Culture - UJE - Ukrainian Jewish Encounter

"Centuries of Presence" compiled by Khrystyna Semeryn: Understanding your Jewish neighbor's pain

Posted On: May 18th, 2026

Posted In: UJE Initiatives, Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize, Literature, Culture

Khrystyna Semeryn is a researcher, independent journalist, essayist, and gender expert. She is a member of the Ukrainian Association for Jewish Studies. Before her current position at Aalto University in Finland, she had done research...

"Absolute misalliance" of the 19th century: the history of the Ukrainian-Jewish Rudnytsky family

Posted On: May 11th, 2026

Posted In: Did You Know?, Hromadske Radio, Ukrainian- Jewish Relations History, Sponsored Projects, Culture, History, Audio/Visual Media

The story of the mixed marriage of Ivan Rudnytsky and Ida Spiegel, who gave birth to the prominent figures Mykhailo Rudnytsky, Ivan Kedryn-Rudnytsky, Milena Rudnytska, Antin Rudnytsky, and Volodymyr Rudnytsky. Yelyzaveta Tsarehradska: Today’s guest of...

Why Christian, Muslim, and Jewish chaplains of the Ukrainian Army met in a synagogue

Posted On: May 7th, 2026

Posted In: Jews on Ukrainian Lands, Ukrainian statehood and identity, Culture, History, Diverse Voices, Ethnography

In April 2026, the Central Synagogue of Ukraine (Kyiv Brodsky Synagogue) welcomed unusual guests — a large group of Christian and Muslim priests. David Milman, a Jewish chaplain of Ukraine's Armed Forces, welcomed his fellow...

"Our work in the field of memory studies must be aimed at ourselves, not Russia" — Oksana Dovhopolova

Posted On: May 4th, 2026

Posted In: Ukrainian statehood and identity, Sponsored Projects, Ukraina Moderna, Culture, Diverse Voices, Other Programs, Ethnography

Our conversation with the Odesa philosopher and expert in the field of memory research focuses on the conflict that broke out recently in Odesa around the question of (not) dismantling monuments to Pushkin, Babel, and...

Shmuel Yosef Agnon: He who has gone through the world's fires three times

Posted On: April 20th, 2026

Posted In: UJE Initiatives, Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize, Literature, Culture

When Shmuel Yosef Agnon received the Nobel Prize, he reportedly said in jest, "Yesterday, half of Israel didn't know who Agnon was, and the other half didn't know who Nobel was. Today we are both...

Janet Sobel (1893-1968)

Posted On: April 13th, 2026

Posted In: Did You Know?, Culture, Visual Arts

Janet Sobel, née Jennie Olechovsky, was one of the most prominent American artists of the 20th century, who pioneered the dripping technique. She is also considered the "grandmother of American abstract expressionism." She was born...

Glorious anniversary uniting Israel and Ukraine

Posted On: April 7th, 2026

Posted In: Did You Know?, Ukrainian statehood and identity, Culture, Diverse Voices, Language

Wolf Moskovich, professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the only foreign member of Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences living in Israel, the initiator and editor-in-chief of the unique 27-volume academic series Jews and...

Ilya Epstein linked Ukraine, Israel, and the USA

Posted On: March 26th, 2026

Posted In: Did You Know?, Jews on Ukrainian Lands, Ukrainian- Jewish Relations History, Culture, History

How a Jewish boy from a Ukrainian town lost in the forests and swamps of the Chernihiv region became a friend of the US president and played a key role in the recognition of the...

Rose Ausländer: Poetry is never late

Posted On: March 23rd, 2026

Posted In: UJE Initiatives, Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize, Literature, Culture

Rose Ausländer (née Scherzer) was a prominent representative of modernist German-language Jewish poetry that emerged in Czernowitz (now Chernivtsi) in the 1920s and 1930s. She was born in Czernowitz on 11 May 1901. Her mother,...

Joseph Roth, the great autobiography hoaxer

Posted On: February 16th, 2026

Posted In: Did You Know?, UJE Initiatives, Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize, Literature, Culture

Maryna Horbatiuk Joseph Roth, one of the most famous 20th-century German-language writers and journalists, was a Galician Jew, monarchist, socialist, cosmopolitan, hoaxer, and alcoholic. He was a successful reporter (but always short of money), hotel...

Older posts

Ukrainian Jewish Encounter Timeline wins international recognition while countering Russian propaganda

Ukrainians and Jews have lived as neighbours for centuries, creating and sharing enduring cultures that continue to inform their identities today. Ukrainian Jewish Encounter (UJE) is proud to present Part 1 of an integrated narrative of these two peoples in the belief that there is much to be gained by viewing their historical experience together, in all its complexity.

Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize

The 'Encounter' prize aims to build on the common experiences of Ukrainians and Jews over the centuries, expressed in literature and nonfiction. The Prize will be awarded annually to the most influential work in literature and nonfiction (in alternate years) that fosters Ukrainian-Jewish understanding, helping solidify Ukraine's place as a multi-ethnic society and giving truth to the motto, "Our stories are incomplete without each other."

FROM ANTIQUITY TO 1914

The goal of the richly illustrated catalogue is to present an integrated narrative that looks at the experience of these two peoples together, in all its complexity — through periods of crisis, as well as long stretches of normal co-existence and multifaceted cultural interaction from antiquity to 1914.

Discover Categories:

"Centuries of Presence" compiled by Khrystyna Semeryn: Understanding your Jewish neighbor's pain

"Absolute misalliance" of the 19th century: the history of the Ukrainian-Jewish Rudnytsky family

Why Christian, Muslim, and Jewish chaplains of the Ukrainian Army met in a synagogue

"Our work in the field of memory studies must be aimed at ourselves, not Russia" — Oksana Dovhopolova

Shmuel Yosef Agnon: He who has gone through the world's fires three times

Janet Sobel (1893-1968)

Glorious anniversary uniting Israel and Ukraine

Ilya Epstein linked Ukraine, Israel, and the USA

Rose Ausländer: Poetry is never late

Joseph Roth, the great autobiography hoaxer

Ukrainian Jewish Encounter Timeline wins international recognition while countering Russian propaganda

Web Excellence Awards:

w3 Awards:

Anthem Awards:

Communicator Awards:

Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize

Download the complete 168-page book

A Journey Through the Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter

FROM ANTIQUITY TO 1914

All-Ukrainian Student's
Drawing Competition
2021/2022

Discover Categories:

Ukrainian Jewish Encounter Timeline wins international recognition while countering Russian propaganda

Web Excellence Awards:

w3 Awards:

Anthem Awards:

Communicator Awards:

Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize

Download the complete 168-page book

A Journey Through the Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter

FROM ANTIQUITY TO 1914

All-Ukrainian Student's Drawing Competition 2021/2022

All-Ukrainian Student's
Drawing Competition
2021/2022