The author searched for extensive information on the Hnativka settlement in the Internet, but the greater amount of such information is kept in the paper document archives and in view of this, first of all, the material from the Internet will be presented here. Thus, the Hnativka settlement is connected in a very direct way with the trend of Chornobyl Hasidism to which we shall return later. As to the solely cultural-social aspects of life of the Jewish community there the author did not manage to find such information and had to rest content with only superficial facts about the historical background of the settlement: in the 18^thcentury Hnativka was a suburb of Bilgorodka – a settlement located along the banks of the river Irpen [1, 24]. At that time (1864) Hnativka had no more than 10 Jewish homes; among its residents: 80 Christians, 400 Jews [1, 26]. It was reported, that commerce was well-developed in the settlement owing to the short distance to Kyiv which indicates, that Hnativka was well-developed in the sense of communication between other settlements and far from being in the periphery of the area.

This settlement, as stated above, was of sacral importance for Hasidism. Today representatives of Hnativka or, in Hebrew, Anatevka, Jewish community say, that centuries ago Mordechai Chornobylsky, the son of Menahem Nahum Tversky – the founder of Chornobyl Hasidism – passed through the settlement and, being impressed with the natural beauty of this place made the will to be buried there. To reveal more of the personality of Mordechai Chornobylsky the author resolved to plunge deeper into the phenomenon itself of Chornobyl Hasidism. Hasidism is a religious-mystical movement that emerged on the territory of Ukraine in the 18^thcentury [2, 164]. This movement splits into numerous schools, one of which is the Chornobyl School. Menahem Nahum Tversky was a student of the founder of Hasidism Baal Shem Tov. This school is called the Chornobyl School because it was Chornobyl where Menahem Tversky lived and preached (was a maggidim) [1, 166]. By the way, this name was taken by his progeny when Jews in the Russian Empire were allowed to take names. There is very little information about Nahum himself except from several sermons of Nahum Tversky like "Major einaim” and "Ismach lev” [2, 165]. Nahum’s teaching is based on the principle of meditative communication with God. His exhortations make a special stress on the fact that the task of every man is to rid himself of the seeds of evil and to grow the seeds of goodness and offer up to God that goodness that is hiding in all realities of this world [3]. He lived in Chornobyl to his last day and was buried there. It should be noted, that the grave of Menahem Nahum Tversky was found in 1990 and an ohel (a tomb pavilion) was erected on top of it. Jews used to put slips of paper with their requests written on them onto the graves of Chornobyl Tsadiks like the do it at the Wailing Wall [4, 376]. He was survived by his son who continued the cause of his father and became a maggidim of Chornobyl. This was Mordechai Tversky or Chornobylsky. Unlike his father, who was poor till his death and did not accept gifts from other Hasidim and kept a list of Jewish families that were in the greatest need and to whom he sent the prosperous Hasidim, Mordechai Tversky lived in a high style, for the support of which he introduced ma’amadot, a tax, imposed on Hasidim for the support of tsadik [3]. It should be noted, that such tax is the keystone of existence of the Jewish community. These charitable contributions (tzedakah) form the foundation, on which Jews help each other. In the long run such help was not the exclusive prerogative of the Jewish community, as the material aid was provided also for the needy Christians. That is, both, Jews and people who had absolutely no Jewish roots could come to rebbe for help.

Mordechai published his discourses in the middle of the 19^thcentury in the book "Likkutei Torah” that was acclaimed by the Jewish community, although Mordechai had brought nothing new into Hasidism. In his teachings he made emphasis on the importance of the clean language and heavenly thoughts as the conditions for the most profound sacral connection of the prayer. He also said that all Jewish souls (even souls of evil people, for an evil person is not beyond redemption) unite in him who prays [5]. Mordechai also had eight sons, each of whom became a tsadik.

References: 

1. Pokhylevych L. I. Narratives about settlements of Kyiv governorate.
2. Malakhova K. Rabbi Menahem Nahum of Chornobyl. An attempt of intellectual biography [Electronic source: http:/eprints.oa.edu/1953]
3. Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia. [Electronic source: http://www.eleven.co.il/article/1457]
4. History – myth – folklore in Jewish and Slavonic cultural tradition: a collection of articles. [Electronic source: http://inslav.ru/images/stories/pdf/2009_Istorija_mif_folklore.pdf]
5.  Rabbi Mordechai of Chernobyl . [Electronic source: http://rabbishimon.com/tzadikim/showz.php?p=mordechaiofchernobyl.htm]