Jerusalem and in
Meron (the latter at the gravesite of Rabbi
Shimon bar Yochai), which continue to this day. Later, other Rosh Hashana kibbutzim were established in
New York and in
Manchester,
England.
Shmuel Horowitz, a native of
Safed,
Mandate Palestine, was the last foreign citizen to sneak across the Polish border into Russia around
1929. He participated in three Rosh Hashana kibbutzim in Uman before he was discovered and arrested for illegal entry. After spending three months in a Soviet prison, Horowitz was released with the intervention of the
Chief Rabbi of Mandate Palestine,
Abraham Isaac Kook, and returned in
1933.
Despite the Communist ban on public prayer gatherings, Breslover Hasidim in Russia continued to gather clandestinely every Rosh Hashana during the
1920s and
1930s. In
1934, the Soviets ostensibly granted permission for 28 Hasidim to travel to Uman for Rosh Hashana. In fact, it was a ruse to discover their identities — 16 were murdered while still in Uman and 12 were exiled to Siberia. Only four of the exiles survived. In
1936, the authorities shut down the
kloyz built by Reb Noson and turned it into a metalworking factory.
The Rosh Hashana kibbutz was relocated to a rented apartment in
1936 and
1937. The last kibbutz before
World War II was held in
1938. Twenty-seven Hasidim risked their lives to participate in this gathering.
World War II and the
Holocaust decimated the numbers of Breslover Hasidim living in Russia. The Rosh Hashana pilgrimage resumed on a drastically smaller scale in
1948, when 11 Hasidim independently traveled from cities throughout Russia to Uman for Rosh Hashana. From then until the
1970s, when most of the remaining Hasidim were permitted to emigrate to
Israel, only between 9 and 13 Hasidim braved the annual trip. They were often forced to change the location of their prayer services from year to year to escape discovery by the authorities.
Beginning in the
1950s,
Michel Dorfman in Moscow became the official organizer of the Rosh Hashana kibbutz. Hasidim from throughout Russia would contact him for details about each year's event, and he wrote letters to others, encouraging them to continue this practice of being with Rebbe Nachman for Rosh Hashana despite the long journey and the threat of government surveillance.
International focus
In the
1960s, when the majority of Hasidim in the Breslover movement resided outside the Soviet Union, Rebbe Nachman's gravesite began to turn from being an internal Russian destination to an international one. A young New York Hasid named
Gedaliah Fleer was the first foreign citizen to enter Uman without permission in
1963, with Dorfman's help. The Soviets would only issue tourist
visas to larger cities like
Kiev and
Odessa, not to Uman. Fleer returned to Uman in
1965 to join the Rosh Hashana kibbutz with 12 other Russian Hasidim. Fleer pretended to be from the Soviet Republic of Georgia and that he didn't speak Yiddish or Russian in order to protect his identity. Had the participants known that a foreign citizen was in their midst, they'd have quit the kibbutz immediately.
From the
1960s until the fall of
Communism in
1989, several hundred
American and
Israeli Hasidim made their way to Uman, both legally and illegally, to pray at the grave of Rebbe Nachman. Sometimes the government issued individual tourist visas to Uman, but no one was allowed to stay in the city overnight. In
1975, however, Rabbi
Herschel Wasilski, the official American representative of Breslover Hasidut, received permission to conduct a
minyan at the Rebbe's gravesite on the eve of Rosh Hashana with 11 other men and spent the holiday in the city. In
1988,
glasnost and continuing international pressure finally forced the Soviet government to permit 250 foreign citizens to stay in Uman over Rosh Hashana.
The next year, the fall of Communism opened the gates entirely. Between 700 and 900 Hasidim gathered in Uman for Rosh Hashana
1989. In
1990, 2,000 Hasidim attended. Large factory sites were called into service to house the crowd. The numbers have continued to grow apace. The Rosh Hashana kibbutz in Uman surpassed the 10,000-person mark in
2000. In
2005, approximately 20,000 men and boys from all countries and all backgrounds converged on the town for the annual event.
Though modern-day Uman houses 100,000 residents, it still resembles a
19th century village in many respects. For example, water isn't always available at all hours due to low reserves in the reservoir, and visitors are advised to bring their own bottled water, canned and dried snacks, and toilet paper, among other necessities
(External Link
). Coordinators of the Rosh Hashana kibbutz fly in fully-catered,
kosher holiday meals for all participants, temporary lodgings, an infirmary and
emergency medical technicians from
Israel.
Despite the dormitory-style accommodations, the gathering is infused with much spiritual devotion and unity of purpose. Besides the communal prayer services, Torah classes are conducted in
Yiddish,
Hebrew,
English,
Russian, and
French. A visual highlight of the Rosh Hashana kibbutz is the
Tashlikh ceremony, held on the afternoon of the first day of the holiday (if the first day of Rosh Hashana falls on
Shabbat, Tashlikh is postponed to the second day of Rosh Hashana). Thousands of Hasidim, dressed entirely in white, sing and dance through the streets of Uman as they make their way down to the river to perform this holiday ritual.
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