Deputy Minister Rabbi Meir Porush to PM: Breslover Chassidim Expect Gov’t to Arrange Travel to Ukraine

YERUSHALAYIM
Traveling to Uman for Rosh Hashanah at the Ben Gurion airport in 2018. (Avi Dishi/Flash90, File)

Deputy Education Minister Rabbi Meir Porush sent an urgent letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu asking him to find a way to arrange for tefillos on Rosh Hashanah in Uman.

In his letter, Rabbi Porush reiterated his willingness to travel immediately to Uman to closely monitor the observance of the outline and the observance of safety regulations.

“Following the recent controversy regarding the trip of thousands of Breslover Chassidim to Uman ahead of Rosh Hashanah, I ask for your attention to my proposal as follows:

“Although I have been to Uman several times, I have never traveled to Uman for Rosh Hashanah, but after realizing that hundreds of Chassidim are already in Uman, and many more are planning to travel one way or another, I decided to offer myself and take responsibility for all travelers.”

Rabbi Porush’s letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Rabbi Porush notes that “I met yesterday with the head of the ministerial team on the subject of travel to Uman, Minister Ze’ev Elkin, and discussed with him the possibility of formulating an optimal outline, which will allow a safe trip for the Breslov Chassidim who fly every year for Rosh Hashanah with mesirus nefesh.

“At this meeting, I made it clear that I am ready to fly to Uman in the coming days and stay there, to closely monitor the safety arrangements with the local government, and to ensure compliance with health regulations and procedures as required by health officials in Israel and Ukraine.”

Rabbi Porush clarified that as always, dialogue is preferable to any other way. “It is important to emphasize that past experience shows that things done through dialogue and agreement succeed in permeating the heart more than those done by force. Therefore, with all the understanding of caution required in this challenging period, one must also consider the strong feelings of travelers to Uman for whom this nesiah is sacred.”

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