Ukrainian shul vandalised with paint, a pig’s head and swastika

Unknown individuals broke into a synagogue in the Ukrainian city of Uman, sprayed red paint on the walls and left behind a pig’s head with a swastika carved into its forehead.

The attack occurred on Tuesday night, DS News reported. The synagogue is part of the Ohel complex, built near the gravesite of the Breslover movement’s founder, Rabbi Nachman.

Since the fall of communism, Uman has seen the arrival of thousands of pilgrims on the Jewish New Year who come to visit the gravesite of the 18th-century luminary.

The pilgrimage often has created friction between the predominantly Israeli new arrivals and locals, many of whom resent the cordoning off by police of neighbourhoods for the pilgrims.

Brawls between locals and pilgrims are common. In recent years, incidents that occurred at Uman included the placing of broken glass on the bank of a river where pilgrims take ritual baths; the erection of crosses near that place and protests where nationalists shouted “Chasids out of Uman.”