Voice of Ukraine

From: Kyiv Post — The Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, Moshe Reuven Azman, is a truly remarkable figure. Born in one of the capitals of the former USSR – the same city as Vladimir Putin, Leningrad – he emigrated from behind the Iron Curtain back in the 1980s and later returned, this time to Ukraine. Over the past 30 years, Azman first led the Jewish community of Kyiv, then later the broader Jewish communities across Ukraine. During Russia’s full-scale invasion, he has taken an active role in humanitarian and diplomatic missions – visiting Washington, bringing the world’s attention to the consequences of Russian aggression directly from the ground, as well as from front-line towns and places under fire. One of the Rabbi’s children was killed in the war and posthumously awarded the Order for Courage. In our interview, we discuss it all: the KGB persecution during Soviet times, the growth of the Ukrainian Jewish community, the urgent need for the world to support democratic Ukraine in its fight against totalitarian Russia, and Ukraine as a homeland for hundreds of thousands of Jews.