Abraham Rhinewine

Who was Abraham Rhinewine?

Abraham Rhinewine was a Polish-born, Canadian-Jewish editor, publisher and author, among the most prominent Jewish journalists in Canada during his time. He was raised as an orthodox Jew in Mezhirech, Poland and trained to be a rabbi, but at the age of 15, he became a socialist and, apparently after attempting to unionize his father's factory, was sent to England to continue his secular education. He later settled in North America, where he was to work briefly and unsuccessfully in the millinery industry in New York City. He then settled in Toronto where he began his brief but highly distinguished career as a journalist and scholar. He is the author of several books in Yiddish as well as English, as well as many journalistic articles in these languages, and was publisher and editor-in-chief of the Hebrew Journal, a key Jewish newspaper in Toronto. Although he did not possess an advanced degree apart from a rabbinical certification from Poland and coursework from McMaster University, he taught courses in Judaism at the University of Toronto and was well regarded as a secular scholar. He was politically active as a Jew and passionately advocated the Zionist cause for a Jewish state in Palestine. Following an unfortunate ouster from his position at the newspaper, he died May 19, 1932, at age 44, of complications from diabetes.