Blech is the author of fourteen books with combined sales of close to half a million copies, including three as part of the highly popular Idiot's Guide series. His book
Understanding Judaism: The Basics of Deed and Creed was chosen by the
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations as "the single best book on Judaism in our generation". Together with an accompanying six-hour video, filmed by the producers of 20/20, featuring Blech, it is used as the basis for study groups in numerous synagogues and universities around the country. In the 1980s, Blech was asked by the Lubavitcher Rebbe,
Menachem Mendel Schneerson, to travel to the
Far East on a speaking tour. Schneerson paid for all Blech's travel and hotel expenses for the duration of his trip. At one point, Blech invested US$50,000 in the stock market, and over a number of years managed to turn it into $7 million, before he lost almost all of it. The experience was the catalyst for his 2003 book titled ''Taking Stock: A Spiritual Guide to Rising Above Life's Financial Ups and Downs''. In January 2005, Blech, along with Rabbis Barry
Dov Schwartz and
Jack Bemporad, became the first rabbis in history to publicly confer a blessing on a
pope, when they were invited by the Vatican to visit and bless
Pope John Paul II at
Clementine Hall in the
Apostolic Palace. In 2010, Blech was diagnosed with
cardiac amyloidosis and given six months to live. In what he considers a gift from God, Blech survived. ==Personal life==