Eli Rubenstein OC [1] (born in 1959) is a Holocaust educator, writer, filmmaker, and activist. He is currently the religious leader of Congregation Habonim Toronto, [2] a Toronto synagogue founded by Holocaust survivors, served as the Director of Education for March of the Living International since 1988, and currently serves as National Director of March of the Living Canada from 1988 to 2024.
Rubenstein was raised in Toronto’s orthodox Jewish community by parents of Hungarian and Polish Jewish lineage. He attended Eitz Chaim School as a child. His mother, Esther Rubenstein nee Greenblatt, was a Holocaust refugee from Szatmárcseke, Hungary, who escaped to the United States in the spring of 1941 at age eight on one of the last trains permitted to leave Hungary. His great-grandmother, Amalia Malka Greenblatt (1860-1945), was deported to Auschwitz from Debrecen, Hungary, in 1944 but ended up at a forced labour camp in Austria due to the bombing of the Auschwitz train tracks. She survived the war and was carried back to Debrecen by family members but died on July 6, 1945. [3] [4] [5]
Rubenstein's father, Isadore Israel Rubenstein, was born in Toronto, Canada. His grandfather, Nechemia Charles Rubenstein, emigrated to Canada from Tarlow, Poland, in 1913. Nazi Germany destroyed the Jewish community of Tarlow, Poland, in the Holocaust, a subject Rubenstein addressed in a sermon he delivered to his congregation following his visit to Tarlow in 2011. [6] [7]
Rubenstein's first cousin is Jason Greenblatt, the former chief legal officer of the Trump Organization and former President Donald Trump's special representative for international negotiations. Holocaust survivor and anti war activist Robert Greenblatt is Rubenstein's first cousin, once removed. [8]
Rubenstein has served as the religious leader of Congregation Habonim Toronto since 1988, succeeding Rabbi Allen Veaner, who followed Rabbi Reuben Slonim.
He has helped facilitate collaborative initiatives with numerous organizations, such as Ve'ahavta [9] (for their annual Passover Seder for the Homeless), Sara and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre, [10] Free the Children, the Polish Consulate, the Toronto Partnership Minyan, [11] and various other organizations.
In 2015, amidst a growing membership and religious school, Rubenstein, together with Rabbi Cantor Aviva Rajsky, led the synagogue in a new building campaign to replace its decaying structure, which eventually raised the needed funds. Groundbreaking took place in the summer of 2018, and the new building was opened in the fall of 2019. [12]
A member of Congregation Habonim, Canadian actor, musician, and producer Shaina Silver-Baird credits the original idea for her comedy web series "Less Than Kosher" to her earlier days out of theatre school, recruited by Rubenstein as a substitute cantor for weddings and children's services at the synagogue. [13] Congregation Habonim has archived some of Rubenstein's sermons online. [14]
Rubenstein is an avid storyteller and speaker and has done so across Canada, the United States, Europe, Israel, and Africa. He was a co-organizer of ""Because God Loves Stories," an annual storytelling event in memory of mentor, Alec Gelcer. The concert was part of The Annual Toronto Festival of Storytelling. An article in CJN with Rubenstein interviewed reads, "Under [Alec] Gelcer’s influence, he introduced stories into his sermons. He noticed that sermons on theology sometimes had his congregation squirming in their seats. “But as soon as I launched into a story, people were sitting on the edge of their seats.” [15]
Rubenstein has been the keynote speaker for Holocaust Education Week in Toronto. Speaking about storytelling in 2011, he said, “When you hear a story you become part of the story. You place yourself in the shoes of the person in the story and you develop, probably the most important human quality, which is empathy. If you have empathy, that is the key to making the world a better place.” [16]
In Rubenstein's book,Witness: Passing the Torch of Holocaust Memory to New Generations, on the subject of the significance of storytelling and passing stories on, former president Obama said:
"I think of Pinchas Gutter, a man who lived through the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and survived the Majdanek death camp…‘I tell my story,’ he says, ‘for the purpose of improving humanity, drop by drop by drop. Like a drop of water falls on a stone and erodes it, so, hopefully, by telling my story over and over again, I will achieve the purpose of making the world a better place to live in.’ Those are the words of one survivor – performing that sacred duty of memory." [17]
Rubenstein has been involved with March of the Living since its inception in Canada in 1988. It is an annual educational program that brings together thousands of youths in Poland and Israel to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day and Israel's Independence Day. He assumed the role of National Director in 1989 and led his first Canadian delegation on the March in 1990, where he first met Elie Wiesel, whom he has prominently featured in his published works. [18]
In 2017, Elisha Wiesel was invited by Rubenstein to attend the March of the Living to light a torch in memory of his father, Elie Wiesel, where he delivered a speech to many thousands of participants. "It is a reminder to all of us that we are the next generation. We must all pick up the torch," Rubenstein commented. [19]
Over the years, Toronto has brought the largest delegation for the March of the Living, and Canada is among the countries with the largest delegation.
