6 | MARCH 3 • 2022 

opinion
The Hero We Didn’t Know We Needed 
V

olodymyr Zelensky 
is the hero we didn’t 
know we needed. 
In a moment we never could 
have anticipated, worldwide 
Jewry is kvelling 
over an unlike-
ly leader in an 
unlikely place. 
It is no secret 
among Jews that 
Ukraine is tra-
ditional hostile 
territory. It is a 
place our great-grandparents 
fled. It is a place where they 
were murdered in unfathom-
able numbers by both Nazis 
and Ukrainians alike. It is 
the site of Babi Yar, one of 
the bloodiest episodes in the 
annals of Jewish history during 
which, over the course of only 
two days, more than 33,000 
of our family members were 
murdered and buried in a mas-

sive ravine. It is a place many 
of my own generation left as 
children, their parents bravely 
striking out in a post-Cold 
War world for friendlier climes 
such as the U.S. or Israel that 
offered their Jewish-stamped 
offspring a less restricted 
future. 

Now we watch in awe as 
everyday Ukrainians sing the 
praises of one of our own as he 
leads them in a David-versus-
Goliath battle against Russia’s 
Bond-villain-come-to-life 
autocratic leader. 
There is no question about 
it. The past few years have 

been difficult for Jews the 
world over. Our people have 
been harassed and beaten on 
the streets. They have been 
shot in synagogues. They have 
been punched, stabbed, hit 
over the head with hammers, 
and hacked with machetes for 
the crime of walking the Earth 
a Jew. Seeing swastikas on the 
streets of America is starting to 
become old hat. 
The stress of it all has taken 
its toll. Many have felt the 
escalation of antisemitism 
harkened the next attempt at 
genocide in a history littered 
with attempts to wipe Jews 
from the world. The collective 
cortisol levels of Jews the world 
over have spiked. 
Now, as that same world 
holds its breath watching the 
almost unimaginable rebirth of 
Cold War battle lines, redrawn 

Ellen 
Ginsberg 
Simon

PURELY COMMENTARY

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continued on page 8

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visits the Western Wall in 
Jerusalem, on January 23, 2020. 

GOLDPR

