Moshe Reuven Azman
Leningrad-born, Chabad-ordained rabbi of Kyiv's Brodsky Synagogue, elected "chief rabbi of Ukraine" in 2005 by bodies headed by Vadim Rabinovich; founder of Anatevka
| Moshe Reuven Azman
| |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 March 1966 (his office and NAnews; he gave 1965 in a 2025 interview) Leningrad, Soviet Union |
| Occupation | Rabbi |
| Known for | Rabbi of the Brodsky Synagogue, Kyiv; claimant to the title "chief rabbi of Ukraine"; founder of Anatevka |
| Children | 12 (NAnews, 2026), including an adopted son killed in action in 2024 |
| Education | Rabbinic ordination in Israel under Rabbi Yekusiel Farkash; yeshivas Shamir and Merkaz Gutnik, Jerusalem |
Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman (also spelled Asman; born 1966 in Leningrad) is a Chabad-ordained rabbi who has led the community of the Brodsky Synagogue in Kyiv since 1995.[1][2] On 11 September 2005 he was elected "chief rabbi of Ukraine" by two lay bodies headed by Vadim Rabinovich, the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress and the United Jewish Community of Ukraine. Most of the country's rabbis, led by the Chabad Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine, rejected the election. JTA reported that Azman was "a Chabad-ordained rabbi but not a member of the federation".[3] He has competed for the title since then with Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich.[4] In 2015 he founded Anatevka, a compound near Kyiv for Jews displaced from the Donbas. Through its US arm, American Friends of Anatevka, he became linked to Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman and Rudy Giuliani.[5][6] Since the Russian invasion of 2022 the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter has called him "one of Ukraine's most vocal advocates", and in 2025 President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded him the Order of Merit, Second Class.[7][8]
Early life and training
His office says he was born in Leningrad in 1966 and was "an active participant in the refusenik movement". In 1987 he received permission to leave for Israel, "where he received Smicha (rabbinical ordination) under Rabbi Yekusiel Farkash, volunteered in the IDF, and worked to help Russian-Jewish immigrants" (Chabad-side; self-published).[1] A profile in NAnews, published for his 60th birthday, gives his date of birth as 14 March 1966 and says he studied at the Jerusalem yeshivas "Shamir" and "Merkaz Gutnik", headed a "Beit Chabad" for Russian-speaking Jews and worked as an assistant rabbi in Toronto.[9] In a 2025 interview with the Kyiv Post he said: "I was born in 1965 in Leningrad, the same town where Putin was born", and that the KGB "investigated me because I didn't agree with Soviet lies".[2]
His year of birth is given as 1966 by his office, by NAnews (14 March 1966) and, by implication, by JTA, which gave his age as 39 in October 2005. He gave 1965 in the 2025 Kyiv Post interview. The date of his arrival in Ukraine also differs: NAnews says he "was sent to Ukraine" in 1991 and was deputy director of the Chernobyl children's programme until 1995; his office and the Kyiv Post interview give 1995 for his move to Kyiv.[9][3][2]
Kyiv and the Brodsky Synagogue
His office says that he took part in "Chabad's Children of Chernobyl", the Lubavitcher Rebbe's programme to take children from the affected areas to Israel. "In 1995, Rabbi Azman moved to Kyiv and founded a synagogue in one of the rooms in the grand Brodsky Choral Synagogue, which had been turned into a puppet theater during the Soviet period", until "the government granted the entire synagogue to the Jewish community" (Chabad-side).[1] NAnews says he became head of the Chabad-Lubavitch community in Kyiv in 1995 and "In 1997, he became the Chief Rabbi of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress"; it also describes him as a representative of "Tzeirei Chabad" in Ukraine and "the main representative of the World Center of Breslov Hasidim in the country".[9]
Relations with Chabad's official structures. Azman is a Chabad rabbi, but sources describe him as working outside the movement's official network in Ukraine:
- JTA, 2005: "a Chabad-ordained rabbi but not a member of the federation".[3]
- World Jewish Congress, 2005: "Unlike other Orthodox rabbis, Azman, who is Russian-born, is not affiliated with the Chabad-led federation and for years has received support from Vadim Rabinovich".[10]
