This master?s thesis discusses Hasidic Judaism, exploring the history of Eastern European Hasidism from its origins to the present in order to describe the phenomenon of Hasidic pilgrimage in contemporary Ukraine. First, the individual spiritual aspects that played an important role in the development of Hasidic pilgrimage in the Ukraine are investigated. Among my own researchers as an result of my investigation, the pilgrimage tradition was set in three different periods of Hasidism. These periods correspond to the generations of the three founding fathers of Hasidic tradition in the Ukraine.Rabbi Israel ben Eli?ser represents the first generation. The second generation is represented by Rabbi Dov Ber. Finally, the third generation is represented by Rabbi Dov Ber?s most influential disciples: Levi Yitzchok and Rabbi Nachman. The places where these important Hasidic figures lived or were buried became the first sites of Hasidic pilgrimage. This thesis explores the history and pilgrimage tradition of two cities, Medzhybizh and Uman, and one town, Berdychiv, in more detail. Aside from the spiritual dimensions of Hasidism, addressing the persecution, forced displacement, and mass murder of Eastern European Jews constitutes another important part of this thesis. The global presence of Hasidism can largely be seen as the immediate consequence of the three great mass emigrations of Jews from the Ukraine. With this in mind, the Eastern European Jews? search for protection and acceptance outside of Europe and their forming of new Hasidic communities in Israel and the USA are illustrated. Finally, the renaissance of Hasidism and the pilgrimage movement in the Ukraine following the fall of the Iron Curtain is portrayed, again based on the three examples of Medzhybizh, Berdychiv, and Uman. Two interviews about the spiritual meaning these places hold for believers and the economical relevance for the entire region conclude this thesis. |