In Ukrainian Kamianske, they mourn the fallen IDF Warrant Officer Alexander Rud, a graduate of the local Or-Avner school

“With deep sorrow and heavy grief, the Jewish community of Kamenskoye received the bitter news of the death of Alexander Rud — a graduate of the ‘Or-Avner’ school in Kamenskoye, a soldier of the IDF“. These are the words that begin the mourning text published on April 7, 2026, by the community rabbi Levi Stambler.

Kam’yanske (Kamenskoye) – a city in Ukraine, the administrative center of the Kamenskoye city community and Kamenskoye district of the Dnipropetrovsk region. According to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, as of January 1, 2022, the population was 226,845 people. Ukrainian Kamenskoye is located on the banks of the Kamenskoye reservoir, in the middle course of the Dnieper, below the dam of the Middle Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station, 35 kilometers west of the regional center — the city of Dnipro.

The publication states that Alexander died on Saturday, 17 Nisan. (17 Nisan 5786 in the Jewish calendar falls on Saturday, April 4, 2026).

The community expressed sincere condolences to his mother Larisa, grandmother Rusina Svetlana Leonidovna, and the entire family. The text concludes with traditional words of consolation:

“May the Almighty comfort you among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem, and may you know no more sorrow.

As the prophet said: ‘And those who dwell in the dust shall awaken and sing’ — and he is among them. Amen“.

This is one of those cases where a short community text sounds stronger than a long official message. In a few lines — there is pain, memory, and the sense of loss of a person who was remembered in Kamenskoye not by headlines, but as one of their own.

From Kamenskoye to Israel — a fate understood by thousands of families

For the Jewish community of Kamenskoye, Alexander Rud was not just a name from Israel’s military chronicle. In the published text, he is called a graduate of the ‘Or-Avner’ school — and this already sounds not like a dry reference, but a personal memory of a person whose path began in a Ukrainian city, among familiar faces, school walls, teachers, and community life.

The ‘Or-Avner’ school in Kamenskoye has been operating since 2001. It is the only private school in the city with a specialized focus, created at the initiative of the Jewish community with the support of patrons and has earned a reputation as one of the strongest educational institutions not only in Kamenskoye but also in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

That is why the news of his death is perceived so heavily. When a person who grew up in such an environment leaves, it becomes a pain not only for the family but also for those who knew him from childhood, saw him grow up, remember him from school, holidays, and community life.

For the Israeli audience, this story also sounds particularly poignant. It is too recognizable for a huge number of Russian-speaking and Ukrainian-speaking families whose lives have long been divided not by a border, but by a common fate. Childhood could have passed in Ukraine, while adult life, service, family, and responsibility — already in Israel.

Last days, prayers, funerals

From fragments that later appeared on social networks, a heavy picture of Alexander Rud’s last days emerges. Initially, there was a request to pray for Alexander. The messages stated that the reservist was in serious condition at the ‘Rambam’ hospital, he was put into a medically induced coma and connected to machines.

After this, publications reported the death of רס״ם אלכסנדר רוד. The funeral took place on April 6, 2026, at the military cemetery in Rishon LeZion. The texts about the farewell state that Warrant Officer Alexander Rud felt unwell during service, and the doctors at ‘Rambam’ hospital fought for his life but could not save him.

In the same text, there are lines that are difficult to read calmly. The author writes that each time they cannot hold back tears when they find themselves at the cemetery where young men from Israeli families are buried. Not only close ones came to say goodbye to Alexander, but also people who knew him and his circle. These words convey not just grief, but a very personal pain that does not fit into ordinary condolence formulas.

37 years — an age at which one should not say goodbye

According to data published on social networks, Alexander Rud was 37 years old. He is described as a person who took care of his health, did not abuse alcohol or cigarettes, and loved airsoft. He left behind a mother and a wife.

Such details always bring the tragedy closer. Before the eyes is not just a surname, not just a military rank, and not just a general mourning tone. A life of a person is visible, with habits, interests, character, a circle of close ones, and their place in the world.

Memory that is not divided by countries

The story of Alexander Rud resonates particularly strongly because several realities converged in it. Kamenskoye, the Jewish school, family, community, Israel, military service, the military cemetery in Rishon LeZion. All this is not separate episodes, but one life, one path, and one loss.

NANews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency considers it important to speak about such people not in bureaucratic language, but humanly. Behind each such name is not only the fact of death but an entire fate, which included childhood, school, close ones, friends, comrades-in-arms, and that invisible connection between Ukrainian Jewry and Israel, which is felt especially acutely today.

The death of Alexander Rud was a blow to his family, to his community in Kamenskoye, and to those who knew him in Israel. Such stories remind us that distances change nothing when it comes to memory, pain, and belonging to one people.

Bright memory of Alexander Rud.

May his memory be blessed.