Presidents of Ukraine and Israel Inscribe Letter in New Torah
by Faygie Levy Holt – chabad.org
For the first time in modern history—and perhaps even longer than that—two sitting wartime presidents wrote letters in a new Torah scroll that will be dedicated to peace and unity, among the Jewish people.
The scroll, which will eventually be housed in Beit Menachem Jewish Community Center in Kyiv, Ukraine, contains Hebrew letters written by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Zelensky wrote the first letter in the scroll while in his presidential bunker in Kyiv, at the beginning of the war, while Herzog completed the Torah, adding the final letter in Jerusalem.
In between, Jewish residents of Kyiv, Jewish Ukrainian soldiers, families of abducted Israelis, and terror victims and their families also had a chance to write letters in the sacred scroll.
In Kyiv, an elderly man named Vladimir, who survived the massacre of Jews at Babi Yar during the Holocaust when he was just a child, was among those who wrote a letter in the Torah. He told Chabad.org that being able to write a letter in the Torah that will be used in the synagogue he attends is particularly meaningful and shows the circle of life.
Herzog added his letter to the Torah in a ceremony recently that was attended by members of the Beilin family. Originally natives of Ukraine, the family had moved to Israel and settled in the city of Sderot. On Oct. 7, Zina Beilin went to check on her elderly mother. She was among the thousands killed by Hamas that day.
“Throughout thousands of years of exile, wherever they were in the world, the Jewish people united around the sefer Torah. Even today, we are in an especially challenging period, where the Jewish people and the Western world are defending themselves against enemies who oppose the values of truth and the desire to live in peace and tranquility,” said Herzog.
“Therefore,” he continued, “the integration of forces between the Jews of Israel and the Jewish community in Ukraine constitutes a powerful force multiplier for the survival and continuity of the Jewish people. There is nothing more moving than being a part of writing a Sefer Torah that symbolizes this special unity, especially now.”
Writing a Torah scroll is the last of the 613 commandments given to the Jewish people. The Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—encouraged people to buy a letter in a Torah as an act of Jewish unity.
Rabbi Yonatan Markovitch, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Kyiv, said, “It is a great honor for us that both distinguished presidents, representing all the citizens of their countries, saw it fit to participate and inscribe a letter in a Sefer Torah that symbolizes unity.
“When we began writing the Sefer Torah, we did not think we would be in a situation where our brothers, the people of Israel in the Holy Land, would also be under the threat of cruel war,” he continued. “The common denominator between the Jews of Israel and Ukraine is the story of Jewish heroism and resilience.”
