Medzhybyzh is a place of pilgrimage for Hassidic Jews to visit
the Baal Shem Tov burial area He was the founder
of Hasidism and his ashes rest in the large central crypt inside the small building. Graves of other persons are also there, inside and outside.
This is the modern synagogue nearby for worshippers.
Jewish settlements can be traced back to the 8th century in areas of Ukraine. Most of western Ukraine's area was part of Poland/Lithuania at a time that Jews were welcome citizens and so Jews became one of the largest and most important ethnic groups. Russia also admitted Jews in its western areas under certain circumstances. Thus about 1/3 of Europe's Jews lived inside current Ukrainian borders before WWII. Brataslov was a Polish settlement dating from 1392 and Jews began settling there in 1506. We were driving east from Vinnitsia to Uman and sidetracked a bit south to see this cemetery on a hill. This is the guard house at the parking area and you can see the fence boundary on top of the hill.
We climbed well-maintained steps with planted flower beds on either side.
We arrived at these small buidlings which contained the tombs of special people and marked the beginning of the cemetery grounds.
We began our walk in a brief light shower; then the clouds cleared for evening sunshine and a rainbow.
Igor said these gravestones that look like tree trunks are for children or young people who have died and thus the limbs of their progeny are cut off.
We saw one more-recent headstone where the father survived his two sons who both died in the 1940's.
This is the view of the lovely river valley where this cemetery is located. The buildings house a hydro power plant, older to newer, r - l.
