Synagogue Fight In Uman Threatens Pilgrimage

A dispute over a Ukranian synagogue in Uman where Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav is buried - that welcomes thousands of Chasidic pilgrims from around the world each year - may impede the traditional Rosh Hashanah and Purim pilgrimage to the site of about 8,000 to 12,000 Jews.

The synagogue was temporarily closed by court order last week because of an ongoing dispute between a private contractor and a Chasidic group, and then it was reopened the next day after the local governor and a Kiev rabbi intervened, but many issues related to the annual pilgrimage remain unresolved.

It all started about two years ago, a Bratslaver foundation that oversees community facilities in Uman contracted the Chance company to reconstruct the shul. But managers of Chance say they locked the synagogue this Aug. 4 because the Bratslaver group did not pay for work already completed.

In the meantime, local authorities are trying to damper the conflict, In a meeting last week with Chasidic leaders in Uman, the deputy governor of Ukraine's Cherkassy region, said the region was committed to letting the pilgrimage go ahead unimpeded.