Rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

 Moses Josef Rubin (1892 - 1980) was a Hasidic

Hasidic Judaism

Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...

 Jewish cleric in Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 and later in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 (New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

), a scion of the Kosov-Seret dynasty

Seret (Hasidic dynasty)

Seret or Sereter Hasidim were a group of Hasidic Jews that existed in the town of Siret and the surrounding area in Bukovina during the late nineteenth century until World War II....

.

Biography

Moses Josef Rubin was born in 1892 in the town of Wola Michowa in the Galicia region of Poland.

His father was Rabbi Mendel Rubin, who later became the Chassidic Rebbe in Siret, Bukovina. His mother was Beila Rubin née Horowitz.

When Moses Josef was a toddler his family moved from Galicia to Siret in the Bukovina where his father's family resided.

During his youth, Moses Josef was Rabbinically ordained by the leading Halachik figures of his time such as Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum of Sighet and Rabbi Yehudah Leib Tzirelsohn of Kishinev among others,

In 1921 he married Sarah Farkas. They had two sons; Dr. Samuel S. Rubin and Dr. Jacob K. Rubin.

During the years 1922-1940, he served as Chief Rabbi of the Jewish-Romanian community

History of the Jews in Romania

The history of Jews in Romania concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory....

 in Câmpulung Moldovenesc

Câmpulung Moldovenesc

Câmpulung Moldovenesc is a city located in Suceava County, which is in the historical Bukovina region of Moldavia in North Eastern Romania...

, Bukovina

Bukovina

Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...

. From 1941 until 1946 he served as President of the Rabbinical Council of Romania and Chairman of Agudath Israel

Agudath Israel

Agudath Israel can refer to any of several related organizations, including:*World Agudath Israel, an international movement*Agudath Israel of America, an American organization*Agudat Yisrael, an Israeli political party...

 in Romania.

In 1940, on Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...

 (the Day of Atonement, October 12), all Jewish homes in Câmpulung were plundered, and the Jews were assaulted by the pro-Nazi

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 Iron Guard

Iron Guard

The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...

 (see Romania during World War II

Romania during World War II

Following the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the Kingdom of Romania officially adopted a position of neutrality. However, the rapidly changing situation in Europe during 1940, as well as domestic political upheaval, undermined this stance. Fascist political forces such as the Iron...

). The valuable library of Rabbi Rubin was destroyed; he was mistreated and was given a document to sign which stated that he had hidden dynamite

Dynamite

Dynamite is an explosive material based on nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth , or another absorbent substance such as powdered shells, clay, sawdust, or wood pulp. Dynamites using organic materials such as sawdust are less stable and such use has been generally discontinued...

 in the synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

 to be used in acts of sabotage

Sabotage

Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...

. Because he refused to sign this document, he and his son were harnessed to a cart loaded with stolen goods, and driven at revolver

Revolver

A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...

 point while being beaten and humiliated.http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Bukowinabook/buk2_088.html After the incident, the Rabbi and his family escaped to Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

.

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Rubin founded the first Vaad Hatzalah

Aid and Rescue Committee

The Aid and Rescue Committee, or Va'adat Ha-Ezrah ve-ha-Hatzalah be-Budapesht was a small committee of Zionists based in Budapest in 1944-5, who were dedicated to helping Jews escape the Holocaust during the German occupation of Hungary.The main personalities of the Vaada were Dr...

(emergency committee) in Bucharest, in order to aid Jewish people deported to the Transnistria

Transnistria

Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...

 concentration camps.http://bukowina.info/Klipper.pdf

After the war, Rabbi Rubin emigrated to the United States where he founded the Center for European Rabbis, whose aims included distributing post-war reparations for European Rabbis who had lost their communities and source for income, as well as preventing the destruction of Jewish cemeteries in Europe. More than two decades after Rabbi Rubin's passing his family merged his organization with the Israel based "Oholei Zadikim" run by Rabbi Israel Meir Gabay.http://www.zadikim.org/index.asp?lang=english