Buchach (Pol. Buczacz), city in Ternopol (Tarnopol) oblast, Ukraine (until 1939 in Poland). A Jewish settlement there is mentioned in 1572; the earliest Jewish tombstone dates from 1633. In 1672 the town was burned down by the Turks, who killed most of the inhabitants. In 1699 the overlord of the town, Stephan Potocki, renewed privileges previously granted to Buchach Jewry, according to which Jews were not subject to the jurisdiction of the Christian courts; disputes between Jews and Christians were heard by an official appointed by the lord of the town, and inter-Jewish suits by the bet din. Jews were free to own and build houses and to trade or engage in crafts, including distilling of brandy and barley beer. In 1765 there were 1,055 Jews living in Buchach and a further 300 in neighboring settlements within the bounds of the Jewish community of Buchach. Jewish economic activities expanded under Austrian rule, particularly after the grant of equal civic rights in 1867. In the period preceding 1914, most of the large estates in the neighborhood of Buchach were Jewish owned or leased from the Polish nobility. Distilling and commerce remained major Jewish occupations. Between 1867 and 1906 Buchach, Kolomyya, and Sniatyn were combined to form a single constituency and a Jewish deputy was elected to the Austrian imperial parliament.

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were approximately 7,000 Jews living in Buchach. During World War I most of the Jewish inhabitants left but many returned later.

Among notable rabbis of Buchach were R. Zevi Kara (18th–19th centuries), author of Neta Sha'ashu'im; his son-in-law R.Abraham David b. Asher Wahrmann, the "holy" Hasid (d. 1841), author of Da'at Kedoshim (on the laws of ritual slaughter and dietary laws); R. Abraham Te'omim, author of the responsa Hesed le-Avraham; and Samuel Shtark, author of Minhat Oni. The orientalist David Heinrich Mueller was also from Buchach. Among the writers of the Haskalah movement before 1914, the best known is Isaac Fernhof. A Yiddish weekly Der Yidisher Veker was published at the beginning of the 20th century, edited by Eliezer Rokeah of Safed. A large printing press was established in 1907. Descriptions of Jewish life in Buchach are given in the tales of S. Y. Agnon, the Nobel prizewinning author, who was born in Buchach.

Eliezer Rokeah of Safed (1854–1914), Erez Israel pioneer and writer. Rokach, the grandson of Israel Bak, was born in Jerusalem. He also studied there, but moved to Safed after his marriage, whereupon he began contributing articles on Safed Jewry to the Hebrew press abroad (mainly anonymously) and later wrote for Havazzelet on many issues. He advocated working the land and was among those who initiated the acquisition of the village Gei-Oni (later Rosh-Pinnah), where he was one of the first settlers. Rokach went abroad in 1880 and lived first in Rumania, and then in Galicia, calling upon the Jews to settle in Erez Israel. He was an unusual mixture of romantic and realist—a dreamer yet a fighter for his beliefs—who was unappreciated in his time. From 1901 until the end of his life, he wandered all over Galicia, lecturing and writing. He died in Drohobycz. Rokach wrote a pamphlet entitled Mazzav ha-Ir ha-Kedoshah Zefat ve-Toshaveha ha-Ashkenazim ("The Conditions of the Holy City of Safed and its Ashkenazi Inhabitants," Jerusalem, no date). He also published several Yiddish and Hebrew newspapers while abroad (Yisrael, Jassy-Piatra, 1881; Talpiyyot, Jassy, 1898–99; and Ha-Yarden, Buczacz, 1906, in which his coeditor was S. Y. Agnon.