Rabbi Reuvain Maier
ראובן ב"ר מאיר
Rav, Congregation B'nai Abraham "Rumanian Schil", MinneapolisDate of Death:
Mon. February 27, 1967 -
Adar I 17 5727
Anyone with biographical information is asked to please send it in.
See CONTACT page for details. Thank you.
Directions to Kever: New Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon on Long Island should not be confused with Old Montefiore Cemetery in Springfield Gardens, Queens. Location: Section: 5; Block: 7; Row: 3; Grave: 32R; Society Name: BURIAL GROUNDS OSZ CAMPS, Closest intersection = 2ND. AVE. SOUTH / MACHPELAH ROAD
Name Listed on Cemetery Database: REUBEN MAIER
Biographical Notes:
Source: The American Jewish World, August 29, 1947, Credit: The National Library of Israel
Bio Information:
Rabbi Maier’s wife Sophie was the daughter of Rabbi Alexandru Șafran, the chief rabbi of Romania. In addition to Minneapolis, Rabbi Maier rabbinated in Hibbing, Minnesota, and Brooklyn, New York.
« Previous: Rabbi Yitzchok BuninNext: Rabbi Eliyahu Dovid Stampher »
Detailed directions to the kever:
– See http://montefiores.org/maps/NM-SEC-5-BL-7.pdf for general details of that section of the cemetery (listed above)
– Take the main cemetery road (Montefiore Rd.) all the way from the entrance and past the opposite side of the office.
– Continue to Machpelah Rd. and turn right.
– Pass 1st Ave South then 2nd Ave. South and then park on the side.
– On the right side, in the middle of the road there will be a walkway through the graves that’s marked with row numbers starting with 20 and going downwards.
– Turn towards the right at row #3 and a large tombstone with the Maier’s info will be seen a few graves away – the walking space is a bit tight over there
(also see: http://newmontefiorecemetery.org/interment/?id=5295868)
Rabbi Maier was a rabbi and also a principal of religious schools in Germany from about 1914 to 1927. He came to the USA in 1927 on behalf of the Mizrachi.
In 1930, he became rabbi at Congregation Ahavath Israel at Ave K/East 29th in Brooklyn. (At some point after he left, he would be succeeded by Rabbi Bernard Berzon for many decades starting in 1939. Later the shul changed its name to Young Israel of Avenue K and has been led by Rabbi Aryeh Ralbag for a few decades)
See: https://bklyn.newspapers.com/clip/21010211/rabbi-reuben-maier-in-brooklyn-ny-1930/
He was a rabbi in New York for about a total of 20 years.
From 1947 to 1952 he was rabbi of Bnai Abraham in Minneapolis, MN and then became a rabbi at Agudas Achim in Hibbing, MN. Also see:
https://www.mnopedia.org/group/bnai-abraham-congregation-minneapolis
https://www.mnopedia.org/multimedia/agudas-achim-synagogue-hibbing
He gained some online notice in recent years for being known as the rabbi who gave Bob (Zimmerman) Dylan bar mitzva lessons in 1954 during his stint of a few years as the rabbi in Hibbing.
In the following 1949 article it says that he had authored two books called “Rays of Light” and “Pillars of the World”
https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/amjwld/1949/12/09/01/article/92/?e=——-he-20–1–img-txIN%7ctxTI————–1
I searched for listings those books in various places (I also tried for קרני אור and עמודי העולם) but could not find anything.
In 1956 while in Hibbing, he authored a sefer of drashos in English (M’leheth Solomoh) with two different copies on hebrewbooks.org.
https://hebrewbooks.org/3344
https://hebrewbooks.org/1051
He was a son-in-law of בצלאל זאב שאפראן ( https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/בצלאל_זאב_שפרן ) who was a significant rav in Romania.
See Rav Shafran’s שו”ת הרב”ז at https://hebrewbooks.org/1235
In that sefer on page 209 / siman 107 (p. 258 of the PDF) the rav writes a teshuva to his son-in law Reuven Rabinowitz ראבינאווטש re: mikva in the village of בעקאס – I believe this son in law was Rabbi Reuben Maier since R. Betzalel Zev had no other son-in-law named Reuven. Also, Rabinowitz makes sense since R. Maier’s own father was also a rav (named Meir) and see the following 1950 article below which mentions a former surname of Rabinovici in the family while they were in Europe: From 1950 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21005196/rabbi-reuben-maier-reunites-with/
In the same sefer, on page 5 of the hakdama on Evev haEzer (p. 334 of the PDF) Rav Betzalel Zev’s son Henoch writes re: his brother in law Rabbi Reuven Maier:
(גיסי הרה״ג החכם, ר׳ ראובן ד׳ר מאיר נ״י, בעל אחותי הרבנית הכבודה זיסל ת׳ (רב במיניאפאליס
Also see:
From 1937 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21005251/rabbi-reuben-maier-speaking-in/
From 1955 https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/amjwld/1955/01/28/01/article/64/?e=——-he-20–1–img-txIN%7ctxTI————–1
and
https://www.myheritage.com/names/rabbi_maier
https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/sophie-zisi-shafran-24-2d5nr9
https://www.geni.com/people/Rabbi-Dr-Rueben-Maier/6000000071563519927
God Bless this Man
This is my great grandfather! My dads mothers father.
^And my great great grandfather (and Aunt Erika). Just found out there is a street in Jerusalem named after Sophie Maier’s father, Rabbi Bezalel Zeev Shafran. Hope to visit someday, maybe even meet some of the Shafran family.
He was a decedent from the Rebbe R’ Mendele of Rimanov