- March 16, 2026
- 12:14 am
- Ukraine
The jubilee of the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Moshe Reuven Asman in Kyiv turned out to be significantly more than just the birthday of a well-known religious leader. It was an evening where the biography of a Soviet Jew, who traveled from Leningrad to Jerusalem and Kyiv, the history of the revival of Jewish life in independent Ukraine, the war with Russia, the death of an adopted son at the front, support for the Ukrainian army, diplomacy, interfaith dialogue, and the living connection between Ukraine and Israel converged.
When at one event, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov, Deputy Head of the Office of the President Iryna Mudra, the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Ukraine Julie Davis, the Ambassador of Israel to Ukraine Michael Brodsky, representatives of the Ukrainian Air Force Command, National Guard, Territorial Defense Forces, Medical Forces, Military Chaplaincy, the “Azov” Corps, as well as hierarchs of Ukrainian churches, diplomats, public figures, and rabbis are present, it is no longer a private date.
This is a sign of the place Rabbi Moshe Reuven Asman occupies today in the Ukrainian, Jewish, and international agenda.
March 14, 2026, Moshe Reuven Asman turned 60 years old. A few days before that, a solemn celebration of the jubilee took place in Kyiv. Asman himself later wrote that for him it was a “very bright evening” and a rare opportunity to gather many good people who today work and serve to ensure Ukraine stands firm — each in their own place.
From Leningrad and Jerusalem to Kyiv and Anatevka
The biography of Moshe Reuven Asman itself looks like a plot for a separate book. He was born on March 14, 1966, in Leningrad. After getting married, in 1987, he moved to Israel, where he continued his religious studies at the Jerusalem yeshivas “Shamir” and “Merkaz Gutnik.” Alongside his studies, he headed the “Beit Chabad” for Russian-speaking Jews — that is, he worked with the environment that was just learning to live a Jewish life without Soviet fear and without the habit of hiding their identity.
Later, he worked as an assistant rabbi in Toronto in a direction related to Russian-speaking Jews. After completing his studies, he received the title of rabbi, and in 1991 he was sent to Ukraine. It was a special moment: the country was just entering independence, the Soviet system was collapsing, and old religious communities had to be not just revived but literally rebuilt.
Until 1995, Asman worked as the deputy director of the “Rescue of Children from the Chernobyl Zone” program. Already in the same 1995, he became the head of the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish religious community in Kyiv. In 1997, he became the Chief Rabbi of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress. He participated in the return of the Brodsky Synagogue in Kyiv, was a representative of the “Tzeirei Chabad” organization in Ukraine, and also the main representative of the World Center of Breslov Hasidim in the country.
On September 11, 2005, he was elected Chief Rabbi of Ukraine. Since then, for thousands of Jews in the country, he has become not only an official figure or head of a religious structure but also one of the symbols that Jewish life in Ukraine not only survived after the 20th century but regained its voice, institutions, schools, synagogues, communities, memory, and confidence.
Later, another important chapter was added to this path — Anatevka, a Jewish settlement near Kyiv, created as a space of life and salvation for people whose ordinary fate was crossed out by war. For the Israeli reader, this story is especially recognizable: it is not about abstract religious activity, but about very concrete service — with houses, families, children, evacuation, humanitarian aid, and real risks.
A jubilee that became a state and public event
At his jubilee evening, Asman received not only personal congratulations. In essence, the entire composition of guests showed that his figure has long become a point of intersection of different circles — religious, state, military, diplomatic, and civil.
