Duvid Singer of www.duvidsinger.com, heritage and discovery tours to Eastern Europe, said he was not taking groups to Ukraine this year because of the crisis and because the State Department has said it is dangerous to travel to that country. His goal, he said, was to educate the younger generation of Jews about their past and heritage. He also has taken groups to the burial site of the Baal Shem Tov in Medzhybizh, Ukraine. He said he believes that many Americans may feel it is “a bit dangerous” to travel to Ukraine, but not the Israelis; ”They are fearless,” he said.
Most North American chassidim will leave on Sunday, September 21, and arrive in Uman on Monday or Tuesday.
Residents of Uman are used to the massive influx of chassidim from throughout the world. Economically, Uman citizens do as well financially in that one week in September as they do in a year, it is said.
Baruch Godlewsky of Brooklyn goes every year to Uman. “You can’t explain the feeling you get, he said, “praying with thousands of Jews.”
As Aaron Meyer put it: “Many Breslov chassidim are more afraid not to come to Uman than to come.”
