American Jewish charity may be funding Mideast violence, prominent Los Angeles rabbi resigns, Duke taps Jewish coach to lead team, and Israeli bringing matzah to space station.

OUR LEAD STORY

'I am where I am supposed to be,' Rabbi Reuven Azman said at his synagogue in Ukraine. (Photo: Tim Judas)

‘We don’t have time to prepare for Passover’: Talking to a rabbi still in Kyiv

Helen, a Ukrainian writer who has remained in the country throughout the war and is not using her last name for safety reasons, tried entering Kyiv’s Brodsky Synagogue for Shabbat services last week. She was greeted by three guards wearing Kalashnikovs like backpacks. Inside, she met Rabbi Reuven Azman, one of two men who claim to be the chief rabbi of Ukraine. “I have reinforced security here because I feel I’m putting my life at risk,” Azman told her.

Rabbinic relief: Since the war began, Azman has been hosting evacuees in the synagogue and orchestrating humanitarian aid in hard-hit places across the country. He is the founder of Anatevka, the oft-reported on Jewish center named after the village in “Fiddler on the Roof.” Amidst tanks and nearby bombing, he helped hundreds evacuate.

If I were a rich man: “Using my personal bank account” is what Azman said when asked how he funds these efforts. He said he also has borrowed money to pay for buses and food – including hiring someone to cook 1,000 meals a day for area residents. Meanwhile, he said, some American Jewish charities are using his name and picture to raise money, but he has not seen any of the proceeds. “Where the money goes, I don’t know.”

Passover in a war zone: Azman is organizing Seders at his synagogue and, for those too afraid to leave home, delivering boxes of supplies. Though more than 4 million Ukrainians have fled the country since the war began on Feb. 24, Azman said he is staying put. “I am needed here to help people and to raise their spirits,” Azman said. “What would be the message if the rabbi left? I am not leaving.”

Read the story ➤

Dive deeper: Click here to read the Kyiv Diary dispatches Helen has been writing throughout the war for our friends at Moment Magazine.

TERROR IN ISRAEL

Israelis light candles Friday morning at the site of a shooting attack on Dizengoff Street. (Getty)

A shooting at a downtown Tel Aviv bar Thursday night left two people dead: Tomer Morad, 28, and Eytam Magini, 27, friends from Kfar Saba. Eight others were wounded and hospitalized. After an overnight manhunt that lasted more than eight hours, the assailant, 28-year-old Raad Hazem, was found hiding near a mosque in Jaffa and was shot dead by security forces. Read the story ➤

It is the fourth fatal terror attack within two weeks, and comes at the beginning of Ramadan, Islam’s holy month, when tensions are often heightened in the region. On Friday morning, dozens of people arrived at the scene, lighting candles and leaving bouquets of flowers. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Hazem had accomplices and vowed that they will “pay a heavy price.” Read the story ➤

Opinion | In three funerals, the real spirit of Israel is exemplified: During his years as a Knesset member and Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren went to dozens of shiva houses for victims of terror attacks. Now a private citizen, he still shows up, and finds a kaleidoscopically diverse Israel that outsiders rarely see. He recently visited the family of Yazan Falah, one of two 19-year-old police officers killed in Hadera last week. “We love this country and will continue to defend it no matter what,” Oren quotes Falah’s uncle as saying. “The terrorists are all about death. But even after this, we cherish life.” Read his essay ➤

Plus: Activists are calling to ‘globalize the intifada.’ It’s a call for death, not peace.

ALSO FROM THE FORWARD

Matzah at 18,000 feet – what it’s like to lead a Seder on Mount Everest: Mimi Zieman was a young medical student, serving as a team doctor for an expedition to summit the eastern face of Mount Everest. As the only Jewish person – and only woman – on her team, she was determined to celebrate the first night of Passover. Improvising a Seder plate with a boiled egg, a sea toast cracker in place of matzah and some blades of grass for “bitter herbs,” Zieman gathered her team in a chilly tent at Base Camp. “Everest loomed cold and large outside,” she writes, “but I was suffused with warmth connecting through a ritual that brought a sense of home to me.” Read her story ➤

