Rabbi Chagie Rubin was born in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. He moved as a child to the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He attended Rabbi Jacob Joseph School, and later studied at the Rabbinical College in St. Louis, Missouri. He received his semicha from the Yeshiva Gedolah of Montreal, Canada, where he studied from 1973 - 1979. Rabbi Rubin remained close with the Rosh Yeshiva, the late Rabbi Mordechai Weinberg, until his passing in 1992. In 1981, Rabbi Rubin joined the Kollel Yad Shaul of Johannesburg together with Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch (present Av Beis Din of Aidah HaCharadis of Yerushalayim) and several other families, in order to study and teach there.
In 1984, Rabbi Rubin was appointed principal of the Shaarei Torah Primary School, which was founded in 1978 to serve the new growing baal teshuvah community of Johannesburg. He served there for sixteen years, during which time the school grew from 50 to almost 300 students. He also founded the Shaarei Torah High School in 1993, which was registered with Cambridge University to offer internationally recognized diplomas to its graduates. Before leaving South Africa in 2000, Rabbi Rubin handed over this growing institution to Ohr Somayach of South Africa, where it continues to thrive.
In returning to the United States, Rabbi Rubin was appointed principal of the Cincinatti Hebrew Day School, where he served for two years. Accepting an invitiation from Hillel Academy of Denver Colorado, Rabbi Rubin became its principal from 2002 - 2008.
In 2008, Rabbi Rubin was offered the position of Executive Director and Head of Outreach of the Yeshiva Gedolah of Bridgeport, Connecticut, a newly founded yeshiva community. It was there that Rabbi Rubin made contact with his former student from South Africa, Ranaan Dvir, the current president of the Young Israel of New Haven. He then started offering the popular Sunday morning "Waffles & Wisdom" breakfast shiur. Since his appointment in 2009 as Rabbi of The Young Israel of Hew Haven, Rabbi Rubin has launched a number of very popular classes which are well-attended. The classes include "Waffles & Wisdom," "Koffe & Kitzur," "Monday Night Ramban on the Parsha," "The One Minute Halacha Lesson" ( after Shacharis and after Minchah), "Lessons in Pirkei Avot,” and more to come!
Currently, Rabbi Rubin also serves as principal of Hillel Academy of Fairfield, Connecticut. Rabbi Rubin also has been teaching at the Merkaz Jewish High School Program in Bridgeport. There, he launched a class entitled "Superheroes and the Jewish Connection," which has proven to be very popular with the teenage students.
Rabbi Rubin's wife Deena, hails from Monsey, NY. She has been an elementary and nursery school teacher for the past twenty five years. She presently is the nursery school teacher at the Yeshiva Ketana of Waterbury. Rabbi and Mrs. Rubin have seven boys, four girls, and twelve grandchildren. Five of their children are presently living in Israel.
Rabbi Rubin hopes to use his position at Young Israel to reach out and teach Torah to as many people in the community as possible as well as to increase Young Israel membership.