Content area
Full Text
A Jewish president was just elected, the current prime minister is Jewish, and the outgoing president was strongly pro-Israel and enjoyed close relations with the Jewish community.
Not only is Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky Jewish, but the fact that he is Jewish barely received any coverage in the election at all.
At the same time, Jews in general feel safe in Ukraine – there are almost no reported antisemitic assaults, although there have been several prominent incidents of antisemitic vandalism, and religious Jews say they feel safe walking around and being identifiably Jewish.
Ilya Bezruchko, a Jewish activist and journalist, believes that there is 'a big future for the Ukrainian Jewish community,' adding that Jews in the country can base themselves on the US model of strong national loyalty coupled with the preservation of Jewish religious and cultural identity.
But he argues that it is important for the Jewish community to show its commitment to Ukraine – and that many Jews and Jewish organizations have already done so, having helped Jews and non-Jews alike when they fled eastern Ukraine during the worst of the fighting with Russian-backed forces in 2014 and 2015.
'We are not in the ghetto or shtetl anymore, we are an integral part of Ukrainian society. We should be an example,' said Bezruchko.
And he pointed to the election of Zelensky as proof that Jews can feel safe and prosper in the country.
'Zelensky is the best example that antisemitism is not an issue for Ukrainians.'
Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich, chief rabbi of Kiev and Ukraine, explained why Zelensky’s Jewish background did not become an issue during the election.
Precisely because outgoing-President Petro Poroshenko – who was the losing candidate in the final run-off election with Zelensky – enjoyed such good relations with the Jewish community, there was...