(JTA) — Jewish pilgrims who come to Ukraine to visit the Uman grave of Reb Nachman of Bratslav may now use the building that once housed the rabbi’s synagogue.
“The Hasidic religious community has full rights to use the building of the former synagogue in which Tzadik Nachman used as a prayer house,” said Serhiy Tulub, the head of the Cherkasy region’s administration, the Kyiv Post reported.
The building is located on a nearly 10-acre site of land in Uman that includes an instrument-making plant. The sale of the site was blocked recently by the Cherkasy region’s Economic Court following a lawsuit filed by the local culture department, according to the Kyiv Post.
Some 25,000 Jews from around the world flock to the central Ukrainian city each year to visit the grave of Reb Nachman, who was born in the city of Medzhybizh in 1772 and died in 1810 in Uman. Since then, Uman has become a mecca for Bratslaver Chasidim, particularly on Rosh Hashanah.
