In a Zoom meeting marking the eve of the Jewish new year, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky who himself is Jewish, met with leading local rabbis. Some of the rabbis participated physically in the president’s office, while others were on a video feed.

B’Chadrei Charedim reports that the meeting opened with shofar blowing by Rabbi Refael Rothman, who also presented a shofar to the president.

The rabbi blessed the gathering in honor of Rosh Hashana and the president spoke about the difficult situation regarding COVID-19 in the Ukraine which has seen a spike in infections recently.

The president expressed his fear that a huge celebration at Uman could lead to a growth in the number of people infected and could spread the disease outside the country as well.

“The Ukraine welcomes every Israeli citizen warmly like we receive anyone else. We do not say no to anyone, while strictly maintaining coronavirus restrictions,” Zelensky claimed. However Israeli travellers to Kiev’s Boryspil international airport on Tuesday reported that not every traveller was admitted to the country and some were sent back.

Zelensky also referred to the number of people who could worship in Uman on Rosh Hashana, stating that in deference to the state of Israel, the number of Israelis arriving there would be restricted to eight to ten thousand people. However the Israeli prime minister’s office issued a denial of this and claimed that the prime minister had never demanded a restriction on the number of worshipers in Uman.

Zelensky also spoke with the rabbis about recognizing Jewish festivals including Rosh Hashana as national holidays and about erecting a proper monument to the tens of thousands of Jews murdered in Babi Yar near Kiev during the Holocaust.

The physical participants in the meeting included Rabbi Moshe Moskowitz, the rabbi of Kharkov and Rabbi Moshe Reuven Asman and Rabbi Yaakov Bleich who serve as rabbis in Kiev. Zoom participants included Rabbi Shaul Horowitz the rabbi of Winitza; Rabbi Meir Stambler, the head of the Ukrainian federation; Rabbi Yosef Segal, the rabbi of Poltowa; Rabbi Bold the rabbi of Lvov; Rabbi Dan Zakuta, the rabbi of Kivograd; Rabbi Teitelbaum of Khmelnytskyi; Rabbi Glitzenstein of Chernowitz; Rabbi Levitensky of Soumi; Rabbi Salomon of Kremenzug; Rabbi Schneersohn of Rovna; Rabbi Kaminetzky of Dnieperpetrovsk; Rabbi Wilhelm of Ozgorod; and other prominent rabbis.

(Vosizneias).