Apparently, even when you’re the president of Ukraine, you can’t avoid this classic Jewish mom question.
In a recent interview, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, 45, revealed that his parents are safe and still in Ukraine — and that his mom, Rymma Zelenska, a former engineer, worries about her son a great deal. Every time they talk, he recounted, she asks him the following question: “Did you eat?”
Zelenskyi told where his parents are and shared a touching dialogue
"My parents understand everyone and everyone knows. They stay here, in Ukraine, at home. Only my mother worries about me, she still asks me the question every time: "Did I eat?" – says the politician with a… pic.twitter.com/PM5y0xnFzt
— Lew Anno Suport#Israel #Ukraine 24/2-22 (@anno1540) April 29, 2023
As a Jewish mom who is also a Jewish daughter, this one question is worth at least 180 words. It’s a way to say I worry, I am thinking of you, I want to make sure you’re taking care of yourself — a way to allude that if you didn’t eat, maybe there’s something I, your Jewish mother, can make you, and hey, I have some noshes in my fridge (and maybe I can get them to your fridge?). But most importantly, it’s a way to say I love you.
One thing is for sure: Rymma raised an incredible Jewish man who is himself a loving, devoted Jewish father. In fact, during that same interview from last week, he showed the journalist his screensaver, which is a photo of his two kids. Such a Jewish dad move! Rymma, of course, isn’t the only Jewish mother currently supporting Zelensky and his efforts — both Mila Kunis and Barbra Streisand are behind him and the Ukrainian nation.
Anyway, we, too, really hope that Zelensky eats! He has an entire nation to take care of, after all.
