The Chief Rabbis of Israel congratulated Moshe Asman on his 60th birthday: words about the Torah, mercy, and service to people – video

On March 16, 2026, the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, Moshe Reuven Asman, published words of gratitude (in Ukrainian) to the Chief Rabbis of Israel, who congratulated him on his 60th birthday. This refers to the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi David Yosef, and the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Kalman Bar.

Moshe Asman himself wrote briefly and very personally: he sincerely thanked both rabbis for their congratulations. But the content of the video messages themselves turned out to be much broader than a formal anniversary gesture. In these words, there is recognition of many years of work, respect for his path, and an assessment of what he has done for Jewish life in Ukraine during years of peace, crisis, and war.

March 14, 2026, Moshe Reuven Asman turned 60 years old. A few days before that, a festive celebration of the anniversary took place in Kyiv. Asman 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 that Ukraine stands firm — each in their own place.

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, Acting U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Ukraine Julie Davis, 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.

What Rabbi David Yosef said

The first video featured a congratulation from Rabbi David Yosef. His address was short but very precise in tone. He called Moshe Asman his outstanding friend, a person who builds the world of Torah, and specifically emphasized his role as the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine.

The congratulation included a wish to continue “spreading the Torah, magnifying it, and strengthening it.” At the same time, Rabbi David Yosef emphasized not only the spiritual mission but also that this work continues “in these difficult days.” This emphasis is especially important because it directly links the congratulation not to an abstract date but to the reality in which the Jewish communities of Ukraine live.

He wished Moshe Aman health, longevity, joy, and new strength to go “from strength to strength.” In religious language, this formula is not just a polite congratulation. It is an acknowledgment that there is still a path ahead, still a task, still a service.

A congratulation that turned into a characterization of a whole life

The second address, delivered by Rabbi Kalman Bar, was much more detailed. It included warmth, humor, a deep religious reference, and a very personal characterization of the jubilarian himself.

Rabbi Bar began with an almost familial tone: he admitted that at first, he even thought the news of the 60th birthday was a joke because Moshe Asman, in his words, looks much younger. But after this light introduction, he moved on to the main point: the meaning of age, the significance of the years lived, and what exactly fills this life.

He recalled a Talmudic saying that reaching the age of 60 is a special milestone. But then he offered a broader meaning: not just gratitude for the years lived, but a testimony that the person was not “cut off” from his people, but on the contrary, acted for them all his life.

It was here that the congratulation ceased to be an ordinary anniversary speech. Rabbi Kalman Bar essentially defined how he sees Moshe Asman’s life: as constant service to others, as a search for new ways to help, as a practice of mercy not in words but in action.

Not just charity, but a constant search for how else to help

One of the main thoughts expressed in the congratulation concerns the very concept of chesed — mercy, kindness, helping one’s neighbor. Rabbi Bar specifically emphasized that true chesed is not only a response to an already voiced request. A truly high level is constantly thinking about what else can be done for another person.

In this context, he mentioned helping refugees, food, and spreading the Torah. That is, it was not about one direction of work, but about a whole way of life in which spiritual service is not separated from practical help to people.

Such a description is especially important in the Ukrainian context of recent years. The Jewish communities of Ukraine have experienced evacuations, humanitarian crises, and the need to literally rebuild the system of assistance in wartime conditions. Therefore, the words that Moshe Asman “thinks all his life about what else can be done for others” sound not like ritual praise but as a very concrete characteristic.

At this point, NAnews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency sees the main meaning of these congratulations: Israeli religious leaders speak of the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine not only as a spiritual authority but also as a man of action who managed to combine Torah, public service, and real help to people in difficult historical times.

Why these words are important for Israel and Ukraine

Such congratulations are significant not only for Moshe Asman’s personal biography. They also show something else: how closely religious, public, and human bridges are connected today between Israel and Jewish life in Ukraine.

When the Chief Rabbis of Israel specifically note not only knowledge, status, or position but precisely help to refugees, good deeds, devotion to the people of Israel, and many years of service to the community, it means recognizing the role of Ukrainian Jewry as part of the common Jewish space.

For the Israeli audience, this is also an important signal. In recent years, Ukraine is increasingly perceived through the prism of war, destruction, and geopolitics. But behind this, it is easy to lose sight of the people who continue to hold communities together, help families, maintain religious life, and prevent the Jewish presence from disappearing even in extraordinary conditions.

That is why the congratulation addressed to Moshe Asman goes beyond a private anniversary. It becomes a statement about values: that in Jewish tradition, not only titles are truly valued, but also the ability to live for others.

Words that summarize and simultaneously look forward

At the end of his address, Rabbi Kalman Bar quoted the thought that the Almighty loves those who love His children. This was perhaps the most emotionally powerful moment of the entire video. In this formula, there is both a blessing and gratitude, and an explanation of why the figure of Moshe Asman evokes such a warm reaction from his interlocutors.

Concluding the congratulation, he wished the jubilarian and his entire family grace, a good name, health, joy, and holy comfort from descendants. And Rabbi David Yosef, in turn, blessed him to continue his path — in good health, with longevity and new joys.

Thus, the 60th birthday of the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, Moshe Reuven Asman, became not just an anniversary date, but an occasion to once again speak aloud about his role for Jewish life in Ukraine, his connection with Israel, and that in the most difficult times, it is such figures that hold the community, memory, faith, and human dignity.

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 in the Jerusalem yeshivas “Shamir” and “Merkaz Gutnik.” Alongside his studies, he headed “Beit Chabad” for Russian-speaking Jews — that is, he worked with the environment that was then 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. This 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.

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 disrupted by war. For the Israeli reader, this story is especially recognizable: it is not about abstract religious activity, but about very concrete service — with homes, families, children, evacuation, humanitarian aid, and real risks.

Moshe Asman is a citizen of Israel and, since 2022, also of Ukraine.

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