In 2019, Rubenstein led an effort to bring together the USC Shoah Foundation and the International March of the Living. The joint project involved capturing the testimonies of Holocaust survivors in Europe, using 360-degree filming techniques at the locations where they experienced life before and during the war and where they were liberated. This project aims to ensure that those participating in the March of the Living in Poland can benefit from the survivors' stories relevant to the places they visit. [20]
Commenting on this project, Rubenstein added that "by using emerging technologies, the project is transforming the way the stories and lessons of the Holocaust are learned by people around the globe". [20]
In one of Rubenstein's sermons titled, "Rescuing the Memory of the Six Million: One by One by One," he wrote about the 2021 Virtual March of the Living (during the COVID-19 pandemic, the in-person March was cancelled that year). The March of the Living commemorated Yom Hashoah with a special online program on the theme of "Medicine and Morality: Lessons from the Holocaust and COVID-19." [14] [21] [22]
During the memorial program, a candle lighting ceremony was performed honoring the medical professionals who opposed the Nazis in the Holocaust. A candle was also lit in memory of the victims of COVID-19. One of the six candles was lit in honor of Dr. Benedykt Ziemilski – one of the six million victims of the Holocaust. It was lit by Dr. Allen Nager, Director, Division of 1 Emergency and Transport Medicine and Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. [21] [22]
In the area of Holocaust education, Rubenstein has advocated for positive relations between Poland and Jews of Polish heritage, emphasizing the 1,000 years of Jewish history in Poland, introducing Polish-Jewish dialogue on the March of the Living, as well as working to recognize the heroic actions of the Righteous Among the Nations, especially those of Polish origin.
He has been quoted as saying, "We can debate the history of Jewish life in Poland over the centuries – and there are many divergent views on this subject. But there is no excuse now for not reaching out to today’s Poland, building bridges and fostering positive relations. We may not be able to forge a consensus about the past, but it is in our hands – indeed our obligation – to create a harmonious present and future for Jews and Poles." [23] [24] [25]
As part of Toronto's annual Holocaust Education Week, he has spoken at a number of interfaith programs, including ones at the Holy Trinity Armenian Church and St. Ansgar Lutheran Church in Toronto. [26]
On November 7, 2018, the Canadian government led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, issued a formal apology in the House of Commons for Canada's Holocaust-era record toward Jews, including its turning away of MS St. Louis and its None is Too Many policy. [27]
Speaking in Ottawa at a special ceremony after the event, where the Prime Minister, several ministers and a survivor of the St. Louis spoke, Rubenstein praised the Canadian government in his closing remarks:
"I asked a survivor I knew from Toronto what today was like for him. He said that, 'this was the most wonderful gesture a government could ever express', and this was echoed by a number of other survivors I spoke to. What a mitzvah, what a good deed, was done here today by our government! Elie Wiesel, of blessed memory, once said: Many people die twice. Once when they die, and once again when they are forgotten. So thank you, dear Prime Minister, and indeed all our political leaders, for making sure that the over 250 victims of St Louis, many who perished in Auschwitz/Birkenau, Sobibor, and other places, are never forgotten, so that they don't die a second death."
