Azriel Chaikin
{{Short description|Chief Rabbi of Ukraine}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Azriel Chaikin
| image = הרב חייקין.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| caption = Azriel Haikin praying in 770 Eastern Parkway synagogue in 2017
| birth_date = 1931
| title = Chief Rabbi of Ukraine
| occupation = Chief Rabbi, Chabad movement in Ukraine and recognized halakhic authority
}}
{{Chabad (Rebbes and Chasidim)|Rebbes of Chabad}}
Azriel Chaikin (Hebrew עזריאל חייקין; born 1931 in USSR) is a former chief Rabbi of Ukraine. In 2003, he was proclaimed by all the Ukrainian Jewish communities as the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine.{{cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2014/03/05/antisemitism_in_ukraine_how_many_chief_rabbis_does_ukraine_have.html|title=How Many 'Chief Rabbis' Does Ukraine Have?|first=Joshua|last=Keating|work=Slate|date=5 March 2014|accessdate=20 May 2014}}
Life
{{BLP unsourced section|date=July 2022}}
Rabbi Chaikin was born in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1931, where his father, Meir Chaim Chaikin, had served as an emissary of the sixth Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn.{{Cite web |url=https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/4437418/jewish/Chabadorg-Research-Sheds-Light-on-Secret-Soviet-Era-Portrait.htm|title= Research Sheds Light on Secret Soviet-Era Portrait, Marking 92nd anniversary of the release of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn from Soviet imprisonment|website=Chabad.org}}
In 1955, Chaikin went on shlichus to Morocco and was the head of the Chabad Yeshiva in Agadir. Because the language taught in the schools under his auspices was Hebrew, he was accused of being a Zionist, and therefore left Morocco and moved to France. From France he moved to Denmark where he established a Chabad yeshiva.
In 1968, Rabbi Chaikin was offered a prestigious rabbinic position in Brussels, Belgium which he accepted. Because of this position he became an influential rabbinic figure in Europe. In 2008 he received the position of chief Rabbi of Ukraine, which he maintained until 2008 when he asked Rabbi Jonathan Markovitch to take his position;{{cite web | url=https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/558936/jewish/Chief-Rabbi-of-Ukraine-Accuses-Government-of-Inaction-in-Anti-Semitic-Attacks.htm | title=Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Accuses Government of Inaction in Anti-Semitic Attacks }} afterwards, he moved to the Crown Heights area of Brooklyn.
References
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External links
- https://web.archive.org/web/20120705103824/http://fradive.webs.ull.es/confe/heid2009/kashrut1.jpg
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Category:Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis
Category:Ukrainian Orthodox rabbis
Category:21st-century Ukrainian rabbis
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