Rosh Hashana In Uman, Ukraine
Rite
Uman is located about 120 miles south of Kiev. While Rebbe Nachman of Breslov lived in his namesake town, the observance is held in Uman, because it was in that city that one of his followers, Reb Noson, arranged the first Rosh Hashana pilgrimage in 1811. During the Rebbe's lifetime, hundreds of Hasidic Jews traveled from within Ukraine as well as Belarus, Lithuania and Poland to attend, and the ceremony quickly outgrew Uman's resources. In 1834, Noson bought property and applied for a government permit to construct a synagogue for the Breslover followers, and it housed the gathering until the 1930s. In this picture, a Hasidic jew prepares for the 2010 Rosh Hashana worshipping in Uman by having his head shaved, leaving the religiously significant side areas, called peyos, intact.