- JTA (Cnaan Liphshiz), 2016: "A maverick rabbi who remained influential here even when he broke with the official institutions of the Chabad movement over a contractual dispute".[11]
- His son Yossi Azman, 2020: his father "is the chief rabbi of Kyiv, although not an official representative of the Chabad movement".[5]
- A congratulatory text for his 60th birthday in 2026 called him a shaliach, an emissary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Ukraine (Chabad-side).[9]
JTA's 2005 report remains the clearest source: Azman was Chabad-ordained but not a member of the federation; he was elected by two bodies headed by Vadim Rabinovich; and the federation's own candidate was Azriel Haikin, proclaimed in 2003. He has, however, appeared at federation events: in July 2025 Anash.org listed "Chief Rabbi Moshe Azman" among those at a meeting with the US envoy Keith Kellogg that was "initiated by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine", and said that Azman blessed the envoy.[3][12]
The 2005 election and the chief rabbi dispute
JTA reported in October 2005: "One country, three chief rabbis: Such is Ukraine following Moshe Reuven Azman's election to the post." Critics, "who include most of the country's rabbis and dozens of secular activists", said the 11 September vote "was primarily intended to increase media magnate Vadim Rabinovich's influence over President Viktor Yuschenko". Azman "technically was elected as chief rabbi of only two Jewish organizations in Ukraine, the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress and the United Jewish Community of Ukraine. Both are headed by Rabinovich."[3]
- "Three dozen Chabad rabbis representing the Federation of Jewish Communities" called the election "illegitimate" and "insulting to the feelings of every believer". The federation's spokesman called it "nonsense".[3]
- Some 150 secular Jewish leaders from 100 towns also protested.[3]
- Azman said: "I consider this an honor to be a rabbi of all the Jews, but not a rabbi of all the rabbis in Ukraine."[3]
- Rabinovich, who "long has supported Azman and his congregation", said the election was needed because "Azman is a real spiritual Jewish leader of all Ukraine".[3]
- During the Orange Revolution of 2004, Azman opened the Brodsky Synagogue to protesters. After Yushchenko won, he lit Chanukah candles there with Azman and Rabinovich, whereas "most federation rabbis backed Yuschenko's rival".[3] The Forward reported that Yushchenko "named Azman as his liaison to Ukraine's Jewish community".[4]
- In 2021 JTA wrote that Azman's claim "is disputed, including by the World Jewish Congress", and that Bleich was "the only one recognized as such by the World Jewish Congress and the European Jewish Congress".[6]
- In 2022 the Forward concluded that "Eighteen years after his election was disputed, it seems that Azman – putting his life at risk – has solidified his standing as the country's chief rabbi."[4]
Ukrainian media now commonly call him "Chief Rabbi of Ukraine".[13][8] See Chabad and Ukraine for the wider dispute.
Anatevka
In 2015 Azman began building Anatevka, a gated compound near the village of Hnativka, south-west of Kyiv, for Jews displaced by the war in the Donbas.[14] Its population has been disputed: Azman has claimed about 150 residents, while residents quoted by Bloomberg put the number at about 65.[15] In 2016 he told JTA: "I'm in debt to my eyeballs, but I'm not afraid because this is God's mission."[11] See Anatevka for details.
Giuliani, Parnas and Fruman
American Friends of Anatevka, the compound's US fundraising arm, was set up in October 2017 by Igor Fruman together with Azman, and Lev Parnas was reportedly a board member.[5] According to JTA, citing OCCRP, Rudy Giuliani "was slated to deliver a paid speech at a fundraiser for Azman's Anatevka project in May 2019". When the trip was cancelled, Azman met Giuliani in Paris and "presented Giuliani with a giant novelty key declaring him 'honorary mayor of Anatevka'". JTA called Azman "a staunch Trump supporter".[6][5] On 6 January 2021 Azman posted that the "Maidan has begun in the USA". Bleich responded: "Rabbi Azman is voicing his own opinion".[6]
Legal status. Fruman pleaded guilty to a campaign-finance offence. Parnas was convicted by a jury in October 2021 and also pleaded guilty to wire-fraud conspiracy; he was sentenced to 20 months in prison in June 2022.[16] No charges against Azman, Anatevka or American Friends of Anatevka were found. See Anatevka and Chabad and Trump.
