Following former US President Jimmy Carter's passing, a story has surfaced about his involvement in saving the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in Uman from destruction during the Soviet era.
The event occurred in 1979 when Soviet authorities planned to demolish the entire area around the sacred site to build residential buildings.
A few years before the event, when Carter was still a nearly unknown presidential candidate, the Lubavitcher Rebbe surprised Rabbi Pinchas Taitz with a directive to contact him.
Taitz, a key figure in American Jewry, organized a grand event in honor of Carter. After his narrow election victory, Carter sent a thank-you letter to Rabbi Taitz, promising future assistance—a letter that proved crucial in saving the tomb.
When news of the demolition plan reached through a local resident, Mrs. Zubeida, a woman who lived near the gravesite, an urgent effort began to save the site. Rabbi Michel Dorfman led the efforts, meeting with prominent rabbis in the US, including the Satmar Rebbe and Rabbi Moshe Feinstein.
After appeals to the US State Department were unsuccessful, Rabbi Dorfman came to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who redirected him to Rabbi Taitz.
Ahead of a summit between Carter and Brezhnev in Vienna, a special letter was sent to the White House, including a detailed explanation from Rabbi Aryeh Moshe Elijah Kaplan, a notable academic, on the site's importance. Carter raised the issue during his meeting with Brezhnev, resulting in a Kremlin decision to preserve Bialynski Street, where the tomb is located.
Just days after the tomb's salvation, Carter's Jewish affairs advisor, Robert Lipshitz, a central link in the operation, was dismissed. The exact timing of the operation proved critical— the window of opportunity was exceptionally narrow.
Although Carter's actions as president evinced antisemitism and ani-Israelism, the rescue of the sacred tomb in Uman is a testament to Carter's legacy in aiding world Jewry, alongside other achievements like the Israel-Egypt peace agreement and establishing the tradition of lighting a menorah at the White House.