Benjamin Blech
{{Short description|American Orthodox rabbi, thinker, author and speaker}}
{{Infobox Jewish leader
| honorific-prefix = Rabbi
| name = Benjamin Blech
| honorific-suffix =
| image = Rabbi_Benjamin_Blech.jpg
| caption =
| denomination = Orthodox
| synagogue = Young Israel of Oceanside
| synagogueposition = Rabbi Emeritus
| yeshiva = Yeshiva University
| yeshivaposition = Professor of Talmud
| organization =
| organizationposition =
| began =
| ended =
| semicha = Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS)
| rabbi =
| rank =
| other_post =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1933}}
| birth_place = Zurich, Switzerland
| death_date =
| death_place =
| buried =
| nationality = American
| residence = New York City, United States
| parents = Benzion and Gittel Blech
| spouse = Elaine
| profession = Rabbi
Professor of Talmud
author
speaker
| alma_mater = Yeshiva University
Columbia University
| website = {{URL|www.rabbibenjaminblech.com}}
}}
Benjamin Blech (born 1933) is an American Orthodox rabbi. He is a Professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University where he has taught since 1966, and was the rabbi of Young Israel of Oceanside for 37 years.RCA Member Biography [http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100638]{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023073000/http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100638|date=2007-10-23}} Accessed 17 Aug 2008 In addition to his work in the rabbinate, Blech has written many books on Judaism and the Jewish people and speaks on Jewish topics to communities around the world.
Early life and education
Benjamin Blech was born in Zurich. He attended Mesivta Toras Emes and Yeshiva Torah Vodaas in Brooklyn for high school, and spent summers learning at the Lakewood Yeshiva.{{cite web|url=https://www.chabad.org/therebbe/livingtorah/player_cdo/aid/2081447/jewish/Chasid-in-Camouflage.htm|access-date=4 October 2019|title=Chasid in Camouflage}}
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yeshiva University, a Master of Arts degree in social psychology from Columbia University, and rabbinic ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.{{cite web|url=http://spider.mc.yu.edu/news/articles/article.cfm?id=100064 |title=-Yeshiva University News - Rabbi Benjamin Blech: YU Professor Publishes Ninth Book: Taking Stock: A Spiritual Guide to Rising Above Life's Financial Ups and Downs |access-date=2010-08-27 |url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720125209/http://spider.mc.yu.edu/news/articles/article.cfm?id=100064|archive-date=2011-07-20 }} Accessed 17 August 2008
Career
Blech is the author of fourteen books with combined sales of close to half a million copies, including three as part of the highly popular Idiot's Guide series. His book Understanding Judaism: The Basics of Deed and Creed was chosen by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations as "the single best book on Judaism in our generation". Together with an accompanying six-hour video, filmed by the producers of 20/20, featuring Blech, it is used as the basis for study groups in numerous synagogues and universities around the country.
In the 1980s, Blech was asked by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, to travel to the Far East on a speaking tour. Schneerson paid for all Blech's travel and hotel expenses for the duration of his trip.[http://www.chabad.org/therebbe/livingtorah/player_cdo/aid/2081447/jewish/Chasid-in-Camouflage.htm Rabbi Benjamin Blech, video interview]
At one point, Blech invested US$50,000 in the stock market, and over a number of years managed to turn it into $7 million, before he lost almost all of it. The experience was the catalyst for his 2003 book titled Taking Stock: A Spiritual Guide to Rising Above Life's Financial Ups and Downs.Deutsch, Claudia H. (December 7, 2003) [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/07/business/at-lunch-with-rabbi-benjamin-blech-making-a-fortune-losing-it-and-moving-on.html "At Lunch With: Rabbi Benjamin Blech; Making a Fortune, Losing It and Moving On"], The New York Times. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
In January 2005, Blech, along with Rabbis Barry Dov Schwartz and Jack Bemporad, became the first rabbis in history to publicly confer a blessing on a pope, when they were invited by the Vatican to visit and bless Pope John Paul II at Clementine Hall in the Apostolic Palace.{{cite web|url=http://www.pavethewayfoundation.org/Projects/MissionToVatican/PhotoPage2.htm|title=Largest Gathering of Jewish Leaders to Ever Meet With a Sitting Pope|accessdate=2008-10-23 |url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090408114431/http://www.pavethewayfoundation.org/Projects/MissionToVatican/PhotoPage2.htm |archive-date=2009-04-08 }}
In 2010, Blech was diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis and given six months to live. In what he considers a gift from God, Blech survived.Mark, Jonathan (June 5, 2012) [https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/the-midnight-sun-of-benjamin-blech/ "The Midnight Sun of Benjamin Blech"], The New York Jewish Week". Retrieved February 6, 2022.{{cite web |url=http://www.aish.com/sp/pg/How_to_Die.html |title=How to Die|last=Blech|first=Benjamin |date=June 9, 2012 |website=aish.com|publisher= |access-date=February 6, 2022 |quote=}}
Personal life
Blech resides in New York City.
