MOSCOW, Jan. 20 (JTA) — Construction of a synagogue expected to hold 10,000 worshipers has begun in a Ukrainian town with fewer than a dozen Jews. The synagogue, billed by its founders as the world’s largest, is an undertaking of the international Bratslaver Chasidic movement. It is being built in the town of Uman to serve the needs of Chasidic pilgrims that come once a year at Rosh Hashanah to visit the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, continuing a tradition that dates back to the first quarter of the 19th century. A great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Chasidism, Rabbi Nachman — who was born in 1772 — became famous for his teachings and mystical interpretations of Jewish texts. When he died in 1810 in Uman, he promised on his deathbed to lift his followers who visited him out of hell by their payes, or earlocks. Since then, Bratslaver Chasidim — for whom Nachman remains the only rebbe the group has ever had — have returned to Uman every year on Rosh Hashanah to pray, sing and dance at Nachman’s grave. During the Soviet Union, only a few adventurous followers of Nachman would came to Ukraine posing as tourists. In the past few years, the number has increased. Last fall, about 10,000 Chasidim came to Uman for the High Holidays pilgrimage. The Bratslaver movement also intends to built a hotel in Uman — up to now, pilgrims have had to rent rooms and apartments from local citizens to stay during the pilgrimage. The movement took a 50-year lease on the plot of land that will contain the two buildings. Meanwhile, the moves by the Bratslaver group have prompted a backlash. An ultranationalist member of the Ukrainian Parliament delivered a speech at a session late last month, saying that “Bratslaver Chasidim have almost occupied Uman, Kharkov” and other cities in Ukraine. At the session, lawmaker Yevgeny Smirnov called Chasidism the “most aggressive and reactionary branch of Judaism.” He accused the sect of intending to “take over the leadership” in Ukraine.
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