NewRoc Now

New Rochelle lost two of its most incredible and inspiring residents, Rabbi Jacob Rubenstein and his wife, Deborah in a tragic fire. Rabbi Rubenstein was the Rabbi of Young Israel of Scarsdale, which is on the border of New Rochelle and Scarsdale.

Rabbie Rubenstein was a great father, a great husband a great scholar and an incredible thinker than transformed the Jewish community of Westchester along with the lives of thousands. His wife, Debbie, was his perfect soul-mate, and their marriage was a model for all of us to aspire to. They were the parents of 4 lovely young adults that are undoubtedly feeling immense pain and shock at such a tragic loss.

Rabbi Rubenstein was an incredible creative thinker, but more importantly he was a ‘doer’. He lead the Young Israel of Scarsdale through 2 or 3 building expansions and was largely responsible for creating the environment that grew the shul to over 400 families from less than 100. His deeds are so numerous that I won’t even attempt to list them as I’m sure there will be numerous personal accounts as the days pass.

He was an Orthodox Rabbi that thought ‘outside of the box’ and as such he attracted great scholars, business people, religious scholars, political leaders, family leaders and dynamic, creative people to his shul. He was able to balance a community full of great achievers with a love and warmth that was infectious and genuine.

He attracted people from all walks of life to religion because of his warmth and love of learning. He could put Jewish learning into the context of our times and brought the joys of Jewish learning to thousands that never would have experienced it.

The loss of Debbie and Jake, as they liked to be called, will reverberate around in the world and in the hearts of many thousands of people who were touched by him.  We wish his wonderful children peace and look forward to understanding the lessons that will come from their tragic loss.