Today marks the Shloshim of Rav Ephraim Rubenstein zt”l, the posek of Kerem B’Yavneh for many decades. I wanted to share a few personal memories. I was zoche to have a few unique interactions, in my role as the KBY media guy, and as an Avreich who lived on campus.
Before we begin: these stories are told from memory. Time has passed, and Rav Rubinstein spoke in Hebrew, so the quotes below are my English rendering of what I remember, not word-for-word transcripts. The details may be slightly off. The spirit is accurate.
Humor
The Later Minyan
During Bein HaZmanim at Kerem B’Yavneh, the schedule changed. The main Shacharis minyan was at 7:15, and at some point the yeshiva added a later minyan at 8:00.
One morning I davened at 7:15. There weren’t many people there. As I stood next to Rav Ruvenstein, each of us taking off our tefillin, it was around 8:00, and avreichim and rabbanim were streaming in for the later minyan.
Rabbi Rubinstein watched them come in. Then he turned to me with his mischievous smile and said something like: “They told me this later minyan was going to be for the local teens. But I knew what was really going to happen.”
A Real Job
Towards the end of my time in yeshiva, I published my first booklet, a short piece on the Torah value of working. I gave Rabbi Rubinstein a copy.
A few days later he came over to me and said he had read it and really enjoyed it. Then, with that same smile, he added: “You convinced me. I think it’s time for me to go get a real job.”
Humility
The Box of Matzah
One year I went with Rabbi Rubinstein and a group of rabbanim to bake matzah. He was extremely focused and precise, with every detail of the process and the cleaning.
At the end we returned to the yeshiva to put the baked matzos into storage. Rabbi Rubinstein and another rav on the staff, Rav Dovid Mintz, who was about twenty years younger, both reached for the same box.
Rav Mintz didn’t want the senior rav doing extra schlepping. Rav Rubinstein wanted to show deference to Rav Mintz, a big talmid chacham in his own right, even though he was much younger. So they stood there, each trying to pry the box away from the other.
I watched, amused, for a moment. Then I stepped forward and offered to resolve the dispute by taking the matzah myself. Rav Rubesntein was thrilled at the solution.
The Zimun
One Friday night at the yeshiva, Rabbi Rubinstein was eating with the bochurim, and Rabbi Shalom Rosner was there as a guest for Shabbos. It was decided that Rabbi Rubinstein would give the dvar Torah at the meal.
At the end of the meal, the gabbai did what was customary: whoever gave the dvar Torah also led the zimun, so he handed the cup of wine to Rabbi Rubinstein.
Rabbi Rubinstein took the cup, walked over to the other table, and gave it to Rabbi Rosner. Rabbi Rosner asked him, “What do you mean? Shouldn’t we follow the yeshiva’s minhag? You gave the dvar Torah, so you should lead the zimun.”
I happened to be sitting at Rabbi Rosner’s table. Rabbi Rubinstein answered, “No, no, no. The talmidim will think I want all the honor for myself.” And he insisted that Rabbi Rosner lead.
Care
The Phone Call
During COVID, I was the yeshiva videographer, in charge of recording and uploading shiurim while the yeshiva was running digitally. One Motzei Shabbos around Pesach, I was sent to Rabbi Rubinstein’s house to record a halacha shiur on Hilchos Chol HaMoed.
I went into his study, wearing a mask, and set up the camera and microphone. He was about to begin when he said, “Wait a second.” He picked up his phone and called someone.
I had no idea who it was. He told the person on the line that he was about to give a shiur on the topic they had been learning together, and he thought he might enjoy listening in. Then he put the phone on the table, and the whole shiur went out to that person as well.
I only understood the significance later. Rabbi Rubinstein took great care of many of the guys who struggled, whether because of difficult family situations or older singles, and various other challenges. This was one of them. It was Shabbos during lockdown, and this guy was alone. Rabbi Rubinstein had been thinking about him and looking for a way to include him and brighten a hard stretch.
Lag BaOmer, 2020
During COVID, Maariv was held outdoors. The minyan stretched between the back of Rabbi Rubinstein’s house and the front door of a neighbor’s, with people scattered across the grassy area. Rabbi Rubinstein always sat right outside his office door in the back.
We davened Maariv on Lag BaOmer night. There were no bonfires and no celebrations that year. When Maariv ended, Rabbi Rubinstein spoke up. He said it was Lag BaOmer, and even though there were no festivities and we were still in lockdown, there was no reason not to salvage a little of the spirit of the day.
He took two tea candles out of his pocket and lit them on the cement patio in front of him. Then he got everyone singing ‘Bar Yochai’.
It was nothing close to a normal Lag BaOmer. But he wanted to hold on to whatever he could of the day, even in those circumstances.
Photo Gallery
Finally, here are a few pics I took as Yeshiva photgrapher. I don’t have a picture of myself with Rav Rubesntein, but my esrog does.
