Since our founding, Project Kesher has been committed to building vibrant Jewish life that reflects the history of our people, the full inclusion and leadership of women and opportunities for insight into how our traditions and rituals have meaning today.  There is almost no ritual in Jewish life that provides more opportunity for this process than the Passover seder and its text, the Haggadah.  

The word seder literally means “order” in Hebrew – and the order in which we celebrate this ritual set forth in the Project KesherUkraine Haggadah, like all haggadot, remains unchanged. But, the supplemental readings and blessings have been specifically chosen by the haggadah’s Ukrainian team to inspire the Ukrainian people as they fight for their nation’s freedom and to reclaim the accomplishments of Ukrainian Jews as uniquely their own.  

Project Kesher has a long history of inviting Jewish women and girls in Ukraine to celebrate Passover and engage with the text of the Haggadah, inspired by The Journey Continues: The Ma’yan Passover Haggadah. As that Haggadah states,

We are told that each one of us personally left Egypt, and each of us must re-experience the Exodus, telling the story of our own freedom.  When we try to do this-using our own voices, valuing our own insights, and building on the RICH texts of our evolving tradition – we create inspirational seders and participate in the transformation of Judaism.  Through this process, we can experience the blessing of being free to embrace the past as well as the future.

At a moment when Ukraine is engaged in an existential fight for its freedom, it is only fitting that a Haggadah be created – in Ukrainian - to provide Ukrainian Jews in Ukraine or gathering around the world, an opportunity to embrace their commitment to living freely, in the language of their nation. Project Kesher is confident that this Haggadah will be remembered as a turning point in Ukrainian Jewry – a statement of their fully integrated identities as Ukrainian and Jewish.  

Wartime haggadot are nothing new.  During WWII, several haggadot were created for US soldiers.  One of the best known, The Rainbow Haggadah, opens with a message from Major General Collins who writes: “My Jewish Soldiers– The celebration of Passover should have unusual significance for you at this time, for like your ancestors of old you too are now engaged in a battle against a modern Pharaoh. This Pharaoh has sought, not only to enslave your people, but to make slaves of the whole world.” Rabbi Eli Bohnen who created the Haggadah with his assistant Eli Heinberg, for use one month before Germany’s defeat wrote, “I am confident that it is the first Hebrew religious work printed in Germany since the advent of Hitler.”

With the release of the first Ukrainian language haggadah, Project Kesher proudly declares that we and Jews around the world stand with the people of Ukraine against their modern day Pharaoh, and we will share blessings for peace in Ukraine at our own seders, as you say them at yours.

Next year in Kyiv,

Karyn G. Gershon, CEO Project Kesher


haggadah Section: Introduction
Source: Гаґада "За нашу свободу"