Biography - Rabbi Yakov D. Bleich

Rabbi Yakov Bleich - Chief Rabbi of Ukraine

Rabbi Yakov Dov Bleich was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1964. He studied at Yeshiva Karlin Stolin and from graduated Telshe Yeshiva High School in Chicago, Illinois where he began his rabbinical studies. From 1984-1986, he  studied at the Karlin Stolin Rabbinical Institute in Jerusalem, and he received his Rabbinical ordination (semicha) at Yeshiva Karlin Stolin in Brooklyn.

In 1987, Rabbi Bleich married Bashy Wigder. In 1989, they moved to Kyiv with their oldest son, Yochanan, at the time 1 year old. In 1990, Rabbi Bleich was appointed Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine. Since his arrival in Ukraine, Rabbi Bleich has been instrumental in founding the Kyiv Jewish City Community, the Union Of Jewish Religious Organizations of Ukraine, the first full Jewish day school in Ukraine, the first legal Jewish orphanage and boarding school in Ukraine, the Chesed Avot welfare society of Kyiv, the Magen Avot social services network of Ukraine and a host of other organizations.