Rabbi Yaakov Bleich (left) and Rabbi Moshe Azman (right) both claim to be the chief rabbi of Ukraine.
Twee rabbijnen van een uitzonderlijk formaat claimen de joodse gemeenschap in de Oekraïne te vertegenwoordigen. Als de toestand niet zo ernstig was zou je in een bulderende lach uitbarsten. En wat te denken van hun president?
A tale of two rabbis
Ukraine and its large Jewish community have been under attack for a week and, amidst all the news stories, we began to notice something:
You may have seen Rabbi Yaakov Bleich in social media videos, with a Ukrainian flag draped behind him, explaining how he helped people evacuate and is with them, sheltering in place, in a refugee camp he set up. In reality, Bleich is sitting in his living room in Monsey, N.Y.
You may have also seen Rabbi Moshe Azman talking to the media on the ground in Ukraine, where he founded Anatevka, a safe haven for refugees named after the fictional shtetl in “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Bleich was sort of chosen to lead the country’s Jewish community in 1992; Azman in 2005. (There’s also a chief Reform rabbi, Alexander Dukhovny, who also is posting emotional videos.)
Compounding the confusion, President Zelenskyy reportedly called on Bleich for assistance, while Azman is running Anatevka with the help of two disgraced associates of Rudy Giuliani – who he has named as the village’s honorary mayor. Bleich has been accused of sexual abuse and Azman appeared to endorse the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Meanwhile, Chabad and other Hasidic groups have, at one point or another, disavowed both men.