He personally thanked for the presence and congratulations Kyrylo Budanov, Iryna Mudra, Julie Davis, Michael Brodsky, the temporary chargé d’affaires of Poland in Ukraine, the Ambassador of Argentina Elena Leticia Mikusinski, the Commander of the National Guard of Ukraine Oleksandr Pivnenko, the Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Matviy Bedny, the People’s Deputy of Ukraine Olga Vasilevska-Smaglyuk, the Commander of the Medical Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Major General of the Medical Service Anatoliy Petrovych Kazmirchuk, representatives of the Air Force Command of Ukraine, the head of the Military Chaplaincy Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Serhiy Vovkotecha, representatives of the “Azov” Corps, Deputy Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine Dr. Artem Rybchenko, representatives of the National Police of Ukraine, the representative of Metropolitan Epiphanius — priest Vitaliy Danchak, the President of the Ukrainian Center for Dialogue and Communication, a member of the Public Council of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience Abu Alrub Emad Mustafa, the head of the interfaith dialogue commission Ihor Shaban, Chancellor Mykola Sulyma, the head of the Belogorodka village council Anton Ovsiienko, the elder of the Horenychi elder district Viktor Sopivnyk, and many others.
This list of names is important not only as a protocol. It shows the scale of human and institutional connections around Asman. Here are the army, diplomacy, the Israeli direction, interfaith dialogue, local self-government, the power block, and the political center of the country.
The evening featured solemn congratulations, a festive concert, stories from the life of the jubilee, and Asman presented his autobiographical book with a personal signature to the guests. In another publication, he clarified that the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov and Deputy Head of the Office of the President Iryna Mudra presented him with an award and read a congratulation from the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.
This already takes the story out of the plane of religious chronicles to a completely different scale. When the name of the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine is mentioned in such a context — alongside the official greeting of the country’s president and representatives of the highest military-political leadership — it becomes clear that we are talking about a figure whose public weight in warring Ukraine has long exceeded the boundaries of one community.
What awards and signs of recognition he received
After the jubilee evening, there were separate posts about the awards.
Asman wrote that Deputy Minister of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine Artem Rybchenko presented him with the distinction of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky “For the Defense of Ukraine.” In another message, he thanked the Commander of the Territorial Defense Forces Ihor Plakhuta, who awarded him the “Star of the Territorial Defense Forces.”
Further, there were separate thanks to the Commander of the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Anatoliy Kryvonozhko, the Commander of the National Guard of Ukraine Oleksandr Pivnenko, the Commander of the Medical Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Anatoliy Kazmirchuk, the Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Hennadiy Shapovalov. That is, it was not about a one-time courtesy on the occasion of the jubilee. It is evident that a significant part of the Ukrainian military command perceives Asman as a person whose participation in the life of the country truly deserves separate respect.
For the Israeli audience and for readers of NAnews — Israel News| Nikk.Agency this is especially important. Against the backdrop of war, constant discussions about alliances, moral positions, and aid to Ukraine, we have an example of a person who did not distance himself and did not hide in a religious tower, but found himself inside the living, heavy, sometimes very painful history of modern Ukraine.
Asman during the war since 2022
The full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine became a moment for Moshe Reuven Asman when his role as a religious leader turned into the role of a public and humanitarian leader of a warring country. Already in the first days of the war, he addressed the Russians, the Jews of Russia, and the rabbis, urging them not to remain silent and to do everything possible to stop the war. Asman spoke directly: peaceful people are dying in Ukraine, cities are being hit, and silence in such a situation means complicity.
He himself remained in Kyiv alongside his community. The Brodsky Central Synagogue and the structures working around it quickly became one of the volunteer centers for helping people caught in the epicenter of the war. In the first months of the invasion, a large-scale evacuation of civilians began through the humanitarian channels he organized. Through the southern direction, including through Moldova, tens of thousands of people were evacuated — the elderly, women with children, the sick, and those urgently needing medical assistance.
In parallel, a large humanitarian effort was deployed. Volunteers and community staff distributed food, medicine, generators, warm clothing, and equipment for hospitals across the country. Field kitchens operated, aid points for displaced persons were opened, medical consultations were organized, and support was provided to families who lost their homes. Over time, this work turned into a permanent system of assistance: thousands of people regularly received food, medical support, and basic necessities needed for life during the war.
