On March 30, 2025, Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine” hosted a presentation of the unique edition of the Passover Haggadah “For Our Freedom” and a screening of the animated film “Bobe Mayses” (“Grandma's Tales”).

The event was opened by the Director of the Museum, Dr. Iryna Radchenko, who told the audience about the Haggadah and its significance in the Jewish tradition. For many centuries, reading the Haggadah has been and remains a major part of the Passover holiday dinner. It so happened that earlier Ukrainian Jews conducted these readings in Hebrew or Russian. However, at the initiative of the All-Ukrainian Women's Jewish Organization “Kesher Project”, a printed version of the Haggadah in Ukrainian was created. The publication “Haggadh for Passover “For Our Freedom”” was presented by one of its editors, the regional manager of “Kesher Project”, Olena Kolpakova. In her very emotional, somewhat poignant speech, she shared with the guests of the event information about the activities of the women's project, the history of the process of working on the publication. The book was published by the publishing house “Spirit and Letter” in the spring of 2024 and is distributed free of charge in Ukrainian Jewish communities, libraries, academic communities studying Judaism, etc.

The next part of the event was the screening of the animated film “Bobe Mayses” (“Grandma’s Tales”) – an outstanding example of Ukrainian animation based on the Jewish folklore of Podillia. The author of the film, created in 1993 by the film company “MaGiKa-Film”, is Ukrainian director, animator, screenwriter Olena Kasavina. In the premiere year, “Bobe Mayses” was recognized as the best animated film of Ukraine, and in 2024, the characters of the cartoon spoke in Ukrainian – in the voice of Ada Rogovtseva. After watching the film, the participants of the event were presented with artifacts from the Funds of the Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine”, namely – original sketches of the animated film “Bobe Mayses”. Considering that the negative of the 1993 film was not preserved, but was restored from a film copy, then these sketches are unique exhibits of the Museum treasury.

The event brought together representatives of the Jewish community, educators and students, and was held in a warm, friendly atmosphere. There is still much to come. So stay tuned for announcements and see you soon!