Rubenstein also commended the decision in the Canadian Jewish News, where he wrote: "Let us applaud our country and our elected officials for their ability to acknowledge Canada’s errors and forge a new path forward. Countries, just like people, can perform the mitzvah of teshuvah (repentance.)" [28]
Speaking on January 27, 2019, in Ottawa, at a Library and Archives Canada event marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Rubenstein said: "I was never more ashamed to be a Canadian, than when I first read "None is Too Many" as a student attending York University in the early 1980s. But I was never prouder to be a Canadian, than when our government issued its apology for this historic wrong." [29] [30]
In 1993, "For You Who Died I Must Live On...Reflections on the March of the Living" was published by Mosaic Press. The book was edited by Rubenstein, and featured the experiences from participants on the March from its first four years. It was subtitled, "Contemporary Jewish Youth Confront the Holocaust." The book won the 1994 Canadian Jewish Book Award. [31]
In 2015, Witness: Passing the Torch of Holocaust Memory to New Generations, authored by Rubenstein, was published by Second Story Press. The book was "inspired by a 2014 United Nations exhibit of reflections and images of Holocaust survivors and students who traveled on the March of the Living since 1988." Spanish, Polish and Hebrew were also subsequently published. In 2020, a special edition of Witness appeared, commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the end of WWII and the liberation of Europe from Nazi tyranny, and included a section dealing with liberation stories of Holocaust survivors. The new edition also featured an afterword by Steven Spielberg, founder of the USC Shoah Foundation, as well as content from Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis related to the March of the Living and stories concerning the Righteous Among the Nations.
About the significance of storytelling in Rubenstein's book,Witness: Passing the Torch of Holocaust Memory to New Generations, former president Obama said:
Blind Love: A Holocaust Journey to Poland with Man's Best Friend, a documentary that follows six blind Israelis traveling to Poland with the help of their guide dogs, to learn about the Holocaust. The film premièred in November 2015, at a special screening organized in conjunction with the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, and aired on CBC's Documentary Channel (Canada). It was screened at the Edmonton Jewish Film Festival in May 2016 as well. [32]
Rubenstein introduced a number of Canadian Holocaust survivors to Justice Thomas Walther (lawyer), Germany's last Nazi hunter. In 2015, with the testimony of these survivors at the trial of Oskar Gröning, a German SS member in Auschwitz, Walther successfully prosecuted Gröning. Known as the "bookkeeper of Auschwitz", Gröning was convicted of being an accessory to the murder of over 300,000 Hungarian Jews and was sentenced to four years in prison by a German court.
Rubenstein also interviewed Canadian residential school survivor, Chief Rodney Monague (1943-2013) of Christian Island. [54]
Rubenstein co-produced a short film, edited by Naomi Wise commemorating 85 years since the start of the first Kindertransport, when countries helped ship thousands of children out of Nazi occupied areas to safety. The film was released by International March of the Living, airing on Jewish Broadcasting Services in January, 2024. The film was titled, "If We Never See Each Other Again." [55]
Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah, known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah and in English as Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Holocaust Day, is observed as Israel's day of commemoration for the approximately six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, and for the Jewish resistance in that period. In Israel, it is a national memorial day. The first official commemorations took place in 1951, and the observance of the day was anchored in a law passed by the Knesset in 1959. It is held on the 27th of Nisan, unless the 27th would be adjacent to the Jewish Sabbath, in which case the date is shifted by a day.
The March of the Living is an annual educational program which brings students from around the world to Poland, where they explore the remnants of the Holocaust. On Holocaust Memorial Day observed in the Jewish calendar, thousands of participants march silently from Auschwitz to Birkenau.
Tarłów is a village in Opatów County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Tarłów. It lies approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) north-east of Opatów and 79 km (49 mi) east of the regional capital Kielce. It is approximately 13 kilometres (8 mi) north of the town of Ozarow. The village belongs to historic province of Lesser Poland.
The March of Remembrance and Hope (MRH) is a program designed for university and college students of all religions and backgrounds. The program takes place in mid-May, and includes a two-day trip to Germany, followed by a five-day visit to Poland. The international MRH program was founded in 2001 by Dr. David Machlis of the United States and Eli Rubenstein of Canada, both of whom were involved in the March of the Living (MOL) program.
"Lay Down Your Arms" is a peace song originally in Hebrew language as תפילה לשלום composed by the Israeli Doron B. Levinson in 1973 in the aftermath of Yom Kippur War when Levinson was temporarily blind at the time, having been injured during the war. The Hebrew lyrics are by Hamutal Ben Zeev-Efron. The song is a tribute to a fallen Israeli soldier. The lyrics written by Hamutal Ben Zeev-Efron are inspired by the Isaiah (2:4) that says "And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they teach their children war anymore".
Congregation Habonim Toronto, founded in 1954, is a liberal reform synagogue located at 5 Glen Park Avenue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the first Holocaust refugee/survivor congregations to develop in Canada. Although currently independent of any official denomination, its early founders modeled the synagogue on the example of early Reform Judaism in Germany.
