Breslover Hasid Bites Cop, Others Smash TV Cameras In Uman Brawl Over Kosher Food

Ukrainian police tried to close illegal food stalls manned by Breslov hasidim visiting Uman for their annual Rosh HaShana pilgrimage to Rabbi Nachman's grave.

Hasidic Jew bites Ukrainian policeman in kosher food row
DPA / Earth Times

Kiev - A Hasidic Jewish pilgrim bit a Ukrainian policeman while other pilgrims smashed a television camera in a row over kosher food, Channel 5 television reported Thursday. The incident took place in the central Ukrainian city Uman', a pilgrimage site for one of the nine main branches of Hasidic Judaism.

The conflict began after Uman' police attempted to shut down a group of kiosks operated by the pilgrims, according to the report citing Svetlana Lipinska, an Uman' city official.

The owner-operators said they were providing kosher food acceptable to Hasidic teachings, unavailable elsewhere in Uman'.

The Ukrainian law enforcers alleged the kiosks were not registered businesses, violated city health codes, and should be shut down.

One kiosk operator bit a policeman's finger, and others smashed a camera operated by a local television station, as law enforcers moved to dismantle the kiosks.

Police intervention came after city officials consulted with pilgrimage organizers, and according to a Unian news agency report were told by Daniel Dayan, a leader of Uman's Hasidic community, that the kiosk operators were engaged in business outside normal pilgrimage activities.

The central Ukrainian city Uman' is the site of an annual pilgrimage by some 25,000 members of the Hasidic branch of the Jewish faith during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

One of the leading early activists of the Hasidic movement, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, is buried in Uman'. A visit to his grave is the highpoint of a pilgrimage to the city.

Comments

[Phil]

I happened to be in Kiev airport this week as thousands of them rolled in to Ukraine. A bigger bunch of weirdos it is hard to describe.
There genuinely is something remarkably un-Jewish about deciding to spend Rosh Hashana thousands of miles away from your wife and kids as this bunch do.

[WoolSilkCotton]

Mentally ill sociopaths, many of them BT's with serious issues, in need of a mishigos to latch on to. You get a costume, daily instructions, a special diet, chants, instant friends, a shrine to worship, a common enemy, confirmation for all your paranoias and neuroses. It's the perfect package deal.

[Dr. Moe]

Uman in Rosh Hashanah is nothing but a Woodstock.

[critical_minyan]

i think we are gonna get a song parody on this one.
maybe based on "wrapped around your finger" by the Police.

[Ben]

Ukrainian police is notoreously anti-semitic. Uman lives of these pilgrimages and abuses the hasidim in many ways. I don't understand why these guys are even traveling there, especially in a specific season which produces ripoff prices.

[Isa]

Yeah right
At night, with no moon, the place glows blue from the residue radiation released at Chernobyl.At least eat no vegetables, meat, dairy, drink no water etc, etc, etc.
Watch'em all get cancer 20 years from now.

[ah-pee-chorus]

way to glorify nachmans memory.
MOVE THE BODY YOU FOOLS!!!

[WoolSilkCotton]

++...not registered businesses, violated city health codes...++

Sounds like business as usual for the hasidic world.

[alternative childcare]

WSC: In the Ukraine, "non registered businesses" means "bribes not appropriately paid"...

[Yosef ben Matitya]

means "bribes not appropriately paid"...

what difference does it make?
is it alrite then to bite a cop?
the whole pilgrimage is a farce!
bunch of idolaters and misfits

[Yosef ben Matitya]

by: Ben | September 17, 2009 at 10:40 AM Ukrainian police is notoreously anti-semitic.

why then go there?

Uman lives of these pilgrimages and abuses the hasidim in many ways.

lives of them? they are tight fisted, eat only their own food, leave tons of garbage behind! bite the cops & break camera, seriously, why live?

I don't understand why these guys are even traveling there, especially in a specific season which produces ripoff prices.

I know why, our pilgrims like to pay the few extra rubles/ or zlotys, ulfum tzaara agra! they lay a guilt trip on the qodosh borukh hu.

[Ben]

Yosef ben Matitya, Uman people overcharge hasidim for everything, especially for loging.

[WoolSilkCotton]

Ben, have you tried getting a hotel room in London, Paris, Rome, or New York City? Location and demand determine prices.
Try getting a hotel room in Boston just before the Marathon in April. That's the way it goes.

[BaltimoreYid]

I knew a Breslover here in Baltimore and trust me this guy had issues galore.

[Dr. Dave]

Hasidic Jew bites Ukrainian policeman in kosher food row

Are ukranian cops kosher?

[CR]

Uman in Rosh Hashanah is nothing but a Woodstock.

This sounds more like Altamont.

[mike]

well, of course he tried to bite that cop.
They were busy closing down the food stalls and he probably got hungry