Rabbi Berland in Uman, Rosh Hashana 5780
By all accounts, the gathering in Uman for Rosh Hashana 5780 was very powerful this year. Before the gathering, Rabbi Berland announced that 40,000 men were going to be present for the kibbutz, and there was a very optimistic feeling in the air.
Rabbi Berland and his attendants arrived in the Ukraine on Wednesday evening, September 25, 2019. On zchor brit, the final day of Elul leading into Rosh Hashana, Rabbi Berland came to the Tziyon of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov at 03.25 am, to pray with the community.
At the conclusion of the selichot service, Rabbi Berland removed his hat, donned his tallis and tefillin, and continued praying the morning service with the community, which ended at 07.03 am, when Rabbi Berland returned to his lodgings in Uman.
Rabbi Berland then spent the following hours receiving many hundreds of the members of the public who wanted to ask for a blessing, ahead of the Yom HaDin, at his apartment, which was meant to continue until 2pm in the afternoon.
In the end, there were more visitors than time, which meant Rabbi Berland returned to the Tziyon, to begin the mincha and maariv prayers heading into Rosh Hashana at the last moment.
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On Rosh Hashana itself, Rabbi Berland prayed in the Kloiz, which was stuffed to beyond capacity with men praying ‘as one person, with one heart’.
Rabbi Berland arrived for the morning services at 6.30 am each day of Rosh Hashana, and prayed with the kehillah until it came time for the reading of the Torah, which is when he retired, and read the Torah at his home.
In the afternoon of the first day of Rosh Hashana, the Rav came out to do tashlich at one of the local lakes in Uman accompanied by thousands of people. During tashlich, the Rav repeated many sentences over and over again, and recited tashlich slowly, word-for-word.
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It’s tradition that the Rosh Hashana kibbutz in Uman doesn’t formally end until after the morning prayers of Tzom Gedalia. Yesterday, Rabbi Berland returned to the Tziyon at 6.30 am on Tzom Gedalia – half an hour before netz in the Ukraine – to again pray with the community.
Prayers with Rabbi Berland at the Beit HaRav on Ido HaNavi street in Jerusalem are scheduled to restart this evening, Thursday October 3, 2019.
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We’re pleased to share some pictures of this year’s gathering in Uman for Rosh Hashana 5780, below:
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LAST YEAR’S GATHERING:
