Ruth Rubin

Ruth Rubin (September 1, 1906 – June 11, 2000) was a Canadian-American folklorist, singer, poet, and scholar of Yiddish culture and music.

Early life Born Rivke Rosenblatt in 1906 in Khotin, Bessarabia, she grew up speaking Yiddish, English and French. In 1924, she moved to New York where she studied music and attended night school at Hunter College while working as a secretary and stenographer.

Rubin's work is considered deeply significant as she began gathering folksong and Yiddish folktales at a time when there was very little interest in Yiddish culture. She gathered thousands of songs over the next twenty years from a generation of survivors who had nearly been annihilated by Nazism and later Stalinist repression. In tandem with this work, Rubin continued her studies in Yiddish language and history with scholar Max Weinreich. As part of the folk revival movement, she performed at New York's Town Hall and Carnegie Recital Hall, participated in Expo 67, and appeared in folk concerts with Pete Seeger, Paul Robeson and Ronnie Gilbert. She was also heavily involved in the Jewish Music Forum and the National Jewish Music Council and fostered international scholarly relations with folklorists in Israel and Europe. She recorded collaborations with Pete Seeger, Fred Hellerman, Dick Weissman and Hedy West.

Awards Lifetime Achievement Award, Yiddish Folk Arts Program 1989

Selected discography