Agudas Yisrael to Netanyahu: Traveling to Uman for Chassidim Is a Basic Right

Members of the Agudas Yisrael faction in the Knesset, Rabbi Yaakov Litzman, Rabbi Meir Porush, Rabbi Yaakov Tessler, Rabbi Yisrael Eichler and Rabbi Eliyahu Chassid, on Wednesday sent a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, with an urgent request for “finding a solution to allow travel to Uman for Rosh Hashanah” despite the danger of the coronavirus.

“We hereby ask you on behalf of the Breslover Chassidim and the large crowd of thousands that makes sure every year to travel to the tziyun of the Rebbe Reb Nachman of Breslov, zy”a, and spend the days of Rosh Hashanah there,” they wrote to the prime minister.

They describe that “the nesiah to the holy tziyun in Uman has been going on for many years, and even before the fall of the Iron Curtain, many Jews traveled with mesirus nefesh to spend Rosh Hashanah in Uman.

“As we approach Rosh Hashanah, we ask you to get involved in this urgent issue and try find an appropriate solution for them, which will meet all the requirements of the Health Ministry and other relevant bodies, according to an outline submitted by the National Secretariat of Breslover Chassidim.”

Our only request, wrote the Agudas Yisrael representatives, is “to find the way that will allow them to travel and return safely – without any health danger.”

They note in their letter to Netanyahu that any Israeli citizen can leave and return from the country subject to conditions of quarantine, and therefore it is not legal to prohibit the departure of Israelis only to Uman and thus discriminate against the many passengers who would like to travel for Rosh Hashanah.