Bleich Yaakov

Yaakov Dov BLEICH is the Chief Rabbi in Kyiv and Ukraine. Since 1990, Rabbi Bleich has been instrumental in establishing and advancing the Kyiv Jewish Community, the Union of Jewish Religious Organizations of Ukraine, the first Jewish day school in Ukraine, the first legal Jewish orphanage and boarding school in Ukraine, the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine, and other similar organizations. He is the founding member of the Council of Churches and Religious Organizations of Ukraine and currently serves as the Vice-President of the World Jewish Congress, European Jewish Congress, and the Conference of European Rabbis. Rabbi Bleich was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1964 and studied at Yeshiva Karlin Stolin School and the Telshe Yeshiva High School in Chicago, where he began his rabbinical studies. In 1984-1986, he continued his studies at the Karlin Stolin Rabbinical Institute in Jerusalem and received his rabbinical ordination at Yeshiva Karlin Stolin in Brooklyn. In 1989, he and his wife moved to Kyiv, Ukraine.