In an interview with CNN about a week ago, Rav Bleich, the Rav of Kyiv, described the worst thing he witnessed when he was living in Kyiv when it was still part of the former Soviet Union.
The interviewer asked Rav Bleich about how he feels about how twisted it is that Russian President Vladimir Putin is brainwashing Russians that he is liberalizing Ukraine from the “Nazis.”
Rav Bleich agreed, elaborating that Putin maintains total control over the media in his quest to hide the truth. He then described how he arrived in Kyiv as a young man when it was still the former Soviet Union and lived there for two full years with his wife and baby prior to the Iron Curtain falling.
Rav Bleich said that the most frightening thing he saw in the Soviet Union was not that people were afraid to say things but that they were afraid to think. “Because when you think, then you start talking. For me, as a 25-year-old who grew up in America, this was the most frightening thing I experienced. I saw that people were afraid to think.”
“We take for granted the freedoms that we have, such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion, but when you see a society like that you should start to value the freedoms you have.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
Does Rabbi Bleich even realize that CNN and their ilk are the epitome and proponents of being afraid to speak, as well as think? They are actually the biggest fans of shutting down anyone who believes differently than they do, ie: there are only two genders created by G-d, abortion is wrong, homosexuality is a deviancy abominated by G-d, the Ten Commandments are not the Ten Suggestions, etc. CNN and the rest of the lamestream media are the American version of the former Soviet Union’s group think methods of controlling the population and are destroying this country.
Stifling free speech leads to stifling free thinking.
Gav Bleich lives in Monsey! He used to live in Ukraine, not any longer.
Rabbi Bleich Chief Rabbi of Ukraine actually still lives in Ukraine and is Rabbi of Kiev Main Synagogue in podol Neighborhood.
He is 2 weeks in monsey new york and 2 weeks in kiev and so on…. And all holidays of course in Ukraine.