Despite all the difficulties and limitations due to the pandemic, Kyiv Jewish Forum 2020 provides an opportunity to come together and think about issues that are important for the global Jewish community and the whole world. Thanks to the forum, these days Kyiv is becoming the center of the entire Jewish world, Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine Yaakov Dov Bleich said at KJF 2020.
“Today the world is in a situation when many things that we took for granted are either difficult to access or not available at all. At least the problems that we face, we are challenged with, they are for us to start a real spiritual analysis, for us to understand what we take for granted,” he commented.
Even more valuable, according to Dov Bleich, is the opportunity to meet at the Kyiv Jewish Forum 2020.
“After the great success of the last year's forum, we decided not to let any challenges and problems facing the world prevent us from gathering again using modern technologies,” said the chief rabbi.
As Dov Bleich noted, the Jewish community is a global community. “Today everyone will come together to discuss important issues for the global Jewish community. Via a monitor screen or being present actually in Kyiv, but Kyiv is becoming the center of the Jewish world. This is something that no one dreamed of even 40 years ago,” he stressed.
The Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine added that he thanked God for the opportunity to unite and jointly seek solutions to important problems.
As a reminder, the Kyiv Jewish Forum 2020, organized by the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine in partnership with The Jerusalem Post, was held online on September 8-9, bringing together leading politicians and public figures of Ukraine, Israel and other countries for discussions. As the President of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine Boris Lozhkin stated at the opening of the forum, Ukraine has been one of the largest centers of the world Jewry for many centuries, and today we are witnessing the revival of Jewish life in Ukraine.