Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Borysovych Groysman planted a tree in the Grove of Nations in Jerusalem at a ceremony held on May 15th, 2017, and so joined the series of leaders from all over the world who have already planted a tree in the grove as a gesture of peace, cooperation and brotherhood. The ceremony took place during the prime minister’s two-day visit to Israel.
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The entourage that accompanied the Ukrainian prime minister during his visit included Minister of Education and Science Ms.Liliya Hrynevych; Deputy Prime Minister Ms. Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze; Culture Minister Mr.Yevhen Nyshchuk; Deputy Chairman of the Human Rights Committee Mr. Gueorgui Logvinski; Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Mr. Hennadii Nadolenko and Israel’s Ambassador to Ukraine Mr. Eliav Belotsercovsky. Among the hosts were Director of KKL-JNF Eurasia Mr. Yigal Yasinov, member of KKL-JNF’s Board of Directors Mr. Amir Schneider and KKL-JNF Chief of Protocol Mr. Andy Michelson.
Igal Yasinov, who presided over the event, told those present: “We have decided to conduct the ceremony in Ukrainian as an expression of our respect for the Ukrainian state and also as a gesture in memory of KKL-JNF’s first chairman, Yona Kremenezky, who was born in Odessa.”
Amir Schneider, who is a member of KKL-JNF’s Board of Directors and Chairman of KKL-JNF Eurasia, spoke at the ceremony about KKL-JNF’s varied activities for the benefit of both Israel and the rest of the world over the past 115 years of its existence as Israel’s largest green organization.
He added: “In Jewish tradition, planting a tree is the highest form of expression of friendship and respect. We plant trees in order to remember and to remain in touch with the act of creation, with our home and with our roots. The Torah says that when God created the world, He first planted a tree. His first creation was the Garden in Eden. Because of this, we are told that the first thing we must do upon arriving in Israel is to plant a tree.”
The Ukranian prime minister said in his speech at the ceremony: “I am honored to be here today in this special place, and I am honored to plant this olive tree, which is a symbol of peace and peaceful relations between our countries and our peoples. We are all well aware both of the importance of peace, and of its price. We are obliged to fight for the right to live in our homeland and maintain its territorial integrity, and for the opportunity to live in peace, tranquility and happiness. This fight is not an easy one. But I wanted to focus on what unites us – our rich shared history. May this historical cooperation bring our countries and peoples even closer together. Many things unite us, our cooperation has many rich perspectives and we must take advantage of these possibilities. I should like to thank KKL-JNF once again for this opportunity and for the great honor of planting this tree here as a symbol of peace, friendship and fruitful cooperation between us.”
The Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Borysovych Groysman was born on January 20th, 1978 in the city of Vinnytsia in the Soviet Union, which today is part of Ukraine and lies three hundred kilometers distant from Kiev, the capital. Vinnytsia is home to a Jewish community of some 5,000 people, and Prime Minister Groysman was himself born into a Jewish family, as the grandson of Holocaust survivors. In 2016, when he was still Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, he created a precedent by asking the MPs to stand for a minute’s silence on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Volodymyr Groysman has been prime minister of his country since January 2016. He is Ukraine’s first Jewish prime minister and, at thirty-eight years old, the youngest person ever to hold this office. Previously, apart from his duties as Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, he was also deputy prime minister. He has relatives in Ashdod and maintains close ties with Israel.
After the speeches and the expressions of good will, the ambassadors read the traditional Planter’s Prayer. First the Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Mr. Hennadii Nadolenko read it in Ukrainian, and then immediately afterwards Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Mr. Eliav Belotsercovsky repeated it in Hebrew.
Then it was time for all the participants to make their way to the grove, where Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman planted the olive tree. Amir Schneider presented PM Groysman with a KKL-JNF certificate of appreciation for having planted a tree in the Grove of Nations.