Hassidic Jews in Chernobyl 2# - Ukraine

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The Ukraine 2017

The story behind the photo:

YitzTwersky and Rabbi Leibel Sirkes in front of the former synagogue in Chernobyl city, watching old pictures of the synagogue.
Yitz Twersky lives in New York and is one of the last descendants of the founder of the Hasidic movement Grand Rabbi Menachem Nachum Twersky Admur of Chernobyl. In 2017 he did his first trip to Chernobyl to visit the tomb of his ancestor and the holy places for the Hassidic Jews. Each year, with the anniversary of the death of the Grand Rabbi Menachem Nachum Twersky Admur of Chernobyl, which occurred on 31 October 1787, a pilgrimage takes place to pray at the graves of their founders and venerate the places of worship of their religion, such as the synagogue, now reduced to an anonymous abandoned building, but still steeped in history. Chernobyl is not only the place of the worst nuclear accident ever, but it is also the place where the history of Hassidic Twersky Dynasty was born.
The graves are located in Chernobyl City, near the former school, forgotten for many years and recovered in the early 90s thanks to Rabbi Leibel Sirkes who lives in New Square, 40 miles from New York. He was the first person to find the graves after the nuclear disaster, and together with the Jews community he restored and preserved them from the oblivion.

From the project "Chernobyl Stories" The Ukraine 2014-2019