Ukrainian nationalists destroy tent city in Uman

As some of you might recall, I visited Uman two years ago, albeit not on Rosh HaShanna. Thousands of Jewish men spend Rosh HaShanna in Uman at the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. Many who cannot afford to rent apartments (there are few or no hotels) stay in tents. Over the Sabbath, the tent city that was erected for the visitors this coming week was destroyed by Ukrainian nationalists.

“On Shabbat, when they knew we wouldn’t be able to respond or activate the communication device, they simply knocked down the fence, pushed the light poles and security cameras, and caused damage estimated at half a million dollars,” Eliezer Kirshboim, chairman and director of the Jewish association in Uman, told the Israeli daily Yediot Acharonot. “We are approaching the High Holidays, and this disrupts all our work arrangements.”

Police officers did not intervene to stop the attacks, the newspaper reported, citing witnesses.

Since the fall of communism, Uman has seen the arrival of thousands of pilgrims on the Jewish New Year who come to visit the gravesite of the Breslover movement’s founder, Rabbi Nachman.

The pilgrimage often has created friction between the predominantly Israeli new arrivals and locals, many of whom resent the cordoning off by police of neighborhoods for the pilgrims.

Kirshboim said the mayor of Uman was “appointed” by members of the nationalist Svoboda party following the revolution in Ukraine.

There's an election in October, and whoever harasses the Jews the most is likely to win.

What could go wrong?