Haredi politicians are pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and military officials to allow draft dodging yeshiva students to partake in an annual Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage to Ukraine and to fly to other locations for the High Holidays, Hebrew media reported Monday.
Shas party leader Aryeh Deri was said to have been seeking an agreement with the IDF and Defense Ministry that would allow Haredi men who are under travel bans due to their refusal to conscript into the army to nonetheless make the trip to Uman — the Ukrainian city where Hasidic leader Rabbi Nachman of Breslov is buried.
Deri was said to have discussed the arrangement with Netanyahu on Thursday last week, touting plans for 50,000 to travel to Ukraine despite the ongoing war.
The Shas leader claimed that the journey is a religious obligation and should not be treated as leisure travel.
“Rabbi Deri has for weeks been engaged in discussions with the prime minister in order to enable the travel of some 50,000 Israelis — from across the public spectrum — who customarily pray each year on Rosh Hashanah at the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in Uman — this in light of the absence of direct flights,” his office told Ynet in a statement.
The government allocated NIS 10 million ($3 million) to support the annual pilgrimage, Hebrew media reported. Funds for Israelis to visit the war-ravaged country will come from the Foreign, Transportation, Interior and Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage ministries, according to Ynet.
Orthodox Jews pray at the tomb of Rabbi Nachman, the great-grandson of the founder of Hasidic movement, in the town of Uman, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Part of the money will be used to pay for flights for 50,000 Israelis — 15,000 more than the number of visitors last year. Another portion of the funds will be used to compensate Moldova for assisting with logistics for transiting Israelis, the report said.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, which has warned pilgrims not to come in recent years due to safety concerns amid the war, echoing the calls of some Israeli officials.
Rosh Hashanah begins the evening of September 22.
United Torah Judaism MK Meir Porush, who served as Jerusalem Affairs minister until July when his party quit the government over the draft crisis, claimed to have played a part in securing the funds for the pilgrimage.
“Before I resigned, I approved the transfer of a budget of NIS 2 million ($594,550) to the Foreign Ministry, which is coordinating the matter,” he told Haredi news site Kikar Shabbat. “Together with the Prime Minister’s Office, the Foreign Ministry, the Transportation Ministry and the Interior Ministry, we raised a total of NIS 10 million ($2.972 million) for this issue.”
Expanding on Deri’s request, UTJ chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf also appealed to Netanyahu, asking that Hasidic Jews barred from travel be permitted to flout their restrictions in order to fly to New York and other destinations during the High Holidays, according to Hebrew media.
United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf attends a Knesset House Committee meeting, August 4, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)
He reportedly wrote a letter to the premier asking that trips for Hasidic Jews to New York and other destinations be included in the deal, calling them “a sublime spiritual experience that has no substitute” and claiming that “it is our duty to allow them the right that is given to others.”
Because there are no direct flights to Ukraine, which has discouraged visits since Russia invaded the country in 2022, pilgrims will need to travel through Moldova.
Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean told Netanyahu that Israel will need to cover the cost of logistics and security to assist Israelis who wish to travel to Moldova to reach Uman, according to a statement shared with The Times of Israel by Moldovan Ambassador to Israel Alex Roitman.
Netanyahu and his Moldovan counterpart discussed arrangements for the pilgrimage, “including security and logistical aspects, which are to be covered by the Israeli side,” in a phone call earlier today, the statement read.
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