With just two weeks until Rosh Hashanah, Israeli authorities are poised for the departure of tens of thousands of Hassidim to the Ukrainian city of Uman for the annual celebration of the holiday at the gravesite of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.
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Pilgrims are desperate to reach their destination after having been denied entry to the city last year due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Some worshippers even got stranded on the Belarus-Ukraine border in a failed attempt to get to Uman before the holiday.
According to Health Ministry guidelines, every Israeli leaving the country needs to provide a negative coronavirus test at Ben-Gurion International Airport. Authorities fear Hassidim who test positive for COVID will forge documents in order to get to the festivities.
A senior official told Israel Hayom they were preparing to increase screening efforts as travelers to Uman have been known to forge passports in the past – willing to go to any means to get to Ukraine – and might do the same with COVID tests.
He said they might go as far as delay a flight if even a single worshipper is found to carry fake papers. Authorities are aware, however, that such strict measures might not bode well with airlines and are pondering requesting travelers to Uman to provide their negative coronavirus tests several hours before arriving at the airport.
In any case, authorities hope that even the possibility of a flight delay would discourage worshippers from providing forged coronavirus tests.
For weeks, Breslav Hassidim have been unsure whether they would be allowed to travel to Ukraine at all. The country has been on Israel's no-fly list several times, although it is not at the moment. As a precaution, many traveled to Uman several weeks earlier for fear that the border would be closed.
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