Asman is also engaged in international support for Ukraine. He travels to the USA, meets with politicians, public leaders, and representatives of Jewish organizations, seeking humanitarian aid and support for Ukrainian hospitals. Through these contacts, medical equipment, generators, air conditioners for hospitals, and other equipment necessary for treating the wounded and operating medical institutions were delivered to the country.
In the summer of 2023, the rabbi personally went to Kherson to help evacuate people after the Kakhovka HPP was blown up. During the rescue operation, the area came under Russian shelling, and Asman found himself under fire along with volunteers and rescuers. This episode finally secured his reputation as a person who, during the war, does not limit himself to statements and humanitarian fundraising but personally participates in saving people.
For this activity, he received state recognition. On June 27, 2025, by decree of the President of Ukraine, Moshe Reuven Asman was awarded the Order of Merit, II degree. On July 15, 2025, the award was officially presented to him.
Personal pain without which this jubilee cannot be understood
If you write about Asman’s jubilee as a beautiful public event and stop only at the list of guests, you will get too smooth a text. And his story is not smooth at all.
In September 2024, Kyiv said goodbye to Matityahu Samborsky — the adopted son of the rabbi. According to open reports, he went missing on July 24 during hostilities, and later his death was confirmed. In Asman’s family, he lived after adoption from 2002 for about ten years, and as he grew up, he decided to live independently. On September 12, a solemn funeral was held for him in Kyiv.
For the Ukrainian and Jewish communities, this became one of those episodes after which the words “Chief Rabbi of Ukraine” can no longer be perceived formally. This is not a cabinet figure, not a person from a safe distance, and not only a participant in public ceremonies. This is a father whose family paid its own price in the war against the Russian invasion.
There is another family detail that also says a lot about the environment in which this family lives. In August 2017, Asman’s son Mendel provided first aid to a passerby who was hit by a Bentley driven by the son of Nestor Shufrych. Before the ambulance arrived, Mendel managed to take a special medical backpack from the synagogue’s security and do what was needed. He acquired these skills during his service in the Israeli army.
The detail seems private. But it is precisely such details that make up the real portrait of the family: the connection with Israel is not decorative but lived; responsibility is not in words; religious life is not separated from the skills to act in a critical moment.
Biographical references about the rabbi indicate that he has 12 children and 20 grandchildren. And if you look at this number not formally, but through Asman’s entire path, it becomes clear: we are talking about a large family that lives between tradition, Israel, Ukraine, war, service, and constant public openness.
Why the number 60 sounds especially in this story
In the texts dedicated to Asman’s jubilee, not only an official or secular tone was heard. There was another important line — the Jewish explanation of the meaning of this date.
In the congratulatory text distributed for the jubilee, the rabbi was spoken of as a shaliach — an emissary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson in Ukraine. It was recalled that for thousands of Jews, he became not just a rabbi, but a mentor, an example, and a life guide.
In the same text, two maisehs — Hasidic stories — were used. The first is associated with the Baal Shem Tov: how to understand that a person truly serves the Almighty? If after meeting him, others have more light in their eyes, more faith in their hearts, and more goodness in their hands. The second story is about a leader who walks through the forest at night with a lantern: you can shine under your feet so as not to fall yourself, or you can raise the light higher — and then hundreds of people following will see the path.
These plots were used not as beautiful decorations but as an attempt to describe Asman himself. The logic is simple: for decades, he “raised the lantern above his head,” building communities, schools, synagogues, returning Jewish identity to people, and staying close to the people of Ukraine in the darkest periods of its history.
The reference to the number 60 sounded especially strong. In Jewish tradition, there is the principle of “batel b’shishim” — if the negative falls into something good, exceeding it sixty times, the negative kind of dissolves and ceases to define the overall essence. In the jubilee context, this was interpreted as: the light that Asman spread over these 60 years turned out to be so strong that it knows how to dissolve the darkness around it and turn it into a blessing.
