Eli Rubenstein
Rubenstein was the President of the Israel Guide Dog Centre for the Blind, and was appointed to the Order of Canada in December 2022.
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.
[13] 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"[15][22][23] During the memorial program, a candle lighting ceremony was performed honoring the medical professionals who opposed the Nazis in the Holocaust.
He referred to three developments: [24] Subsequent to all of those changes, Rubenstein explained, “We also decided the following: that whatever conclusion you come to about the history of Polish Jewish relations, because it's a complicated subject, there is no excuse for not building bridges today.
[29] 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.
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.
"[31] 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.
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."
In January 2023, after receiving the Order of Canada one month prior, Rubenstein was interviewed by Matt Galloway on CBC’s The Current as part of their segments on the recipients from the Office of the Governor General that year.
Galloway introduced the segment by saying, "Another story of a Canadian doing extraordinary work from finding his calling as a child learning about the Holocaust to educating generations about antisemitism."
Rubenstein's appointment to the Order of Canada was listed "For his significant contributions and innovative programs in Holocaust education as a writer, storyteller, film producer and community organizer.
[37] Rubenstein introduced a number of Canadian Holocaust survivors to Justice Thomas Walther, Germany's last Nazi hunter.
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.
[59] 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.
