Kumzitz in Uman Ukraine 2009

Thousands of Hasidic Jews from around the world are gathering in the Ukrainian city of Uman for a yearly pilgrimage marked by singing, dancing and prayer. The pilgrims crowding the city’s streets are mostly men in black hats or kippas coming to pray at the tomb of Rabbi Nahman -- a revered leader of their traditionalist movement. On the pilgrimage days for a week around the Jewish New Year, this sleepy, dusty town of 90,000 inhabitants some 200 kilometres (124 miles) south of Kiev is transformed into a