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NCYI DIVREI TORAH BULLETIN
Rabbi Jacob Rubenstein, A"H
Young Israel of Scarsdale, New York
(Reprinted from Words of Torah, A Collection of Divrei Torah by Young Israel Rabbis, Jason Aronson, Inc, NJ, 1999)
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Rabbi Jacob Rubenstein, A"H
Young Israel of Scarsdale, New York
(Reprinted from Words of Torah, A Collection of Divrei Torah by Young Israel Rabbis, Jason Aronson, Inc, NJ, 1999)
"And Moses grew up and went out to his brothers and he saw their affliction” (Exodus 2:11). The Rabbis comment that when Moshe saw the suffering of the Jews, he wept and cried out in empathetic pain, "I hurt for you. I wish I could die for you. He looked about and observed that there was no man" (Exodus 2:12); there was not one individual who was moved with indignation by the oppression. No one was shocked by the unspeakable horrors. Not one person would come forward even to condemn the evil.
Even after the impassioned plea to the elders of Israel to be united in pursuit of freedom, the Jewish leadership — the Jewish establishment — deserted Moshe. "They stole away furtively, singly and in pairs. . . . When Moshe and Aaron reached the palace of Pharaoh, not one of them was there. . . . The elders had slipped away" (Midrash Rabbah on Exodus 5:1). And the people continued to suffer.
The leaders made no effort to preserve their integrity and self-respect. They retreated into a fantasized sense of security, and they embraced the ploys and protocol of their tenuous political position. They accepted their status, which brought nothing but contempt, and they ran. The leaders — religious and political — fled the scene of confrontation rather than attempt to teach, to persuade, or to challenge. They were paralyzed with fear and ignored the call.
Nevertheless, this crime of desertion — of callousness, complacency, and insular reticence — was not repeated by the same generation. The decimation and deterioration of their people to one-fifth of their numbers had taught them well. When, as we read, the Jews crossed the Red Sea to safety, they were viciously ambushed by the Amalekim, and they reacted with a swift response. But the student of Torah may wonder how it was possible for the Amalekim to execute their attack when the Jewish nation was, as the Torah describes, Divinely protected by the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. The answer is that Amalek was not able to penetrate the Providential wall of protection; rather, Amalek had attacked the multitude of stragglers who followed far behind and could not keep up with the momentum of the Jews’ journey. The Jewish camp viewed this nefarious attack with fury and indignation, and they left their protection to fight for and defend a people that shared their destiny. Moshe proclaimed, "Go out and fight Amalek." Rashi comments, "Leave the cloud of protection." At that moment, the Jews forsook their comfort and security and put themselves and their families in grave danger to save a life. They had tasted the bitterness of tyranny. They had the scars of suffering. They had the experience of abandonment, and they remembered — they responded.
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Rabbi of Young Israel of Scarsdale Along With Wife R”L Killed In Fire
www.theyeshivaworld.com
April 12, 2008
A fast-moving house fire killed a prominent Westchester rabbi and his wife early Shabbos morning, spinning a tightly knit Orthodox community into grief.
For the past two decades, Rabbi Yackov S. Rubenstein has been the leader of the Young Israel of Scarsdale, home to 400 Orthodox families.
Fire officials told WNBC that Rabbi Rubenstein and his wife Devorah were R”L found inside the burning home on Barud Road in New Rochelle at around 3:30 a.m., nearly 90 minutes after the fire started. It’s possible the couple was asleep when the blaze sparked. Firefighters say it was an accident - and was possibly caused by lightening.
It took between nearly 40 firefighters to get the blaze under control, fire official said.
The cause of the fire is not yet known. The Rubensteins had four adult children.
Rabbi Rubenstein, Rabbi of the Young Israel of Scarsdale had long been active in outreach, social activism, legislative advocacy, international affairs and philanthropic endeavors. His writings, which span the academic to the popular, have appeared in a number of newspapers, books and journals.
He was born in Rosenheim, Germany and as a displaced person immigrated to America at an early age, residing in Memphis, Tennessee. Rabbi Rubenstein received his Jewish and secular education in Memphis, Chicago, Israel, and Boston. He attended the Yeshiva at the Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois, Yeshivat Radin in Netanya, Mir Yeshiva in Yerushalayim, and is one of the founders of the Diaspora Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He received his Rabbinic ordination from the Chief Justices of both the Rabbinic Court of the Ashkenazic, as well as the Sephardic community of Jerusalem, and Chacham Ovadiah Yosef Shlita.
He was the immediate Past President of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) and currently served as its Honorary President. He has served the RCA as chairman of its Social Action Committee and organized the first Rabbinic Missions to Washington. He has served as both President and National Chairman of the Rabbinic Cabinet of the United Jewish Appeal. For a number of years, Rabbi Rubenstein chaired the Rabbinic Advisory Council of the U.J.A- Federation of New York. He is a past President of the Westchester Board of Rabbis, an executive officer of the Westchester Rabbinical Council and has served on the board of the Westchester Jewish Conference. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Washington Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values and a member of the Orthodox Jewish Caucus.
Rabbi Rubenstein’s awards include: the Orthodox Union National Rabbinical Leadership Centennial Award, 1999, the Keser Torah Award, Ariel Institutes of Israel, 1994; the Samuel W. and Rose Hurowitz Award, UJA Federation of New York, 1993; Rabbinic Award, General Assembly of the Combined Jewish Federations, 1991; Rabbinic Service Award, UJA-Federation, Westchester Division, 1987; City of Peace Award by Israel Bonds, 1978; NCSY New England Region Meritorious Leadership Award; Dr. and Mrs. Abraham Stern Service Award, Yeshiva University; and is listed in Marquis Who’s Who in Religion, 1991,1998. and Marquis Who's Who in America, 2000.
Rabbi Rubenstein has served in pulpits in Milford, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island, before coming to Scarsdale.
The levaya will take place Sunday, April 13th, at 1:30 PM at the Young Israel of Scarsdale, 1313 Weaver Street, Scarsdale, NY. Kevurah will follow at Sharon Gardens Cemetery in Kensico in Westchester, NY. Shiva will be observed at the home of their son, Daniel Rubenstein, 255 Warwick Avenue, Teaneck, NJ.
She’Nishma Besorot Tovot.
Rabbi Aaron S. Tirschwell
Chief Program and Development Officer |
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CYIR: Council of Young Israel Rabbis in Israel
Rabbi Simcha Krauss - President
Rabbi Chaim Wasserman, Rabbi Meyer Fendel - Vice Presidents; Rabbi Yisrael Fass - Treasurer
Rabbi Michael K. Strick - Executive Director;
Rabbi Aaron S. Tirschwell - Chief Program & Development Officer; Director, The Eye Squad;
Daniel "MUSH" Meyer - Director of Programming;
Rabbi Chanoch Yeres - Director, Judaic Heritage Program for Israel's Deaf and Hearing Impaired;
Dr. Lorell Blass - Director, CYIR Counseling Center;
Rachel Levmore - Coordinator, Prenuptial & Get-Refusal Prevention Projects;
Adina Bloomberg - Program Coordinator, The Eye Squad;
Iris Royi - Program Coordinator, Judaic Heritage Program for Israel's Deaf & Hearing Impaired;
Assya Sandler - Counselor, Russian Immigrants, CYIR Counseling Center;
Susan Taragin - Executive Secretary
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