On July 17, 2026, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Stambler, the chief rabbi of Kamianske, announced that Rabbi Nochum-Simcha Leitans had completed several months of military training and had been appointed as an assistant to a military chaplain in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The announcement was brief, but the story behind it is much larger.

Leitans is not a public figure who suddenly appeared in uniform. For years, he has been part of the religious and educational life of the Chabad community in Kamianske. He was responsible for the yeshiva and advanced Torah-study programs, taught Jewish law and tradition, and helped prepare boys for bar mitzvah. Now, the same man who accompanied young Jews as they put on tefillin and approached the Torah will accompany Ukrainian servicemen living through war.

Stambler wished Leitans and his fellow soldiers protection, strength and a swift peace. The public announcement did not identify his military unit, his future place of service, the chaplain whom he will assist or the date of the formal military order.

The photograph accompanying the announcement shows Leitans with Lieutenant Colonel Davyd Hruba, a member of the Kamianske Jewish community whom Stambler identified as the head of a professional training school. No further information about the school’s military affiliation was disclosed.

That absence of detail is understandable during wartime. Yet even without the name of a brigade or unit, the appointment tells us something important about Jewish life in Ukraine: it is no longer confined to synagogues, schools and humanitarian centers. It is also present inside the country’s military institutions.

From Dniprodzerzhynsk to a Chabad Center Modeled on 770

Kamianske is a major industrial city in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, situated on the Dnipro River not far from the city of Dnipro. Until 2016, it was known as Dniprodzerzhynsk, a Soviet-era name that was replaced during Ukraine’s decommunization process.

Its Jewish community belongs to the international Chabad-Lubavitch movement. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Stambler has led the community since 2001 together with his wife, Dina Stambler.

The community includes the Beit Reuven Synagogue, the Beit Baruch charitable center, a Jewish school, a yeshiva and educational and social programs for children, families and elderly residents. The modern community building, opened in 2008, was designed to resemble the famous Chabad headquarters at........

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