Shmuel Gogol (1924–1993) was a Holocaust survivor, musician, and founder of the Ramat Gan harmonica band.
Sigmund A. Rolat or Zygmunt Rolat was a Polish-American philanthropist, art collector, and businessman. He was a founding donor of Polin, The Museum of the History of Polish Jews and a key supporter of numerous charitable endeavors.
Blind Love: A Holocaust Journey Through Poland with Man's Best Friend is a 2015 documentary film about blind Israelis traveling to Poland with the help of their guide dogs, to learn about the Holocaust. Footage includes blind participants taking part in the 2012 and 2013 March of the Living programs. The film is narrated by Michael Enright of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
Witness: Passing the Torch of Holocaust Memory to New Generations is a large format volume, published by Canadian Second Story Press, inspired by a 2014 United Nations exhibit of reflections and images of Holocaust survivors and students who have traveled on the March of the Living since 1988. The exhibit and the book are intended to educate a new generation of students about the atrocities of the Second World War. In collaboration with March of the Living, an organization that spearheads visits to the Polish grounds where Nazi atrocities occurred, Toronto religious leader and Holocaust educator Eli Rubenstein compiled this book which includes an introduction from Pope Francis.
The March of the Living Digital Archive Project, begun in 2013, aims to gather Holocaust testimony from Canadian survivors who have participated in the March of the Living. Since 1988, Holocaust survivors have traveled to Poland with young students on the March of the Living to share their Holocaust stories in the locations they transpired.
Avrum Rosensweig was the Founding Director and CEO of Ve'ahavta, a Canadian Jewish non-profit humanitarian and relief organization for twenty years. Rosensweig co-founded Ve'ahavta with Stephen Epstein, with a mission to encourage all Jews, and all peoples, to play a role in tikkun olam, 'repairing the world'. In 2016, Rosensweig stepped down as CEO and took on the position of founder and ambassador, speaking and fundraising in support of Ve'ahavta. Rosensweig served as Associate Religious Leader at Congregation Habonim Toronto, from 2005 to 2015.
Pigeon is a short film by Canadian director Anthony Green. It was produced by Emmy and Gemini nominated Canadian producer Karen Wookey. Jay Firestone was executive producer of the film.
Nate Leipciger is a Holocaust educator, public speaker and author.
Max T. Eisen was a Slovak author, public speaker, and Holocaust educator. He travelled throughout Canada giving talks about his experiences as a concentration camp survivor, to students, teachers, universities, law enforcement personnel, and the community at large.
Sidney Zoltak, is a Polish-Canadian author, Holocaust educator and the subject of several films. Zoltak has been featured on CBC in a special done by the channel.
Pinchas Gutter is a Holocaust educator and frequent guest lecturer for the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Centre and the March of the Living and March of Remembrance and Hope programs. He is one of the pioneers of an innovative project called Dimensions in Testimony in which a life-sized interactive biography will be wheeled into classrooms, lecture halls and museums. The idea is that the audience asks questions and pre-recorded statements from the video Gutter will respond – much as if talking to the real person. Gutter has also been the subject of a number of films by directors such as Fern Levitt, Eli Rubenstein, Stephen D. Smith and Zvike Nevo.
David Shentow was a Belgian-Canadian Holocaust survivor and educator, featured in Canadian films, books and articles. He received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012, and the Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers in 2017. For "extraordinary community service to the citizens of the City of Ottawa, the Province of Ontario and Canada", the "David Shentow Park" was unveiled by Mayor Jim Watson on 11 September 2022.
Edward Mosberg was a Polish-born American Holocaust survivor, educator, and philanthropist. During the Holocaust, he was held by the Nazis from 14 years of age in Kraków Ghetto, Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp, Auschwitz concentration camp, Mauthausen concentration camp, and a slave labor camp in Linz, Austria, that was liberated by the US Army in 1945. Nearly all of his family were murdered in the Holocaust.
Benedykt Ziemilski was a Polish physician and researcher. He was the father of Polish sociologist, writer, journalist, and mountaineer Andrzej Ziemilski. He was murdered by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust in 1942 in the Majdanek concentration camp. His Jewish identity, and reason for his murder, were only discovered by his family in recent years.
Media related to Eli Rubenstein at Wikimedia Commons
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