Since 2022
After the Russian invasion he stayed in Kyiv. In March 2022 he said in a video: "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!"[4] He told the Forward in April 2022: "I was born in Russia, I went to school there, and I have many friends in Russia who are silent."[17] The Ukrainian Jewish Encounter wrote in 2024 that he "has become one of Ukraine's most vocal advocates. He has lobbied world leaders — political, religious, and civic — in support of Ukraine", had "delivered humanitarian aid and military supplies", and that the Brodsky Synagogue "has been a refuge for people of all faiths".[7]
His son. His adopted son, Matisyahu (Moty, Anton) Samborskyi, was drafted a week after his daughter's birth in May 2024. He went missing in battle on 24 July 2024, and his death was confirmed soon after. A memorial service was held at the Brodsky Synagogue on 12 September 2024, attended by Israel's ambassador, Michael Brodsky.[7] Azman told the Kyiv Post in 2025 that his son had been posthumously awarded the Order for Courage.[2]
Contacts with the Trump administration. In 2025 he organised a visit to Ukraine by Pastor Mark Burns, a member of Trump's spiritual advisory board, and then made an advocacy trip to Washington, where he met the director and staff of the Heritage Foundation and spoke informally with Steve Witkoff. He told RBC-Ukraine: "It never hurts to say thank you; it's better to overthank than underthank ... thank you to Donald Trump for giving the Javelins ... thank you to Elon Musk, who gave the Starlinks."[8] In July 2025 he attended the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine's meeting with Keith Kellogg at Babyn Yar.[12]
State honours. His office says Viktor Yushchenko awarded him an Order of Merit in 2009.[1] President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded him the Order of Merit, Second Class, in 2025; NAnews gives the decree date as 27 June 2025 and the presentation as 15 July 2025.[8][9] In March 2026, at his 60th-birthday event, the head of the President's Office, Kyrylo Budanov, and his deputy presented him with a further award and read a message from Zelensky.[13]
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1966 | Born in Leningrad (1965 by his own 2025 account) |
| 1987 | Leaves the USSR for Israel |
| 1995 | Moves to Kyiv; founds a synagogue in a room of the Brodsky Synagogue |
| 11 September 2005 | Elected "chief rabbi of Ukraine" by bodies headed by Vadim Rabinovich; federation rabbis call it "illegitimate" |
| 2009 | Order of Merit from President Yushchenko |
| 2015 | Founds Anatevka |
| October 2017 | American Friends of Anatevka set up with Igor Fruman |
| May 2019 | Meets Rudy Giuliani in Paris |
| 6 January 2021 | Posts support for the storming of the US Capitol |
| July 2024 | Adopted son killed in action |
| July 2025 | Order of Merit, Second Class, from President Zelensky; attends Kellogg meeting |
| March 2026 | 60th-birthday event; award presented on Zelensky's behalf |
See also
- Anatevka
- American Friends of Anatevka
- Chabad and Ukraine
- Chabad Lubavitch of Ukraine
- Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine
- United Jewish Community of Ukraine
- Chabad and Trump
- Uman
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Rabbi Moshe Azman", Office of the Chief Rabbi (Azman's office), consulted 20 October 2026. Chabad-side; self-published.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Sergii Kostezh, "Ukraine's Chief Rabbi's Thoughts on KGB, War, Russian Myths and Ukraine", Kyiv Post, 20 May 2025. Interview.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 "In Ukraine, dueling chief rabbis", Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 24 October 2005.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Jacob Kornbluh, "Meet the two men who claim to be chief rabbi of Ukraine", The Forward, 3 March 2022.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Simona Weinglass, "Inside Anatevka, the curious Chabad hamlet in Ukraine where Giuliani is 'mayor'", The Times of Israel, 31 January 2020. Critical/investigative.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "One of Ukraine's chief rabbis endorses siege of US Capitol by Trump supporters", Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 6 January 2021. Critical; cites OCCRP.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Natalia A. Feduschak, "Ukrainian Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman's adopted son laid to rest in Kyiv", Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, 12 September 2024.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Milan Lelich and Oleksandra Bashchenko, "Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Moshe Azman: It never hurts to say thank you to Americans", RBC-Ukraine, 21 July 2025. Interview.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 "60 years of Moshe Asman: the anniversary of the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine gathered military personnel, diplomats, spiritual leaders, and friends", NAnews editorial team, NAnews (Israel), 16 March 2026. Friendly profile.
- ↑ "Dispute in Ukraine over election of new chief rabbi", World Jewish Congress, 20 September 2005.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Cnaan Liphshiz (JTA), "In real-life Anatevka, Ukraine's Jewish refugees cling to tradition", The Times of Israel, 29 March 2016.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Trump Sends Ukraine Envoy to Hear from Shluchim", Anash.org, 17 July 2025. Chabad-side.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Moshe Azman receives award and congratulations from President of Ukraine on occasion of his 60th birthday", Interfax-Ukraine, 12 March 2026.
- ↑ JTA, "Named for Fiddler on Roof's Anatevka, new village to house Ukraine Jewish refugees", The Times of Israel, 9 August 2015.
- ↑ Sam Sokol, "Displaced by a brutal war, Ukraine's Jews start life anew", The Times of Israel, 26 January 2020. Cites Bloomberg (2019).
- ↑ US Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, "Lev Parnas Sentenced To 20 Months In Prison For Campaign Finance, Wire Fraud, And False Statements Offenses", 29 June 2022. Primary source.
- ↑ Helen Chervitz, interview with Rabbi Reuven Azman, The Forward, 8 April 2022. Interview.