Samuel Jacob Rubinstein

Samuel Jacob (Shmuel Yaakov) Rubinstein was a 20th-century French orthodox Chief Rabbi. He was born in Poland.

Biography

Rabbi Rubinstein was the rabbi of the Agoudas Hakehilos Synagogue, succeeding Chief Rabbi Joël Leib HaLevi Herzog.

After World War II, he contributed to the renewal of French Jewry and was active in the return of Jewish children entrusted to non-Jewish families during the war. He was in touch with humanitarian organizations such as Vaad Hatzalah.^[1]

Rubinstein considered himself a Kotzker Ḥasīd, influenced by Hassidic master Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, the founder of Ger.

Roger Peyrefitte describes Rubinstein in his book The Jews.^[2]

At his funeral in the Synagogue de la rue Pavée, eulogies were given for Rabbi Rubinstein in Yiddish and French by Rabbi David Feuerwerker. Among the rabbis present that day was Chief Rabbi Ernest Gugenheim.^[3] His successor was Chief Rabbi Chaim Yaakov Rottenberg, from Antwerp.

The grandchildren of Rubinstein, Rafi (Raphaël) Shimoni, Dr. Marc Klutstein, and Evy Kuppershmidt, live in Israel.