MHC’s Rabbi Rubinfeld retiring
RABBI Dovid Rubinfeld is bringing down the curtain on almost 30 years of rabbinical leadership and cantorial song at Melbourne Hebrew Congregation (MHC), but the musically impassioned rabbi hopes to continue his chazanut in Melbourne's Jewish community.
RABBI Dovid Rubinfeld is bringing down the curtain on almost 30 years of rabbinical leadership and cantorial song at Melbourne Hebrew Congregation (MHC), but the musically impassioned rabbi hopes to continue his chazanut in Melbourne’s Jewish community.
Born in Belgium and educated in the US, the rabbi came to Australia in 1973, initially living in Sydney, then moving to Melbourne, beginning his long association with MHC, often dubbed “Toorak shule”, in the role of a cantor in 1989.
“I walked an hour from my home in St Kilda to South Yarra [to MHC] and I never believed I would be there more than one Shabbes, and I’ve been there for 28-and-a-half years,” he mused.
Appointed as MHC’s chief rabbi in 2002, Rabbi Rubinfeld continued that role until 2011, and resumed it in 2014 after the departure of Rabbi Avrohom Jacks.
Looking back at his years at MHC, a journey he has taken with Rebbetzin Miriam Rubinfeld, he was philosophical. “Rabbonim [rabbis], you can find a lot of. Everyone who goes for s’micha [ordination] becomes a rabbi.
“But music is what I [originally] came to the shule for. It didn’t enter my mind to become a rabbi when I started as a chazan. The music was a very important thing – and the people who love it and enjoy it.”
Rabbi Rubinfeld’s repertoire is diverse, and in the spirit of the flagship shule of Melbourne, the affable rav would sing club songs for people’s favourite AFL football teams at weddings and bar mitzvahs.
As a rabbi, he reflected, “I held shiurim that drew in people, some of them who had not studied for many years, and it brought back memories for them.” A conversion to Judaism he supervised resulted in the convert “becoming ultra-religious”, with a fervour that inspired the rabbi.
Rabbi Rubinfeld’s successor will be Rabbi Ephraim Lever of Melbourne. “I wish the new rabbi success and I wish him achievement,” he said, adding that a younger rabbi will be a drawcard for bringing new generations to MHC in greater numbers.
Planning to continue his involvement as a freelance community rabbi and chazan, Rabbi Rubinfeld reflected, “Some rabbis might be a rabbi of their congregants, but I was a rabbi of congregants and of friends.”
MHC president Stephen Stern lauded the rabbi and his chazanut as “much loved … he has become a part of the history of many families”.
PETER KOHN
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