Ben Zion Rubstein, one of the most colorful figures among Soviet Jewish scholars and head of the Jewish State Museum, died here today. He was 52 years old.
Mr. Rubstein was born in Poltava province and was left an orphan when he was eight years old. He was raised at the home of an uncle, but when the boy manifested an interest in world learning which interfered with religious learning, he was ostracized by his relatives and forced to leave.
When he was sixteen years old, he entered the Zionist movement, but was expelled some time later because of his sympathies with the Jewish revolutionary movement in Russia. In 1903 he was compelled to leave Russia owing to his revolutionary activities and he made his way to Switzerland, where he lived until 1905. When the abortive revolution broke out that year he returned to Russia and worked in Odessa as propagandist for the Bund, the Jewish Socialist organization.
Owing to differences of opinion on the Jewish question, Mr. Rubstein left the Bund in 1907 and began to write prolifically on Jewish historical subjects.
He took an active part in the
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