Yaakov Bleich
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{{short description|Chief Rabbi of Podil synagogue }}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox Jewish leader
| honorific-prefix = Rabbi
| name = Yaakov Dov Bleich
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| image = Blajh Jakov Dov.jpg
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| synagogue = Great Choral Synagogue
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| organisation = Union of Jewish Religious Organizations of Ukraine{{cite web |title=Yaakov Dov Bleich, Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine |url=https://vrciro.org.ua/en/council/member/yaakov-bleich |website=vrciro.org.ua |access-date=8 March 2022 |language=en}}
| organisationposition = Chief Rabbi of Podil synagogue
| began = 1990
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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1964|10|19}}{{cite web |title=Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich |url=https://europeanjewishfund.org/about/advisory-council/rabbi-yaakov-dov-bleich/ |website=European Jewish Fund |access-date=8 March 2022 |archive-date=March 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303002137/https://europeanjewishfund.org/about/advisory-council/rabbi-yaakov-dov-bleich/ |url-status=dead }}
| birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, United States
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| nationality = American
| denomination = Hasidic Judaism
| residence = Monsey, New York
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| alma_mater = Telshe Yeshiva (Chicago)
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Yaakov Dov Bleich (born October 19, 1964) is an American-born rabbi. He serves as Rabbi of the Kyiv synagogue in Podil since 1989.
Rabbi Bleich was vice-president of the World Jewish Congress from 2009-2017.{{cite web | url=https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/about/leaders/executive-committee | title=World Jewish Congress }} Bleich chose not to run for re-election as a member of the WJC Executive Committee at the WJC’s May 2021 plenary assembly.{{cite news | url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2022-06-14/ty-article/.premium/u-k-jewish-group-cuts-ties-to-european-jewish-congress-over-claims-against-top-rabbi/00000181-618c-d525-af97-f1fd33190000 | title=U.K. Jewish Group Cuts Ties to European Jewish Congress over Claims Against Top Rabbi | newspaper=Haaretz }}
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Biography
Bleich graduated from Telshe Yeshiva High School in Chicago, Illinois where he began his rabbinical studies.{{cn|date=March 2023}} From 1984 to 1986, he studied at the Karlin Stolin Rabbinical Institute in Jerusalem.{{cn|date=March 2023}}
In November 2014, Bleich strongly criticized Minister of the Interior Arsen Avakov for appointing Vadym Troyan, a former Azov Battalion commander, to the post of police chief of the Kyiv Oblast. Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Bleich stated that “if the interior minister continues to appoint people of questionable repute and ideologies tainted with fascism and right-wing extremism, the interior minister should be replaced”.{{Cite web |last=Sokol |first=Sam |date=12 November 2014 |title=Kiev regional police head accused of neo-Nazi ties |url=https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/kiev-regional-police-head-accused-of-neo-nazi-ties-381559 |access-date= |website=The Jerusalem Post |language=en-US}}
In 2018, he was expelled from his own community,{{Cite web |url=http://www.kikar.co.il/abroad/290232.html |title=שליח האדמו"ר במכתב סוער: מתנערים מהרב יעקב בלייך — כיכר השבת |date=September 7, 2018 |access-date=2019-10-02 |archive-date=2019-10-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003114438/https://www.kikar.co.il/abroad/290232.html |url-status=live }} but continued to publicly call himself chief rabbi; another Jewish leader of Ukraine, Michael Tkach, accused Bleich of impostor.{{Cite web |url=http://jewishnews.com.ua/society/otsutstvie-zelenskogo-na-meropriyatiyax-v-babem-yaru-prokommentiroval-mixael-tkach |title=Отсутствие Зеленского на мероприятиях в Бабьем Яру прокомментировал Михаэль Ткач — Jewish News |access-date=2019-10-02 |archive-date=2019-10-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003114452/https://jewishnews.com.ua/society/otsutstvie-zelenskogo-na-meropriyatiyax-v-babem-yaru-prokommentiroval-mixael-tkach |url-status=live }} Subsequently, despite the announced herem, he returned to the synagogue; according to Israeli journalist Shimon Briman, everything that is happening is a struggle for influence between Jewish leaders.{{Cite web |url=http://www.moscow-jerusalem.ru/politika/ravviny-ukrainy-borba-za-vliyanie/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=2019-10-02 |archive-date=2019-10-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003114430/http://www.moscow-jerusalem.ru/politika/ravviny-ukrainy-borba-za-vliyanie/ |url-status=live }}
In 2019, Bleich, together with Sviatoslav Shevchuk (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church) and Epiphanius I of Ukraine (Orthodox Church of Ukraine), held a prayer service for members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in the Jewish cemetery of Sambir.https://kresy.pl/wydarzenia/sambor-uroczyste-odsloniecie-krzyza-ku-czci-oun-upa-poswieconego-przez-abpa-szewczuka-z-udzialem-zwierzchnika-ukrainskiej-cerkwi-video-foto/ {{in lang|pl}}[https://strana.ua/opinions/218327-v-sambore-nadruhatelstvo-zamenili-nadruhatelstvom.html In Sambir, abuse was replaced by abuse — a monument to the heroes of the OUN-UPA was opened in the cemetery with the graves of the Jews they killed] {{in lang|ru}}https://nk.org.ua/ukraina/palachi-i-jertvyi-vo-lvovskoy-oblasti-osvyatili-pamyatnik-oun-upa-ustanovlennyiy-na-evreyskom-kladbische-202907 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190823124003/https://nk.org.ua/ukraina/palachi-i-jertvyi-vo-lvovskoy-oblasti-osvyatili-pamyatnik-oun-upa-ustanovlennyiy-na-evreyskom-kladbische-202907 |date=August 23, 2019 }} {{in lang|ru}}
On February 27, 2022, Bleich told Arutz Sheva: "President Zelensky called my community a few hours ago, while waging war, and asked the Jewish people should pray for Ukraine. 'The Russians have more soldiers than us, but our soldiers have more determination than the Russians. We need your prayers for us to succeed, the Ukrainian president said."{{cite news |title=Ukraine Rabbi: President Zelensky asked us to pray for Ukraine |url=https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/322983 |access-date=3 March 2022 |work=Israel National News |date=27 February 2022 |language=en}}
In May 2022, the Board of Deputies of British Jews decided to break with the European Jewish Congress following the latter's reaction to allegations of sexual misconduct by Rabbi Yaakov Bleich. Cnaan Liphshiz, [https://www.timesofisrael.com/leading-ukraine-rabbi-denies-sexual-misconduct-allegations/ Leading Ukraine rabbi denies sexual misconduct allegations], timesofisrael.com, Israel, 15 June 2022
Supports the law banning the activities of the UOC (MP) in Ukraine.{{cite web | url=https://nv.ua/ukr/opinion/upc-mp-skarzhitsya-na-vladu-v-ukrajini-ssha-shcho-ce-zminyuye-50369773.html | title=У США лобіюють інтереси УПЦ. Що відбувається та як це впливає на Україну }}
References
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Category:Ukrainian Orthodox rabbis
Category:20th-century Ukrainian rabbis
Category:21st-century Ukrainian rabbis
Category:American Hasidic rabbis