Rabbi Nachman's Uman grave could be sold into private hands

Bratslav Hasidim stand to lose control over the area surrounding the grave of Rabbi Nachman in Uman, Ukraine, over a debt to a local businessman and MP. Members of the community are threatening to stage a protest and to disrupt the scheduled visit to Israel next week by President Viktor Yushchenko if the issue is not taken care of beforehand.

About four years ago, the Breslov World Center began making plans to expand the synagogue near the grave, through the offices of MP Petro Kuzmenko, a local businessman and senior politician who also owns a large construction company.

A serious dispute developed between the sides, in the course of which Kuzmenko sued the center and succeeded in getting a lien issued for the synagogue and the gravesite. The synagogue is to be sold to cover the center's debt to Kuzmenko.

"If it will help, we will appeal to the international human rights court, on the grounds of harming freedom of worship," said Gilad Corinaldi, an Israeli lawyer who specializes in crisis mediation who is in Ukraine this week on behalf of his Bratslav clients.

About 150,000 people visit Rabbi Nachman's grave every year, with 30,000 coming for Rosh Hashanah.