Published works
- {{cite book |title= Understanding Judaism: The Basics of Deed and Creed |publisher= KTAV |date= January 1991 |isbn= 978-0-87668-291-3 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/knowledgeinactio0000rues }}
- {{cite book |title= The Secrets of Hebrew Words |publisher= Jason Aronson |date=August 1991 |isbn= 978-0-87668-610-2}}
- {{cite book |title= More Secrets of Hebrew Words: Holy Days and Happy Days |publisher= Jason Aronson |date=January 1993 |isbn= 978-0-87668-223-4}}
- {{cite book |title= The Complete Idiot's Guide to Jewish History and Culture |publisher= Alpha |date= December 1998 |isbn= 978-0-02-862711-3 |url= https://archive.org/details/completeidiotsgu00blec }}
- {{cite book |title= Your Name Is Your Blessing: Hebrew Names and Their Mystical Meanings |publisher= Jason Aronson |date=June 1999 |isbn= 978-0-7657-6053-1}}
- {{cite book |title= The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Judaism |publisher= Alpha |date=August 1999 |isbn= 978-0-02-863191-2}}
- {{cite book |title= The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Yiddish |publisher= Alpha |date=January 2000 |isbn= 978-0-02-863387-9}}
- {{cite book |title= Taking Stock: A Spiritual Guide to Rising Above Life's Financial Ups and Downs |publisher= Amacom Books |date= March 2003 |isbn= 978-0-8144-0787-5 |url= https://archive.org/details/takingstock00benj_0 }}
- {{cite book |title= If God Is Good, Why Is The World So Bad? |publisher= Simcha Press |date=September 2003 |isbn= 978-0-7573-0123-0}}
- {{cite book |title= The Book of Passover: A Celebration |publisher= Citadel |date=March 2005 |isbn= 978-0-8065-2580-8}}
- {{cite book |title= The Book of Passover |publisher= Citadel |date=March 2006 |isbn= 978-0-8065-2737-6}}
- {{cite book |title= Eyewitness to Jewish History |publisher= John Wiley & Sons |date=March 2007 |isbn= 978-0-470-05313-3}}
- {{cite book |title= The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo's Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican |publisher= HarperOne |date= April 2008 |isbn= 978-0-06-146904-6 |url= https://archive.org/details/sistinesecretsmi00blec }}, with Roy Doliner
- {{cite book |title= Redemption, Then and Now: Pesah Haggada| publisher=Menorah Books|date=April 2007|isbn=978-1940516738}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{cite news|last=Deutsch|first=Claudia H.|title=At Lunch With: Rabbi Benjamin Blech|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9C02E6D7153DF934A35751C1A9659C8B63|work=The New York Times|date=December 2003}}
- [http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/jewishsociety/My_Encounter_with_the_Pope.asp My Encounter with the Pope], May 15, 2009
{{Authority control}}
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Category:American male non-fiction writers
Category:Orthodox rabbis from New York City
Category:Yeshiva University alumni
Category:Columbia University alumni
Category:Yeshiva University faculty
Category:American Modern Orthodox rabbis
Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers
Category:Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary semikhah recipients