“There is a law that says: ‘If someone comes to kill you — rise and strike first.’ That is the essential principle. Defending your country is therefore a commandment of God. There is also another commandment — do not cross another’s boundary. It is written in the Torah, in the Bible. Those who invaded violated that commandment. And those who defend Ukraine today — the soldiers of the Armed Forces — are, in this sense, the hands of God carrying out the commandment: not murder, but the destruction of an aggressor.” — Rabbi Yakov Sinyakov

“There is a law that says: ‘If someone comes to kill you — rise and strike first.’ That is the essential principle. Defending your country is therefore a commandment of God. There is also another commandment — do not cross another’s boundary. It is written in the Torah, in the Bible. Those who invaded violated that commandment. And those who defend Ukraine today — the soldiers of the Armed Forces — are, in this sense, the hands of God carrying out the commandment: not murder, but the destruction of an aggressor.” — Rabbi Yakov Sinyakov

Who Rabbi Yakov Is — and Why People Listen to Him Beyond Religion

The video interview released by the Ukrainian channel Podrobytsi does not sound like a discussion about religion. It feels closer to a frontline conversation — stripped of rhetoric, without theatrical heroism, spoken by someone accustomed to calling things by their real names.

Rabbi Yakov Sinyakov became the first officially recognized Orthodox Jewish chaplain in the history of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. His path into the military began shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. Together with his wife, he initially helped refugees in Dnipro. Gradually, volunteer work turned into constant travel along frontline regions, meeting units deployed across different directions of the war.

In 2025, at the invitation of Brigadier General Yevhen Lasiychuk, he formally joined the military and became head of the chaplaincy service of the 7th Air Assault Corps. This detail matters: he is not an occasional visitor. He is embedded within the military structure, living alongside soldiers — which explains the tone of the interview. There is no outsider’s perspective on war here.

Rabbi Yakov repeatedly returns to the original meaning of the word rabbi: not merely a religious official, but a teacher — someone who helps people hold themselves together when everything around them begins to collapse.

On the front line, a chaplain often becomes less a religious figure and more a human necessity. Soldiers come from different backgrounds — believers, atheists, Orthodox Christians, Catholics, or people unsure of faith altogether. Yet when someone listens without judgment and helps restore meaning, denominational differences quickly fade.

He puts it simply: God is one, Ukraine is one, and many barriers between people exist mainly in human perception — built from fear, exhaustion, and the habit of dividing the world into “us” and “them.”

War Without Romance: Logistics, Order, and Reality

One of the first observations he makes sounds almost technical: in war, logistics and communication matter more than slogans.

Not speeches. Not heroic narratives. But functioning communication lines, reliable supply chains, and support structures that work on time.

Without them, heroism merely fills endless gaps.

From this comes one of his central ideas: war represents maximum chaos, and surviving chaos requires maximum order. For him, the army becomes the structural foundation of the state itself. His formulation is blunt — without an army, there is no state.

Choosing a Position: Neutrality, Corruption, and Moral Responsibility

Perhaps the most controversial part of the conversation concerns neutrality.

Rabbi Yakov argues that neutrality during existential crises becomes a moral trap — an attempt to avoid responsibility. He recalls the well-known idea that the hottest circles of hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis.

Choosing a position, he says, is not only ethically necessary but psychologically stabilizing. A person understands who they are and where they stand.

The discussion then turns to corruption — a topic often used to justify apathy. Yes, corruption exists, he acknowledges. But does that justify disengagement?

His answer is disarmingly direct: do not become corrupt yourself. Systemic problems remain real, but personal responsibility still exists. Action begins at the individual level.

For many Israelis of Ukrainian origin watching from abroad, this message resonates strongly. Living between two realities — life in Israel and war in Ukraine — often creates the feeling that individual actions change nothing. The interview repeatedly challenges that assumption.

Who Helps Whom on the Front Line

At one point, Rabbi Yakov overturns the stereotype of a chaplain bringing morale to soldiers.

Initially, he believed he was coming to give support. Later, he realized he was receiving something instead — energy, strength, and inspiration from people living daily with real danger rather than theoretical fear.

He describes soldiers without romanticism: exhausted, sometimes broken, often blunt — yet deeply committed to protecting others. He does not portray himself as spiritually superior. Instead, he openly admits that their resilience sustains him as well.

Israel as an Example: Memory as Strength

The conversation naturally turns toward Israel and Jewish historical memory.

Rather than presenting memory as suffering, Rabbi Yakov describes it as a strategic resource. Israel’s strength, he argues, comes from remembering — language, history, trauma, and survival experience passed across generations.