Rabbi David Wolpe, Conservative star, to step down at L.A.’s Sinai Temple:He announced it on Twitter by sharing the letter he’d written to the congregation where he has served 25 years. “They have been wonderful years, filled with joys and sadnesses, with debate and discovery, but mostly with learning and with love,” Wolpe said. Nicole Guzik and Erez Sherman, the couple who currently serve as assistant rabbis at the shul, will jointly take over Wolpe’s senior position, pending approval from the board. Read the story ➤

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

🚀 Eytan Stibbe, a former Israeli fighter pilot, and three other civilians are set to launch into space at 11:17 a.m. ET today, Theirs is the first-ever trip to the International Space Station without astronauts. Stibbe is taking an ancient Jewish coin, as well as a box of matzah and grape juice so that he can observe the first night of Passover. (CNN, JTA, Chabad)

🔥 Police are trying to figure out who set multiple fires on the Upper West Side Thursday, including one that destroyed the outdoor dining structure belonging to famed Jewish deli Barney Greengrass. “Looks like someone was trying to make smoked fish, I guess!” said owner Gary Greengrass. (JTA, Eater)

🙏 And speaking of fires… When a blaze destroyed a church in Lower Manhattan, a Reform synagogue nearby offered its space for Easter services. “We have a shared base of faith in the one God who loves us all,” said the Rev. Jacqui Lewis, “and I’m just thrilled they are not only open to, but delighted to, open their doors for us.” (Religion News Service)

💰 Is a major American Jewish charity indirectly fueling violence in Israel? A group of 19 influential rabbis argues that the right-wing group, Lehava, is “helping to subsidize violent extremists.” One of the rabbis had previously filed a complaint with the IRS over a similar charity, but the case was closed without action during the Trump administration. (JTA)

🖼️ The £70 million re-opening of Scotland’s Burrell Collection, a highly regarded Glasgow museum, was supposed to be triumphant. Instead, it is mired in controversy after revelations that the museum’s founder built his collection in part by purchasing ill-gotten art from the Nazis. The museum has acknowledged this, but so far declined to identify the problematic works. (Jewish Chronicle)

🏀 Mike Krzyzewski, famously known as “Coach K,” has retired after 46 years leading Duke University’s men’s basketball team. His replacement is Jon Scheyer, 34, a Jewish Chicago native who played professional basketball in Israel and has been on Duke’s coaching staff since 2013. “Scheyer started designing plays as a kid and never really stopped,” writes Michael Rosenberg, “but in recent years he has also thought hard about human behavior, about how successful organizations are built, about time management and media relations and what makes Duke great and what it could do better.” (Sports Illustrated)

Long weekend reads ➤ Meet Sarah Knafo, the 28-year-old French Jew advising, and dating, right-wing Jewish presidential candidate Éric Zemmour … How Roman Abramovich, the Russian Jewish oligarch, is racing to save a fortune and stop the war … ‘March Madness for Jews’: Why the Sarachek tournament is such a big deal for Orthodox students.

What we’re watching this weekend ➤ Catherine Cohen’s cabaret-style comedy special on Netflix. It’s “both exhilarating and exhausting,” Dan Friedman writes in our review. “The flux of perspective and speed of delivery allows Cohen to get through stories and attitudes at a breakneck speed and with bewildering irony.”

ON THE CALENDAR

On this day in history:Henry Lewy, a record producer and sound engineer who helped define the careers of Leonard Cohen, the Mamas and the Papas, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, died on April 8, 2006. Born Heinz Lewy to Jewish parents in Magdeburg, Germany, he changed his name after his family fled to England in 1939, later moving to the U.S. Lewy’s big break came when he began working with Mitchell as she developed her second album, the first of their 13 together – he later called her “the only true genius I've ever met.” In 1982, Lewy told Music Connection the secret to his storied career: “I don’t have a big ego.”

On the Hebrew calendar, it’s the 7th of Nisan, the yahrtzeit of Dr. Moshe Wallach, the founder of Shaarei Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem.

YOUR WEEKEND READS

In this week’s edition of our print magazine: We profile a Ukrainian artist who has found new meaning in her work; the world’s greatest expert on haggadot offers advice for the Seder; a review of David Mamet’s new book; and take a dive deep into the 1980s case involving a “New York Jew” that resurfaced in the headlines this week. Get your copy now ➤

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Thanks to Nora Berman, Louis Keene, Eliya Smith and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.

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