world
Many Jews Fast on the
Day Before Purim. Some Are
Dedicating the Ritual to Ukraine
PHILISSA CRAMER | JTA.ORG
R ussia’s war on Ukraine was
only a week old when Rabbi
Jeremy Borovitz tweeted a bold
suggestion: He called for a Jewish fast
day dedicated to Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky.

Now, Borovitz is among a growing
number of Jews who are planning to
dedicate a traditional fast this week to
Ukraine, in hopes of delivering spir-
itual strength to the forces defending
that country from Russia.

The day before Purim is known as
Ta’anit Esther, or the Fast of Esther,
when many observant Jews fast from
sunrise to sunset. It is an echo of the
fast that Esther, the heroine of the
Purim story, asked the Jews of Shushan
to observe before she petitioned the
king to save them from a murderous
villain intent on their destruction.

“Esther asked the people to fast
because she wanted through the fast-
ing of the Jewish people to give her
strength, which is, I think, a deep idea
in the Jewish tradition,” Borovitz said.

About Zelensky, he said, “This is
a Jew in the world who needs our
strength right now.”
Borovitz works with Hillel
International in Berlin as part of a rab-
binic career that he said was spurred by
his two years as a Peace Corps volun-
teer in Ukraine a decade ago.

Now, Hillel is a leading amplifier
of the call for a fast in solidarity with
Ukraine. The international group
serving Jewish college students and
young adults — its Kharkiv, Ukraine,
headquarters were heavily damaged by
Russian bombs in the war’s early days
— is urging Jews who can to refrain
from eating and drinking on March
16, and dedicate their fast to Ukraine.

The group launched a website and a
hashtag, #FastforUkraine, to galvanize
participation. “The fast of Esther reminds us as
Jews that in order to make change in
12 Hillel International is leading an effort to get Jews to turn the Fast of Esther into a day to support Ukraine.
the world, we must look inward as
well as outward,” Rabbi Ben Berger,
Hillel International’s vice president of
Jewish education, said in a statement.

“Fasting aligns our bodies, our minds,
and our spirits with the deep pain and
need present in the world, awakening
MARCH 17, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
our souls to the role we might play in
providing comfort and healing for our-
selves and for others.”
Hillel is not alone in connecting
Purim with the war in Ukraine. Moshe
Azman, one of multiple men who lay
claim to the title of chief rabbi for
Hillel Facebook
Ukraine, also called for a special fast
on March 16, Borovitz said. Last week,
the chief rabbis of Israel issued a special
call for prayer at the Western Wall just
before the fast day, saying, “The sorrow
and pain of the Jews of Ukraine touched
the hearts of all Jews around the world.”



world
And on March 14, a group of Reform
and Reconstructionist Jewish groups,
including the Union for Reform Judaism,
announced a call for a communal fast on
March 16 that would be accompanied
by a prayer service outside the Russian
Embassy in Washington, D.C.

“For more than two weeks we have
witnessed the heartbreaking suffering
of the Ukrainian people at the hands
of a leader who reminds us of Haman,
and whose effort at subjugation must
be stopped,” the groups said in a state-
ment. “In the spirit of the Batei Din,
the Rabbinic Courts of old, we call for
a Taanit Tzibbur, a Communal Fast,
to demonstrate our solidarity with the
Ukrainian people.”
A communal fast or its alternatives,
including making donations to causes
aiding Ukrainians, offers a historic
chance for Jewish groups to connect
their work with the real concerns of
the people they strive to engage, two
Jewish philanthropists argued in eJew-
ishPhilanthropy on March 14.

“Jewish organizational work needs to
connect our current lives and challenges
with Jewish wisdom and tradition,”
wrote Don Abramson, a former chair
of American Jewish World Service, and
Joe Kanfer, a former chair of Jewish
Federations of North America. “This
is a teaching opportunity to invoke
our collective memory and for Jews to
understand the significance of Purim
in a way that they likely have not in
their lifetimes.”
For Borovitz and others on the front
lines of the effort to support Ukrainian
Jews, the holiday’s significance is
already being felt viscerally: The Hillel
building where he works in Berlin has
been turned into a hostel for students
who have fled Ukraine.

Borovitz said he’s thinking not just
about the impact of the fast day on Jews
like him, but on non-Jewish Ukrainians
like the ones he got to know during his
Peace Corps stint. At least 10 of his for-
mer students are currently serving in
the Ukrainian Army, he said, adding,
“As far as I know, everyone’s alive.”
“I think that it would mean a lot
for people in Ukraine — and maybe
even for the president himself — to
know that the Jewish people are behind
them,” he said. JE
JTA’s Shira Hanau contributed reporting.

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