Thread by @wordpaley

CW: sexual abuse

This is Yaakov Bleich. Since 1992, he's claimed to be chief rabbi of Ukraine. In 3 weeks, he's raised nearly $3 million for Jews in Ukraine and has appeared on CNN.

He's also alleged to have raped or sexually abused a number of girls and young women.

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First: who is Bleich, and how did he get to Ukraine?

Bleich comes from a "centrist" yeshivish family in the NY area. After an incident that damaged his reputation in the Telz high school in Chicago, Bleich began learning in a Stolin (chassidish) yeshiva in Israel.

2/29

According to this @NYTimes article, Bleich came to Ukraine in 1989, at age 25, with the backing of Stolin. He managed to get the pulpit of the historic Great Choral Synagogue and established day schools, camps and other religious programs.

nytimes.com/1995/01/06/wor…

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In 1992, Bleich was "appointed" chief rabbi of Ukraine. He was never officially elected. But that didn't seem to matter. Within a few years, he had connections to the most powerful people in Ukraine, including the famously corrupt President Leonid Kuchma (Wikipedia him).

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Bleich also gained prominence in the larger Jewish world. Until 2018, he was the official representative of the Stoliner Rebbe of Jerusalem. Later, he became VP of World Jewish Congress and member of the executive committee of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER).

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One of the things Bleich did as chief rabbi was establish an outreach-oriented high school for Ukrainian Jewish girls and boys. Many of these children had little Jewish affiliation, and some lived in a dorm near Bleich's home--both of which put them in a vulnerable position.
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Over the course of several years, Bleich is alleged to have sexually abused girls from this school, others who attended his summer camp, employees of his programs, and Orthodox female volunteers from North America who came to work in the summer camp.

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In recent years, Bleich stopped spending most of his time in Ukraine, instead spending most of his time in the NYC area. He now lives permanently in Monsey and is banned from attending the shul (synagogue) nearest him because of these abuse allegations.

8/29

But even in the US, his contact with vulnerable potential victims continues because he has helped some girls and young women immigrate to the US (and Israel) to attend schools and seminary programs (including one linked to Touro College).

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He has leverage over his potential victims due to his support for their education, his help with visas and other immigration matters, and his ongoing help to their relatives who remain in Ukraine and rely on his programs (and now need help escaping or surviving as refugees).

For years, Bleich's victims suffered in silence. They could not file suit in Ukrainian court because of Bleich's ties to the government. They and their friends received social services from Ukraine, and they knew Bleich could cut that off. And ruin their marriage prospects.
11/29

But Bleich's alleged abuse gradually became an open secret in circles of Ukrainian- and Russian-speaking Baalei Teshuva in the US and Israel. Several years ago, a group of activists began collecting their testimonies.

12/29

In March 2019, Bleich's picture and information were suddenly removed from the website of the CER. They did not provide any further information, but it followed an unusually harsh letter from the Stoliner Rebbe disavowing Bleich over a financial dispute.

frumfollies.wordpress.com/2019/03/31/ukr…

According to that letter, the Stoliner Rebbe accused Bleich of locking Stoliner chasidim out of their yeshiva building. Privately, the Rebbe and his circle believed Bleich was embezzling their money. As such, they filed a formal complaint with the CER.

kikar.co.il/290232.html

Here's the real story: The CER heard the abuse allegations and in response, Dayan Menachem Gelley, head of the London Beth Din, held a hearing in the NY area. Also on the panel was R. Yosef Blau of YU. Bleich resigned from the CER rather than contest the charges.

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The CER should have publicized its hearing findings but was content to have the scandal go away. But Rabbi Blau is quite willing to share his view that Bleich is not to be trusted. Reporters are free to contact him and he will say it on the record.

frumfollies.wordpress.com/2019/03/31/ukr…

Bleich claims that the allegations grew out of the aforementioned financial dispute. That is ironic, because Stolin covered up his abuse for years. Regardless, that dispute happened around 2018, while the allegations go back years, even decades.

17/29

Other Jewish organizations learned of the news and cut ties. The World Jewish Congress (WJC) dropped him as VP and executive committee member this year. The @OrthodoxUnion has decided that none of the money they are now collecting for Ukraine will be funneled through Bleich.

In addition, R. Shmuel Kamenetsky of Philadelphia Yeshiva and the late Novominsker Rebbe, both on the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of @AgudahNews in the US, both found the allegations credible and privately supported actions to remove Bleich from roles of influence.

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So clearly, Bleich's influence has been entrenched within Orthodox Jewish institutions, even if they quietly refuse to work with him. And as usual, none of the people in power at these institutions have the moral clarity to speak out. Which only perpetuates the cycle of abuse.

Fast forward to now: Bleich's campaign to "save the Jews of Kyiv" has raised almost $3 million. His visibility, such as on @CNN and @Ami_Magazine, has retraumatized his victims. Disappointingly, @jacobkornbluh's recent article on him only briefly names the allegations.

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Bleich's campaign continues to be shared aggressively on Orthodox social media channels. It is hosted by @wearecharidy, whose founder and CEO is a buddy of Bleich's. When contacted, he denied all of the allegations.

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You know who could stop this so easily? @OrthodoxUnion and @AgudahNews, who have shared their own campaigns. But as they have for years, they continue to stand silently on the side of abusers.

23/29

In the wake of a horrific invasion that has killed thousands of innocent people and displaced millions, giving an alleged sexual abuser with highly questionable morals 2 million dollars to help suffering people is simply outrageous. Who knows how he will use the money?

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And even if he honestly spends all the money on helping refugees, he may well use that help as leverage to exploit other women and children. In that case, your donation to his campaign would be mitzvah ha-ba b'aveirah (good deed that facilitates wrongdoing).

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Instead, I encourage everyone to donate to help Ukrainians through verified organizations or people they trust. I'll share some here that I can personally vouch for:

1. @JeremyBorovitz and @re_blady are housing and feeding refugees in Berlin. paypal.com/paypalme/hille….
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2. Tikva, a Jewish orphanage in Odessa evacuating Jewish children and young adults to Moldova: tikvaodessa.org/news-events/po…

3. @HIASrefugees is evacuating refugees and providing them with food and medicine. act.hias.org/page/6048/dona…

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And lastly, I will be contacting the @OrthodoxUnion and @AgudahNews to put out a statement discouraging donations to Bleich's campaign WITH THE REASON WHY, and I encourage you to do the same. Tell your rabbis and friends too.

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If they say that they can't because of legal liability, tell them there are people willing to testify. And besides, simply saying "because of credible allegations of sexual abuse" involves exactly zero liability.

We can end this madness. Yaakov Bleich's victims need us to.

END