Ukraine, he believes, must do the same. Forgetting war for the sake of comfort would weaken the future. Memory should not cultivate hatred but build resilience and statehood.

“Where Is God in War?”

One of the hardest questions emerges directly: if God exists, where is He during atrocities — Bucha, Irpin, Izium, executions filmed on cameras?

Rabbi Yakov avoids theological explanations. Responsibility, he says, belongs to human beings. People choose invasion, violence, and destruction. The world has been placed in human hands.

Yet he adds another thought: when individuals choose moral action and fulfill responsibility, help often follows — not as supernatural intervention, but as the consequence of clarity and inner discipline.

The Line Between Defender and Killer

A crucial moral question concerns the moment of pulling the trigger.

He explains it through the Ten Commandments and the concept of moral balance between divine law and human relations. Ideally, no one would kill anyone. But within reality exists the principle of defense: if someone comes to kill you, stopping them becomes a duty rather than a sin.

Defending one’s country, in this framework, is an act of protection — while invasion represents the violation of a fundamental boundary.

Hatred, Prisoners, and Remaining Human

Perhaps the most delicate part of the discussion concerns hatred.

Rabbi Yakov admits he has seen prisoners of war. Even there, he says, he tries to recognize a human soul created by God. This does not absolve crimes or remove accountability. Punishment must exist where crimes are committed.

But cruelty and humiliation cross another moral line — one that risks transforming defenders into the very thing they fight against.

Frontline Stories: Injury, Humor, and Altered Time

The interview includes numerous small, uneven stories that feel authentic precisely because they lack dramatic polish.

One soldier survived severe injuries, alone in freezing conditions, bandaging himself for days before walking eight hours to safety. Later he said he felt capable of moving mountains.

Another wounded officer drifted in and out of consciousness while asking for cigarettes, while paperwork officers joked bitterly nearby — laughter functioning as psychological survival.

Rabbi Yakov himself recalls an explosion nearby: shrapnel flying, bricks collapsing, time seemingly slowing down. In that moment, an absurd thought crossed his mind — worrying about falling into the mud. Seconds later, he pulled out his phone to film the explosion cloud. Under extreme stress, ordinary and life-threatening realities merge.

Suicide, Despair, and Holding Someone Back

The conversation also addresses suicide among soldiers.

If someone begins speaking about such thoughts, he says, that alone signals danger. He recounts stopping his departure after noticing a soldier slipping into deep resentment toward everyone — society, commanders, the world.

Instead of moral pressure, he redirected the conversation toward something personal: the soldier’s daughter. What would happen to her?

Chaplaincy, he explains, is not about preaching but helping a person find a thread of meaning strong enough to hold onto.

After the War: No Mass Reckoning

Many fear a future divide between veterans and civilians.

Rabbi Yakov does not believe widespread hostility will follow. The greater struggle, he predicts, will occur internally — trauma, reintegration, adapting back to civilian life.

Society’s role, he argues, is respect and support rather than suspicion or labeling.

Even those who did not fight can still contribute in other ways — humanitarian aid, support networks, or assistance from abroad.

Toward the end, the interview becomes unexpectedly human.

As an Orthodox Jew, he keeps kosher. Since kosher rations are unavailable, he carries his own cookware and food supplies. Nearby soldiers cook traditional Ukrainian dishes — sometimes frying pork fat whose smell fills the air. They joke together.

War does not erase differences, he says, but it can teach mutual respect.

He also speaks about gifting soldiers a Book of Psalms of King David printed in Hebrew alongside an official Ukrainian translation — a symbolic act linking faith, culture, and solidarity.

What a Miracle Really Means

The interview closes with a reflection on miracles.

A miracle, Rabbi Yakov says, happens only after a person has done everything possible. He recalls the biblical story of the sea parting only after someone stepped forward into the water almost beyond survival.

If society remains indifferent, corrupt, or neutral, he argues, it simply means humanity has not yet reached that decisive step.

Why This Video Matters for Israeli Viewers

For audiences in Israel — especially Israelis of Ukrainian origin — the interview resonates on several levels.

It connects war to memory and resilience, principles central to Israel’s own history. It reveals war not as distant news but as human experience shaped by fear, humor, belief, and daily survival. And it raises an uncomfortable but unavoidable question: where do you stand when history unfolds?

Ultimately, the conversation suggests that religion in wartime may offer not easy answers, but a way to prevent a person from losing their humanity.

Video: “‘This Is Madness’: Confessions of a Jewish Chaplain From the Front Line” (February 19, 2026)

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)