Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a speech he gave to foreign diplomats, quoted the Psalms of King David – referring to the situation in Ukraine.
Zelensky read a few verses from chapter 4: “And you, O Lord, protect me in my honor and lift up my head: I will call to the Lord my voice and he will answer me… I will not see strife with those around me who have drunk on me” and said: “We have been standing against evil for almost a year. We are united as never before We have been together for years. We are brave – our warriors have struck down evil on the battlefield. Did it only happen because of people’s efforts – or did God hear our prayers?”
The president’s very unusual use of Jewish sources doesn’t come just like that: the source of the surprising quote is related to the festive gift the Jewish president received a few days ago on the occasion of his 45th birthday (the Hebrew date is today, 16th of Shebat and the foreign date was specified a few days ago): Vol. The first of the Book of Psalms translated into the Ukrainian language, in a leather cover, with an engraving of his full name “Zelensky Volodymyr Alexandrovich”. The gift was given to him in his last meeting with his friend Rabbi Raphael Rotman, rabbi of Kyiv and chairman of the “Federation of Jewish Communities in Ukraine”, a few days ago.
Rabbi Meir Stambler, Chabad emissary and chairman of the “Federation”, explains the background behind the translation: “As you know, starting in 2014 after the invasion of Crimea and especially in light of the current war with Russia, many of the country’s residents boycott or have stopped using Russian and use the Ukrainian language. Because of this, a problem arose when many Jews decided not to use even holy books translated into Russian. About a year ago, shortly before the outbreak of the war, we held a meeting between the members of the ‘Federation of Communities’ and the rabbis of the Chabad cities and the president. He was happy to hear from us about the desire to translate the Book of Psalms into Ukrainian and said that he would be happy to receive a copy when it comes to fruition.”
Despite the great difficulty, the employees of the “Federation of Jewish Communities in Ukraine” worked in recent months to translate the holy book into Ukrainian, together with the Jewish community in Dnipro led by the city’s emissary and chief rabbi, Rabbi Shmuel Kaminecki.
As mentioned, the first copy was presented to the president by his friend Rabbi Rothman and he was very moved by the gesture.
According to Alina Teplitsky, CEO of the “Federation” which is the umbrella organization that is responsible for the 180 Jewish communities in Ukraine: “We are currently working on a full translation of the entire Bible and basic Jewish textbooks into Ukrainian in order to distribute them to all synagogues and Jewish schools in the country and will be designated For every Jew, wherever he is.”