‘Thank you for being in this fight’ |
On April 6, 2026, on the occasion of Passover, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with rabbis from cities across Ukraine and with representatives of Jewish communities, including a military chaplain and a serviceman in the Armed Forces of Ukraine known as “Hasid.”
The meeting was covered in detail by the Office of the President of Ukraine.
Zelensky congratulated those present on Passover and wished them and their families health and victory. In his remarks, he said that Passover is, above all, about the triumph of freedom.
“Today, this is especially important for Ukraine,” Zelensky said.
Freedom is what the whole people of Ukraine are fighting for. And I thank you for being in this struggle, for supporting our entire people and our whole state. You support your communities, you support our people. Your support is very important.
Freedom is what the whole people of Ukraine are fighting for. And I thank you for being in this struggle, for supporting our entire people and our whole state. You support your communities, you support our people. Your support is very important.
Zelensky did not greet the Jewish communities publicly on the first day of Passover itself, as his international schedule had already become unusually intense by the start of the holiday. Shortly before that, he had visited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Jordan, and on April 4–5 he was in Turkey and Syria.
The meeting with rabbis therefore took place on April 6, 2026.
The Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine also presented the president with more than 40 Jewish books and gifted him a Torah translated into Ukrainian.
Ukraine’s leading rabbis stressed that the country is living through an extraordinarily difficult period, yet has not lost either its statehood or its freedom and continues to fight. They emphasized that the Jewish community would continue to do everything it could — and continue to pray — for Ukraine’s victory.
“Freedom begins within, with oneself,” said Meyer Stambler, chairman of the Council of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine.
We are very glad and proud to live in Ukraine in such a difficult time. It is an honor for us to be bound to Ukraine. We have lived here for many years; we have tied our lives and our families to this country. We are certain that there will be a just peace, a real victory.
We are very glad and proud to live in Ukraine in such a difficult time. It is an honor for us to be bound to Ukraine. We have lived here for many years; we have tied our lives and our families to this country. We are certain that there will be a just peace, a real victory.
Ukraine’s Chief Rabbi Moshe Asman placed the moment in a broader moral and spiritual frame.
“We are living in a time of a great confrontation between good and evil,” he said.
And just as in the days of Passover the people of Israel went from slavery to freedom, so too the people of Ukraine will certainly prevail. For I sincerely believe that the war will end, Ukraine will win, and with God’s help every regime that brings evil and destruction will fall. May the Almighty bless the President of Ukraine, its people, and all those who today stand on the side of Light.
And just as in the days of Passover the people of Israel went from slavery to freedom, so too the people of Ukraine will certainly prevail. For I sincerely believe that the war will end, Ukraine will win, and with God’s help every regime that brings evil and destruction will fall. May the Almighty bless the President of Ukraine, its people, and all those who today stand on the side of Light.
Against this backdrop, the meeting with rabbis and representatives of Jewish communities on April 6, 2026 looked like far more than a ceremonial holiday gesture. It reflected a broader diplomatic and civic reality — one in which the ties between Ukraine, Israel, and the Jewish world continue to matter not only symbolically, but politically, morally, and historically.
Raphael Rutman, vice president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine, added that since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the number of Jewish books translated into Ukrainian has grown. He noted that all of these books are printed in Kharkiv, despite the fact that the publishing house has repeatedly come under Russian attack.
Rutman personally presented Zelensky with more than 40 books and with the first Ukrainian-language Torah.
In that sense, this Passover meeting on April 6, 2026 was not only about a holiday greeting. It was also about identity, solidarity, and endurance. It was about a Jewish community that remains visibly present in Ukraine’s national life even in wartime. And it was about a president who chose to frame Passover not only as a remembrance of the biblical Exodus, but as a living language of freedom in the middle of a modern war.