Israel: A priest and a rabbi prayed together for Ukraine

On the first anniversary of the Russian Federation’s full-scale war against Ukraine, mass rallies in support of Ukraine took place in Israel. Over 4,000 people, amassed by the NGO Israeli Friends of Ukraine, gathered at Habima Square in Tel Aviv.

Both Rev. Patrick Sovyak, who serves the Ukrainian Greek Catholic community in Israel, and Shmuel Asman, rabbi of the Central Brodsky Synagogue in Kyiv, who is the son of Moshe Asman, the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, shared the stage.

Father Patrick and Rabbi Shmuel said Christian and Hebrew prayers for the Ukrainians and Jews killed defending Ukraine from the Russian invasion.

Both clerics also said prayers for Ukraine's victory and her people's well-being.

During the rally, Ukrainian songs were heard, the flags of Ukraine and Israel fluttered, and Ukraine's Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk delivered a speech. Thousands of Ukraine's Israeli friends attended the event to show their support, despite the fact that downtown Tel Aviv was blocked off that morning because of the marathon.

Meanwhile, fewer than seventy people gathered that day near the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv to show their support for Putin's war.

During the pro-Ukrainian rally at Habima Square, a pro-Russian heckler demanded that the police remove a red-and-black flag hoisted above the sea of blue-and-yellow flags amidst the crowd of demonstrators. In response, the Israeli police led him out of the square.

Another meeting in support of Ukraine took place in the large port city of Haifa, where over five hundred Israelis gathered in the HaZikaron Memorial Garden opposite City Hall. Prior to the rally, a protest took place near the entrance to the building housing the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Haifa.

In the evening, City Hall was lit up in the blue-and-yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag.

The positive feedback on social media proved once again that most ordinary Israelis support Ukraine and wish it the speediest victory in the war against barbaric Russian aggression.

Videos of the prayers said in Tel Aviv:

Rev. Patrick Sovyak, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Israel, 24 February 2023, Tel Aviv

Rabbi Shmuel Asman, head of the Central Brodsky Synagogue in Kyiv and son of Moshe Asman, the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, 24 February 2023, Tel Aviv

Text: Shimon Briman (Israel).
Photos and videos: Tetiana Gur (Israeli Friends of Ukraine)
Translated from the Ukrainian by Marta D. Olynyk.