Until recently, only a handful of devout believers made the expensive trip to Uman, Ukraine, over the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) to the grave of Breslov Hasidic sect founder Rebbe Nachman. Somehow, this custom has now spread and gone mainstream, accepted and recognized at all levels of the Jewish population. Like fasting on Yom Kippur, the New Year pilgrimage to Uman has become a kind of “commandment” fulfilled even by secularists who observe few other religious customs.
Like other phenomenon of this type, the trip to Uman does not exclude celebrities. The comedian Eli Yatzpan and the singer Lior Narkis have been spotted in Uman in the past. This year, the singer Eyal Golan made the pilgrimage before the festival, to beat the crowds.
