From Son of prominent Ukrainian rabbi laid to rest after falling in combat against Russia
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Matityagi Samborsky, the son of Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman — the leader of Kyiv’s Brodsky synagogue and one of several self-declared Ukrainian “chief rabbis” — is being laid to rest after falling in combat against Russian forces.
Hundreds of people, including non-Jewish Ukrainians, attend the ceremony at the synagogue and at the gravesite. Israel’s ambassador Michael Brodsky is in attendance.
The funeral is a leading item in Ukrainian news coverage, and dozens of outlets send reporters to the synagogue. Some reports note that politicians send their sons abroad during the war while sons of leading rabbis fall in battle, according to the Federation of Jewish Communities in Ukraine.
Samborsky, 32, was adopted by Azman 22 years ago after living in a Jewish orphanage. He studied in Chabad schools in Kyiv and in a Chabad yeshiva in Dnipro.
According to the FJCU, Samborsky was drafted earlier this year as part of the country’s mandatory conscription and was killed in the Donetsk region.
His family knew his unit had been hit by a missile earlier this summer and there was no chance that anyone survived, but Samborsky’s body was only located yesterday and identified by his wife.
Samborsky’s first daughter was born in May, and he was drafted a week later.
According to the FJCU, the organization has helped bury 47 Jewish Ukrainian soldiers but estimates that at least five times that number have lost their lives.
The military funeral of Anton Matityahu Samborsky, the son of @RabbiUkraine who fell in Donetsk in July and was laid to rest today. pic.twitter.com/GXlDSHUOUz
— Lazar Berman (@Lazar_Berman) September 12, 2024
“Ukrainian Jews do not have blue blood,” says Azman. “The best of our sons are at the front against the Russian occupier in order to defend the homeland. Matityagi went to the front, fought bravely for Ukraine, for justice, and for peace, and fell a hero.
“We will not forget him and we will dedicate activities to his memory. Your death will not be in vain. We will win and remember you always!”
