In honor of Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the birthday of our holy Rebbe, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov zy"a, we present to you a historic discovery about the building of the monument over the holy tziyun in Uman: the first raised monument on the holy tziyun was built by Rabbi Berland shlit"a and his students—who hauled the marble stones all the way from Jerusalem to Uman! • R’ Ofer Balti, who organized the marble stones, together with participants in the journey, revisit that holy and unique trip

5751 (1991). The first monument—from Jerusalem to Uman.

In the year 5750 (1990), the Iron Curtain collapsed and fell with a “still, small voice” that shook the world. Immediately after the fall of the Curtain and the establishment of an independent Ukrainian state, Breslov Chassidim—led by The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, who as is well known spearheaded all the journeys in the years before and worked tirelessly through every stage—joined together. They began acting to restore the tziyun and to prepare the groundwork for the holy kibbutz at the tziyun of Rebbe Nachman zt"l. Intensive contacts with the Ukrainian authorities were made in order to purchase the area. At the same time, efforts began to erect a monument over the holy tziyun. In those years, the one who served as maintenance manager at the Shuvu Banim yeshivah in the Old City was R’ Ofer Balti (brother of the chassid R’ Yaakov). At that time he was involved in building the mikveh in the yeshivah, because the Arabs who had started the work backed out and did not finish the construction. R’ Ofer and his father (zt"l) took the job upon themselves, and indeed completed the building in the best possible way. And since Rabbi Berland saw his expertise in construction, he turned to him and asked him to obtain marble for building the monument on the tziyun of our holy Rebbe. As R’ Ofer himself related in a special interview with the magazine “Hitchadshus,” and we bring his story here: “About thirty years ago, I was the maintenance manager of Shuvu Banim. Rabbi Berland approached me and told me to arrange white marble with a height of thirty centimeters. Rabbi Berland also told me the length and width according to what he had received—how the size of the tziyun needs to be: two meters by eighty [centimeters], and the height of 30 cm. Rabbi Berland said the 30 cm height was so that people would be able to lie prostrate on the tziyun, and at the same time it would be a dignified ‘pillow’ for the tziyun. I went to ‘Shayish Beit Yisrael’ and ordered white Italian marble. We built wooden crates for it so they could carry it; each slab in its crate was lined with foam so it wouldn’t break. It took us a few days to organize it. Back then there was no direct flight from Israel to Kyiv, and they traveled via other countries. I myself was not a partner in the journey itself, only in preparing the marble for the tziyun.” “Back then they weren’t organized in Uman. It was the first year after the Iron Curtain fell—people didn’t know anything, and even food and everything else they brought only from Eretz Yisrael. There still wasn’t such a concept of buying things there from a non-Jew.”

The journey to build the monument, led by The Rav, Rabbi Berland

Partners in that special journey—students of Rabbi Berland—look back on the holy trip: R’ David ben Yishai: “It was in 5751 (1991). Everything was still in complete darkness then. Everything was done in a very suspicious and very hidden way—amid suspicion and hostility. It wasn’t like today, when everything is open. The Ukrainians were suspicious; there wasn’t good communication with them. We were under constant close supervision. So they had to bring it from Eretz Yisrael.” “It was in the middle of the year. We traveled via Romania—meaning, we landed in Romania, and from there we took trains to Ukraine. In the middle of the way, at the Kishinev border, they change the train wheels, because in the Soviet-bloc countries the railway tracks were a different width than in other countries. This was in order not to allow enemy trains to enter during wartime. Therefore, every time you enter Ukraine you need to change all the wheels. It takes a good few hours.” “After that we traveled by buses to Uman. The Rav, Rabbi Berland, of course participated in this trip. I remember that on the way a piece of marble broke, but they managed to glue it back.” Rabbi Yilon Yitzchaki: “You can’t forget this trip. I dragged and carried the marble inside the wooden crates, and I even worked a bit on the construction at the tziyun. That carrying wasn’t simple. Back then, each person had to bring everything—so for a week in Uman you needed a truly heavy load. But for the honor of Rebbe Nachman, everyone pitched in.” “The one who was actually responsible for the construction itself was R’ Asher Umdi zt"l (brother of the holy R’ Eliyahu hy"d). R’ Baruch Sharvit was also a partner in the building. I helped them clear away all the dirt and stones from the paving tiles, so they could pour a concrete base and mount the marble on top of it. After we removed the tiles, I myself took some of the stones from the tziyun—written on them was ‘Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman,’ the inscription of R’ Binyamin Knafelmacher. We used them for segulos for the sick and more, and it helped tremendously. Those were holy stones; they had been on the tziyun for many years…” Rabbi Yitzchaki recalls an amusing anecdote that happened in Romania: “We put the marble together with our personal equipment in a pile, and some guy came and tried to steal suitcases near us. He was wearing a tie and a suit—looked like an ordinary person—and he came to steal. We got proof of what they say about the Romanians… He picked up a suitcase and kept walking, and everyone shouted at him. So he said ‘Scuze’—that’s ‘sorry’ in Latin—put down the suitcase, and kept walking…” We ask whether this was a trip toward Rosh Hashanah. Rabbi Yitzchaki: “As I remember, it was in the middle of the year. We didn’t have apartments in Uman; we were in Kyiv, and from there we traveled to Uman each time—staying an hour or two at the tziyun and returning.” R’ David: “You have to understand that in those years, every time the trip somehow worked out, they simply went—because the longing was so intense. And until they arranged visas and everything—once it worked out, they got up and went. It took a good few months to organize such a thing. So it didn’t matter when—summer, winter—the main thing was to reach Uman.” This monument held up for about a year. After that, in 5752 (1992), someone tried to raise the monument a bit more, but it didn’t hold, and the monument built in a Russian style fell apart immediately after it was erected. In 5753 (1993), R’ Binyamin Sofer built a new monument over the first one, and in 5758 (1998) the large monument that exists until today was already built.

[caption id="attachment_47088" align="alignnone" width="300"] Archive photo - Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a at the tziyun of Rebbe Nachman in Uman[/caption]