There was also another thought: 60 years is not a result, but a milestone after which a person moves from working on themselves to working for the world with new strength. For religious language, this is a natural formula. But in a public sense, it sounds accurate: Asman’s current jubilee in Kyiv was perceived not as a ceremony of summing up, but as confirmation that his role continues.
Exhibition, books, and a circle of congratulations from Ukraine, Israel, and the West
Alongside the jubilee events, a photo exhibition “Path of Service: Life and Activities of Rabbi Moshe Reuven Asman” opened in Kyiv. It was organized by artist Albert Feldman. Asman wrote that he was very touched and did not expect such a deep story about his own path, told through archival and modern photographs. He called the exhibition a real journey through the time of his life.
For this gift to the jubilee, he separately thanked Albert Feldman and the Sholom Aleichem Foundation. According to him, the exhibition became an unexpected gift that inspires to multiply good deeds and do even more — as much as strength allows.
The literary trace of this path is also important. Among Asman’s works are mentioned the books “Kabbalah, Answers to Unasked Questions” and “Line of Life.” And at the jubilee evening, he gave guests his autobiographical book “Between Miracle and Reality” with a personal blessing and signature. The very title of the book today reads almost like a formula of his biography: between miracle and reality, between faith and war, between tradition and the state, between Kyiv and Jerusalem.
The circle of congratulations he then published on his social networks deserves special attention. Asman thanked Boris Johnson, calling him a great friend of Ukraine and Israel. Separately — Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, who, according to him, helps the Ukrainian Ministry of Veterans Affairs establish cooperation with U.S. hospitals for the treatment of Ukraine’s defenders. He thanked Congressman Seth Moulton, Pastor Mark Burns, Congressman Pete Sessions, who presented him with an American flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol on February 24, 2022 — the day of the full-scale Russian invasion.
No less indicative is the interfaith block of congratulations. Asman thanked Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv and All Ukraine, as well as the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Sviatoslav Shevchuk. Against the backdrop of the war and Moscow’s attempts to tear Ukraine apart along linguistic, religious, and historical seams, such gestures acquire special weight. They indicate that the Jewish religious leader today is not isolated within his own environment but is included in a broad Ukrainian moral and public conversation.
At the end of this long jubilee week, Asman also addressed ordinary people, writing that many ask how they can congratulate him. Therefore, he left details to do even more good deeds together. This is also a characteristic touch: translating a personal holiday into the language of public benefit, charity, and continuation of work.
Why this story is important specifically for the Israeli reader
Israel often looks at Ukraine through front-line reports, diplomatic misunderstandings, questions of weapons, air defense, Iran, and international balances. But the story of Moshe Reuven Asman’s jubilee shows another level of connection.
Before us is a person who emerged from the Soviet space, went through the Israeli school, served the Russian-speaking Jewry, built Jewish life in Ukraine, helped those affected by the Russian invasion, lost an adopted son in this war, maintained influence in the military, diplomatic, and religious spheres, and at the same time remained a figure in a deeply Jewish conversation about light, service, shlichut, and blessing.
Therefore, Asman’s jubilee is not just “news about a rabbi.” It is news about how living Jewish history looks in Kyiv today. And about how the connection between Ukraine and Israel passes not only through official visits or the words of diplomats but through people who for decades stand between the community, the country, the war, and hope.
In the dry residue, this jubilee gathered around one figure an astonishingly wide circle of names and meanings: Budanov, Mudra, Davis, Brodsky, Mikusinski, Pivnenko, Bedny, Vasilevska-Smaglyuk, Kazmirchuk, Vovkotecha, Rybchenko, Danchak, Abu Alrub Emad Mustafa, Shaban, Sulyma, Ovsiienko, Sopivnyk, Plakhuta, Kryvonozhko, Shapovalov, Johnson, Kaptur, Moulton, Sessions, Burns, Epiphanius, Shevchuk, Feldman.
And behind all this — is Moshe Reuven Asman himself, a person who was once sent as a shaliach, and in the end, he became not only a rabbi for thousands of people in Ukraine but also a point of support.
