It was that underlying love of Hashem’s world that first brought Moshe Shmuel Rubner into the medical field

RUBNER HOUSE, Stamford Hill, London

Dedicated in memory of Dr. Moshe Shmuel (Paul) Rubner a’’h

Who Was Dr. Rubner? 

Dr. Moshe Shmuel (Paul) Rubner was the Stamford Hill community’s beloved physician until his sudden death 13 years ago at age 57.

He was a man of few words, razor-sharp when he’d relay a diagnosis, but a truly gentle soul at his core, with a butter-soft personality beneath his stern demeanor.

“That tough outer layer was the only way he could remain standing on his two feet,” says his wife Aliza. “People didn't realize, but he was so fragile inside — he couldn't bear to see so much illness. He often told me that if not for his emunah and bitachon, he wouldn’t have been able to survive. He endured many sleepless nights over his patients' conditions.”

Of course you pulled your kids’ sticky fingers off the huge fish tank in the waiting room, prompted by that strict Yinglish note — “Nisht touchen und fingerpoken” — taped to it because, just as he cared profoundly for his patients, he cared for all of Hashem’s creations, including his gorgeous tropical fish collection, and he didn’t want the fish to be frightened by the incessant drumming of curious children.

It was that underlying love of Hashem’s world that first brought Moshe Shmuel Rubner into the medical field. Young Moshe Shmuel had been learning under Rav Yehuda Zev Segal ztz’’l, the Manchester Rosh Yeshivah, for two years, when he told his rosh yeshivah that he wanted to become a doctor. He had chanced upon a biology book and was fascinated. He quoted Shlomo Hamelech — “Mibesari echzeh Elokim, from my body I can see Hashem’s greatness” — and asked the Rosh Yeshivah for a brachah, but Rav Segal at that point didn’t agree.

“Nein,” declared Rav Segal, “Host a gutte kop, bleib doh. (No, you have a good head, stay here.)”

But, as Rav Segal already knew, Moshe Shmuel Rubner was as determined as they came. A few years earlier, after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, he and his parents had found refuge in London. The young boy didn’t know a word of English when he arrived, and to make matters more difficult, his father passed away, leaving his mother the sole breadwinner. But confused and broken as he was, he plowed through school and succeeded, eventually becoming one of Rav Segal’s prized talmidim.

But the call of medicine tugged at his heart, and in the end, he did apply to a medical school track. Given his humble yeshivah education, though, he was rejected. Unfazed, he decided to attain a degree in electrical engineering in order to maximize his chances, and after three years of study and a degree in hand, he reapplied to medical school and was accepted.

Several years later, on a Motzaei Shabbos, the newly qualified doctor got a call. Rav Segal was in London for a Shabbaton and he was not feeling well at this late hour. A talmid accompanying him remembered that their former yeshivah buddy had become a doctor, so they tracked him down and asked if he could perhaps make a house call.

“My husband hurried out the second after Havdalah and stayed with the Rosh Yeshivah the entire night,” remembers his wife Aliza.

A few days later, the recovered Rosh Yeshivah came with an entourage to visit Dr. Rubner in person, telling him, “Yetzt geb ich dir a brachah (Now I’ll give you a brachah!”)