3,000 kilometers separate Jerusalem and Kyiv. And that distance is probably why most Israelis don’t know how much their normal everyday life is already connected to Ukraine, or how much of what they take for granted actually depends on peace and stability in Ukraine.
Those who think a large-scale Russian war against Ukraine cannot affect Israel are very much mistaken. This is why.
Born in Ukraine, Anna Zharova moved to Israel 22 years ago. Like many new immigrants, she focused on learning Hebrew, making new friends and integrating into Israeli society — and naturally lost interest in what was happening in her country of birth.
That all changed eight years ago when Russia invaded and annexed the Crimean Peninsula, sparking the most serious East-West crisis since the Cold War.
"When that happened, I said: I can no longer stand on the side," recounts the 41-year-old, "and I have remained active ever since."
"We need to remove all our ambitions, and do everything to prevent war. I beg you", Rabbi Moshe Azman says, addressing the Russian president One of Ukraine’s most prominent Jewish leaders stood in the snow...
Jeremy Borovitz, the son of a New Jersey rabbi, is a young American Jew who once worked in Ukraine, where he created a special video in the Ukrainian language as a sign of solidarity with...
As the daughter of Soviet Jewish immigrants, I used to call myself ‘Russian’—but a trip to Kyiv offered me a new perspective, and a new language
It was our last day in Kyiv. Soon I would return to the life I had always known in New York before moving to Ukraine three months prior — but on that day, rather than seek respite from the smoldering heat, my partner and I were in the Jewish section of the city's municipal cemetery, navigating a small jungle of poison ivy in a last-ditch effort to find my great-grandparents' graves.
[Editor's note: "Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize" ™ was inaugurated in 2020 with the goal of building on the common experiences of Ukrainians and Jews over the centuries, expressed in the written word. The prize...
[Editor's note: "Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize" ™ was inaugurated in 2020 with the goal of building on the common experiences of Ukrainians and Jews over the centuries, expressed in the written word. The prize...
Why did the Holocaust topic surface at the earliest stage of the establishment of relations between Israel and Ukraine, and how did the fiftieth anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy become the first test of...
Guido Hausmann is head of the History Division of the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies Regensburg and professor of History of Southeast and Eastern Europe at the University of Regensburg (Germany). He...
On 6–9 July 2021, Chernivtsi was the site of events dedicated to the eightieth anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust in Bukovyna. Joel Lion, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel to...
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.
Since its launch in September 2022, the UJE Timeline has earned international recognition by winning eight international awards:
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."
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.
