Rabbi Abraham (Yehuda Leib) Rubinstein is another one of Britain’s somewhat forgotten rabbis. He was born in 1919 in Glasgow, to immigrants Jacob and Fanny Rubinstein. His father died at the young age of 34, two years later. At the age of nine he was a soloist in the choir of the South Portland Street Synagogue. When he was 14 he entered the Gateshead Yeshiva. While only 17 he acted as the Baal Tekiah (shofar blower) at the Garnethill Synagogue.
He was appointed Minister of the Netherlee and Clarkston Synagogue in 1940 at the age of 21. He was responsible for starting the synagogue, because the congregation had no premises of it’s own, and found a free empty shop in a new housing estate, which became the congregation’s shool (synagogue).
In 1946 he became Minister of the Giffnock and Newlands congregation, also a young synagogue, having been founded in 1933.
He was said to be a man of great vigour and enthusiasm, who threw himself into the task of developing his congregation. By the 1960s it had the largest membership of any in Scotland.
Rabbi Rubinstein was given leave of absence in 1947 to study at Gateshead Yeshiva, and in 1948 he received semicha (his rabbinical diploma) from both Gateshead Yeshiva and the Yeshiva Etz Chaim in London.
Rabbi Rubinstein’s achievements in the field of Jewish education were outstanding. The synagogue classes by 1964 had 240 children. He started a nursery school, a Talmud study circle, and a youth club. Rebbetzen Rubinstein started a ladies guild.
Rabbi Rubinstein was clerk to the Glasgow Beth Din, and declined an appointment to the Beth Din itself because he was too busy. He was Co-founder and President of the Glasgow Sabbath Observance Organization. He was Chaplain to the Jewish Old Age Home in Glasgow and President of the Glasgow Association of Rabbi’s and Ministers.
Rabbi Rubinstein was a learned Hebrew scholar, as can be seen by this book and others, some written for children. He quotes sources that demonstrate that he was widely read, including Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Ferber of London. He was also known as a forceful preacher.
And then he died, suddenly, at a young age like his father, on April 20th, 1964, at the age of 45, leaving a widow, two sons and four daughters. One wonders what he would have written and contributed if his life had not been cut short.
Jewish Miscellanies 