With on-line posts in Hebrew and appeals to Jews to “cry out” in response to Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has invoked his religion to rally help for his embattled nation.
The 44-year-old comedian-turned-president informed the Occasions of Israel in 2020 that he had an “bizarre… Jewish upbringing”, explaining “most Jewish households within the Soviet Union weren’t non secular.”
He has additionally described faith as a private matter and even swore his presidential oath on the Bible.
However since Russia’s invasion started on February 24, Zelensky has made specific reference to Judaism in stirring social media posts in search of to rally help for Ukraine.
On Wednesday, a day after a Russian assault on Kyiv’s tv mast beside Babi Yar — the location of a World Warfare II Nazi bloodbath during which over 30,000 of town’s Jews have been shot — Zelensky reacted with outrage.
“I name now on all of the Jews of the world — do you not see what is occurring right here? Because of this it is necessary for thousands and thousands of Jews all over the world to not keep silent within the face of such sights. As a result of Nazism was born in silence,” he wrote in Hebrew on the Telegram messenger service.
The next day, Zelensky, who has visited Israel many instances and stated he has household there, reached out once more to Jews.
He informed a information convention he was grateful for “a phenomenal image of individuals wrapped within the Ukraine flag on the Western Wall” — in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem thought of the holiest web site the place Jews can pray.
Zelensky added, nevertheless, that he didn’t really feel “that the Israeli authorities had wrapped itself with the Ukranian flag”.
– ‘Distinctive function’ –
Zelensky’s feedback appeared a transparent try and broaden help for the Ukranian trigger amongst Jews and particularly inside Israel, the place Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has averted forceful condemnations of Russia, in search of to protect delicate safety ties with Moscow.
However his public referencing of his Judaism amid an unprecedented disaster is not only a tactic to rally Jewish goodwill, consultants and a distinguished Soviet-era dissident who is aware of the Ukranian president personally have stated.
Zelensky’s “Jewishness is necessary for him,” stated Nathan Sharansky, who spent years in a Soviet Gulag accused of treason for in search of permission to maneuver to Israel.
“He isn’t a Jew who’s making secret of his Jewishness and he isn’t a Jew who’s in search of another id,” Sharansky informed AFP.
Sharansky, who has spoken to Zelensky’s chief-of-staff in latest days, was born in Ukraine and helped spark the Glasnost reforms that presaged the downfall of the Soviet Union.
After a high-profile launch from Soviet custody, he moved to Israel in 1986, the place he held varied senior public roles and is now a number one world determine in efforts to redress anti-Semitism.
He famous that Zelensky is a part of a protracted custom of Jews in jap European historical past who confronted loss of life for standing as much as autocracy, however stated the Ukrainian president’s Judaism might show to have broader implications, together with as a counter to rising anti-Semitism.
“This distinctive function Zelensky is taking part in in uniting the Ukrainian nation, with out hiding his Jewish id, I believe it could undoubtedly assist to beat many prejudices,” he stated.
– ‘David and Goliath’ –
Lisa Maurice, a senior lecturer within the classical research division at Bar Ilan College close to Tel Aviv, informed AFP she noticed indicators of Jewish affect in Zelensky’s public posture, together with his social media posts.
“We very a lot have this custom of the David and Goliath. We’re all the time the little man towards the massive man,” she stated, clarifying that her feedback apply to Jewish historic narratives, not Israel’s present army.
“All our heroes, even the army heros, battle not as a result of they wish to battle, not as a result of they’re aggressive, however as a result of it’s the proper factor to do. That may be a actually sturdy custom in Judaism,” she stated.
The Jewish Telegraph Company, the 100-year-old information wire overlaying Jewish affairs, stated Zelensky’s “management is resonating… with Jews the world over” — citing a number of Jewish writers celebrating his resistance to an invading military.
“As a Jew, it’s unattainable to not really feel pleased with the braveness, dignity, and defiance proven by Zelensky at this second,” Molly Crabapple, a distinguished author who has contributed to the New Yorker journal and the New York Occasions, tweeted.
