Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s charismatic Jewish leader is being admired around the world for refusing to back down in the face of seemingly impossible odds — Russia’s aggression against a sovereign nation of 40 million people — and he is fighting in the streets with his people against the Russian invaders.

More than a million of Ukraine’s Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, and in 1941, 33,000 Jews were executed and left in ravines filled with bodies at Babyn Yar, outside the Ukrainian city of Kyiv. But now, a Jew has risen to the most prominent and powerful political position, and is being lauded by the world as a paragon of courage and hope. As Jeff Salkin wrote for Religion News Service, “Never before in modern history have the world’s eyes so clearly focused on a Jew, who is demonstrating a mix of character, patriotism and sheer courage.”