Ukraine rabbi hopes for Passover miracle, says Israel can learn from Ukrainian unity
The remaining Jews in Kyiv held three communal Seders under fire this Passover, and did not allow the ongoing Russian attacks to interrupt their Seder services, Moshe Azman, one of Ukraine’s chief rabbis, told Kan Reshet Bet Radio, from the embattled capital on Monday morning. He said Jews in Kharkiv also held a communal Seder under fire.
Azman said that hours before Sunday’s Seder, he officiated at the funeral of a Jewish man, Zoreslav Zamoiskiy, who he said was shot dead by Russian troops in Bucha, outside the capital, where evidence of the Russian massacre of civilians has emerged since Moscow’s troops withdrew at the start of the month.
Azman, who was born in Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad), said President Vladimir Putin “has already lost the war,” and that “the only question is how much blood will be spilled” before it is over. The Russian leadership is indifferent to the loss of its soldiers’ lives, he said, and has endless supplies of weaponry.
Israel could “learn the lesson” behind Ukraine’s resilience, he said, which was the product of extraordinary “unity” among its people.
Greatly helped by volunteers, including doctors and others from Israel, he said he was focused on efforts to distribute food, medicines, and money to the neediest and most vulnerable members of the Jewish community, and beyond the community. He also said he was finalizing arrangements for a young girl who needs medical care to be brought to Israel for treatment.
He said he was also trying to help arrange for the evacuation of about 100 children from Mariupol, where he charged Russia had carried out genocide. “There are reportedly 30,000 people dead” in the port city, he said, though nobody knows for sure, and the number could be higher. Almost all of the city has been destroyed, he said.
Moshe Reuven Azman, chief rabbi of Ukraine, left, looks at preparations before Passover at the Jewish synagogue in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Asked when he thought the war would end, he said he hoped it might even be over by the end of Passover this weekend. After all, “this is the time of miracles,” he said, alluding to the Passover narrative of Israelite redemption from oppression.
In an interview with The Associated Press hours before the start of Passover on Friday, Azman said in a similar vein, “I pray to God He will make miracles, the way He made miracles for the Jewish people in Egypt.”
The Ukrainian people would like to be free of the Soviet Union, where he was born, he said. “I don’t want to go back,” he told AP.
Funeral workers lower the coffin of Zoreslav Zamoiskiy, killed by Russian troops in the town of Bucha, as Moshe Reuven Azman, chief rabbi of Ukraine stands in center, at the Jewish cemetery near Vasylkiv, Ukraine, on April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Interviewed by the AP at the cemetery where he was burying Zoreslav Zamoiskiy, the Jewish man shot dead in Bucha, Azman was asked what he thought about the Russian government’s claims of “de-Nazifying” Ukraine, the rabbi paused, then turned and indicated the grave. “This is the answer,” he said. “They killed him. And not only him.”
He said that he and colleagues had been working to get Passover food to hundreds of thousands of Jews throughout Ukraine, and sent a message to those who were unable to mark the festival because they are trapped or have no food: “We pray for you.”
“Be strong,” he added. “Believe in God.” And he wished for a “new, good world, without war.”
In the first week after the Russian invasion began, Azman issued a fiery condemnation of the Russian people, and specifically Russian Jews, for standing idly by as Moscow pummeled Ukraine.
Good Lord! Stunning and powerful words of Ukraine’s Chief Rabbi.
With ENGLISH SUBTILES.
[Special thanks for the efforts of my Ukrainian friend for transcribing this]
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— Ali ???????????? (@aliostad) March 1, 2022
“Remember that he who does not care and he who agrees silently — that is an accomplice to a crime. A war crime! A crime against humanity!” Azman said on March 2.
“I never thought, even in my worst nightmare, that I might have to perish under the shells of Russia, where I was born, where I went to school, where I have many friends, who are silent. Basically, no one has called and asked [how I’m doing]. People call from all over the world. From all over the world. Jews and non-Jews. Even Arabs call me from Israel and support me,” he said, speaking in Russian.
Ukraine’s Federation of Jewish Communities provided President Volodymyr Zelensky with a Seder kit and matzah, the Israel Hayom daily reported Sunday. It did the same for Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, whose grandmother was a Holocaust survivor, and for Jewish soldiers in the Ukrainian military.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, April 16, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
As Passover began, Zelensky posted a video message to mark the festival: “I sincerely wish all those who celebrate in Ukraine and in the world — peace, good, and the inevitable defeat of any evil that threatens freedom and life on Earth,” he said, concluding with “Chag Pesach Sameach” in Hebrew.
Happy Passover to all Jewish communities in Ukraine and around the globe celebrating. Life and freedom are Ukraine’s two most important values. Let us all be united in protecting them and bringing peace to Ukraine.
Chag Sameach!
פסח שמח!#Passover2022 #ChagSameach— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) April 15, 2022
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Friday also sent Passover greetings to Jews in Ukraine and around the world. “Life and freedom are Ukraine’s two most important values. Let us all be united in protecting them and bringing peace to Ukraine,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter. He added “Happy Passover” in Hebrew.
Judah Ari Gross and AP contributed to this article.