Baruch Aaron "Bernard" Poupko (February 5, 1917 – April 14, 2010) was a Russian-born American scholar, author, and lecturer. A refugee who escaped persecution in his native Russia, he went on to become a prominent figure in the Jewish community in the United States whose career largely focused on advocating for Soviet Jews.

Early life and escape from Russia

Baruch Poupko was born in Velizh,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, in 1917, to Rabbi Eliezer and Pesha Poupko. Eliezer Poupko was the chief Rabbi in their community, and also an activist who sent letters describing the local conditions for Jews to Rabbinic leaders in the United States and England. The Soviet authorities intercepted the letters, and the elder Poupko was arrested and then convicted following a trial in 1930. Although he was sentenced to two years of hard labour in Siberia, his sentence was reduced to house arrest with the help of the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). The family then managed to escape to Latvia. The JDC also secured passports for the family, and they made their way to Poland, and eventually, in 1931, to the United States.

Life in the United States

Poupko was ordained by Rabbi

Joseph Soloveitchik Joseph Ber Soloveitchik ( he, יוסף דב הלוי סולובייצ׳יק ''Yosef Dov ha-Levi Soloveychik''; February 27, 1903 – April 9, 1993) was a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and modern Jewish philosopher. He was a scion o ...

at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University in 1941. He moved to Pittsburgh in 1942, serving as Rabbi and later Senior Rabbi of Shaare Torah in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

from 1942 to 2004. From 1949 to 1999 he presided over the Rabbinical Council of Pittsburgh, and was one of the founding members of the Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh. He studied history at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and obtained his doctorate at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

in 1952. He wrote the Yiddish book ''In the Shadow of the Kremlin'', as well as many articles about Soviet Jewry. His doctoral thesis, completed at the

, "traces the history and status of Jewish religious adult education, analyzing the various emphases in curriculum of the three major religious ideologies." Poupko edited and co-edited 38 sermon volumes of the Rabbinical Council of America, including the scholarly Anglo-Hebrew volume ''Eidenu'' in memory of the founder and first president of Yeshiva University (YU), Bernard Revel, the volumes in honor of rabbis Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog and

, of the centennial of YU, and of

Norman Lamm Norman Lamm (December 19, 1927 – May 31, 2020) was an American Modern Orthodox rabbi, scholar, academic administrator, author, and Jewish community leader. He was the Chancellor of Yeshiva University until he announced his retirement on July 1 ...

's 20th anniversary as President of YU. Poupko served as the National Vice President of the Rabbinical Council of America and as the National President of the

Religious Zionists of America The Religious Zionists of America (Hebrew official name: Religious Zionists of America/Mizrachi-Hapoel Hamizrachi, also known as Mizrachi, is an American-based organization that is the official body for those, mostly Modern Orthodox Jews who ident ...

. He lived in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

with his daughter,

Rivy Poupko Kletenik Rivy Poupko Kletenik is an American lecturer and educator. Career Poupko Kletenik is Head of School at the Seattle Hebrew Academy and wrote a monthly Jewish advice column called JQ for Seattle's ''The Jewish Sound''. She was the recipient of ...

, and son-in-law, Moshe Kletenik. He is the grandfather of Chaim Poupko, senior rabbi of

Congregation Ahavath Torah Congregation Ahavath Torah is a Modern Orthodox Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemas ...

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from por ...

. He died on April 14, 2010, in Seattle.

Film

In 1983, filmmaker Sheila Chamovitz produced a half-hour documentary about Poupko entitled ''Murray Avenue: A Community in Transition''. The film follows Poupko as he retires from Shaare Torah, where he served as Rabbi from 1942 to 1996.

Sources

*"Poupko, Bernard." Encyclopaedia Judaica. Jerusalem: Keter, 1972. *Rosenstein, Neil. The Unbroken Chain. Lakewood, NJ: CIS, 1990. p. 294
American Jewish Year Book

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poupko, Baruch American Modern Orthodox rabbis 2010 deaths Jewish educators Religious leaders from Pittsburgh Rabbis from Pennsylvania Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary semikhah recipients People from Velizh Orthodox rabbis from Russia 20th-century American rabbis 21st-century American rabbis 1917 births