Reuben Joshua Poupko
{{Short description|Canadian rabbi}}
Reuben Joshua Poupko is a Canadian-American Orthodox rabbi. He has served as spiritual leader of the Beth Israel Beth Aaron Congregation synagogue in Montreal since 1986,{{cite web|title=About Us|url=https://www.shul.org/about-us|website=Beth Israel Beth Aaron|access-date=October 9, 2023}}{{cite web|last=Eisenthal|first=Bram|url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/23949/canadian-university-decision-to-ban-barak-sparks-free-speech-demonstration/|title=Canadian university decision to ban Barak sparks free-speech demonstration|website=Jweekly|date=October 8, 2004}} and sits as co-chair of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs' Canadian Rabbinic Caucus.{{cite web|title=
What is the Canadian Rabbinic Caucus?|website=Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs|url=https://www.cija.ca/what_is_the_canadian_rabbinic_caucus|access-date=October 9, 2023}}
He has appeared in three films: Schmelvis: The Search for the King's Jewish Roots, a documentary on Elvis Presley's supposed Jewish roots;{{cite news|last=Eichler|first=Leah|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-10028540.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104182853/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-10028540.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-11-04|title=Love Him Tender|newspaper=The Jerusalem Report|date=April 8, 2002}}{{cite news|last=Stoffman|first=Judy|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/421762921.html?dids=421762921:421762921&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+19%2C+2002&author=Judy+Stoffman&pub=Toronto+Star&desc=All+schnook+up+at+Graceland+%3B+Search+for+Schmelvis+Presley+kicks+off+Jewish+Film+Festival&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103205200/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/421762921.html?dids=421762921:421762921&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+19,+2002&author=Judy+Stoffman&pub=Toronto+Star&desc=All+schnook+up+at+Graceland+%3B+Search+for+Schmelvis+Presley+kicks+off+Jewish+Film+Festival&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 3, 2012|title=All schnook up at Graceland; Search for Schmelvis Presley kicks off Jewish Film Festival|newspaper=Toronto Star|date=April 19, 2002}} Once a Nazi, on former Waffen SS soldier-turned-professor Adalbert Lallier;{{cite web|last=Hewings|first=Meg|url=http://www.hour.ca/film/film.aspx?iIDArticle=10304|title=Nazi victim|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927035730/http://www.hour.ca/film/film.aspx?iIDArticle=10304|archive-date=September 27, 2007|newspaper=Hour magazine|date=September 14, 2006}} and Untying the Bonds ... Jewish Divorce, a documentary aiming to "increase awareness of the Jewish divorce issue."{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QM1hloeMQqgC&dq=%22Reuben+Poupko%22&pg=PA204|chapter=Religion|title=American Jewish Year|first=David|last=Singer|publisher=VNR AG|date=1998|page=204|isbn=978-0-87495-113-4 }}
Controversy
In an interview with the Montreal Gazette in March 2021, Poupko attributed the upswing of the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant in parts of Montreal to the Lubavitch and Sephardic communities,{{cite news|first=Aaron|last=Derfel|newspaper=The Montreal Gazette|date=March 19, 2021|title=Analysis: Montreal health authorities reach out to Jewish leaders as variants surge|url=https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/analysis-montreal-health-authorities-reach-out-to-jewish-leaders-as-variants-surge}} prompting Federation CJA and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs to issue a joint apology.{{cite web|title=Response to Montreal Gazette article|url=https://www.federationcja.org/en/communications/from-the-desk-of-yair-szlak/response-to-montreal-gazette-article_95579/|website=Federation CJA|date=2021}}
Personal life
Poupko is the son of Gilda Twerski-Novoseller Poupko and Rabbi Baruch Poupko, rabbi for over sixty years of Congregation Shaare Torah in Pittsburgh.{{cite web|url=https://www.shaaretorah.net/history.html|title=History|website=Shaare Torah}} His maternal grandfather was Rabbi Dovid Shlomo Novoseller, and maternal grandmother a descendent of the Twersky rabbinic dynasty.{{cite news|title=Gilda Twerski-Novoseller dies|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=y0QNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0G0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5627%2C695677|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date=October 4, 1983}}
Poupko is the twin brother of Rivy Poupko Kletenik.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} He is married to makeup artist Mindy Shear of Montreal, where they reside with her son Shalev.{{cite news|title=Rabbi and his wife don dancing shoes for Montreal Children's Hospital|date=January 25, 2018|first=Janice|last=Arnold|newspaper=The Canadian Jewish News|url=https://thecjn.ca/news/canada/rabbi-wife-don-dancing-shoes-montreal-childrens-hospital/}} Rabbi Poupko has five children: Adina (married to Hillel Silverberg), Hindy (married to Seth Galena), Tamar (married to Elliot Smith), Eliezer (married to Chany Wilner) and Avi (married to Shifra Valvo).{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}
References
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Category:Canadian Orthodox rabbis
Category:Canadian people of Russian-Jewish descent