Shelley Rubin is an American social activist and the widow of

JDL The Jewish Defense League (JDL) is a Jewish far-right religious-political organization in the United States and Canada, whose stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary". It has been classified as "a right wi ...

International Chairman

Irv Rubin Irving David Rubin (April 12, 1945 – November 13, 2002) was a Canadian-born American political and religious activist who served as chairman of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) from 1985 to 2002. He committed suicide in jail when awaiting trial on ...

, and is currently the chairman and CEO of the USA-based,

Kahanist Kahanism () is an extremist Jewish ideology based on the views of Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League and the Kach party in Israel. Kahane maintained the view that the majority of Arabs living in Israel are enemies of Jews an ...

Jewish Defense League The Jewish Defense League (JDL) is a Jewish far-right religious-political organization in the United States and Canada, whose stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary". It has been classified as "a right w ...

, a group which was classified as "a right-wing terrorist group" by the FBI in 2001.

Biography

Rubin is Jewish, resides in California, and is the widow of

International Chairman

. She is also the chairman and CEO of the USA-based,

, a group which was classified as "a right-wing terrorist group" by the FBI in 2001. She is responsible for ideological and strategic direction, organizational development, activities coordination, and daily administration of the JDL. She has been a member of the JDL since 1979, and served from 1985–2006 as Administrative Director (primarily under the leadership of her husband, late JDL International Chairman Irv Rubin), and has served as Chairman and CEO of the JDL since 2006. In 1980, she was arrested during a scuffle at a

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

rally, as she carried a Reagan-Bush poster. In 1988, she was editor of the ''

B'nai B'rith B'nai B'rith International (, from he, בְּנֵי בְּרִית, translit=b'né brit, lit=Children of the Covenant) is a Jewish service organization. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish peopl ...

Messenger''. In 2002, after her husband's death she called for an investigation, saying he would not have committed suicide.

Lancaster City Council Prayer lawsuit

She and Maureen Feller filed suit in 2010 in

Los Angeles Superior Court The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Los Angeles County, which includes the city of Los Angeles. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States. The ...

to try to stop the City of Lancaster City Council sessions from including a Christian prayer. She described the use of the prayer by Rev. Martin Brauer as "showing a lack of respect for every American who doesn't share his brand of religion". She filed the suit three weeks after Lancaster voters supported a ballot vote to allow the prayers. The case was assigned to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Susan Bryant-Deason. The City removed the case to federal court. In June 2011, Judge Dale Fischer of the U.S. Central District Court found against her and her co-plaintiff in a bench trial. Rubin appealed the case. In March 2013, a three-judge panel of the U.S.

Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

, including District Judge

Jack Zouhary Jack Zouhary (born December 18, 1951) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Education and career Zouhary was born in 1951 and raised in Toledo, Ohio as the son of Lebane ...

, and Circuit Judges

Alfred T. Goodwin Alfred Theodore Goodwin (June 29, 1923 – December 27, 2022) was an American jurist who was a United States federal judge, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and also a district judge of th ...

and Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, affirmed the district court ruling against her, upholding Lancaster’s prayer policy as not affecting an unconstitutional establishment of religion.

Depictions

Rubin is depicted in the documentary film ''Mother with a Gun'', which won Best Australian Documentary at the 2016

Antenna Documentary Film Festival Antenna Documentary Film Festival was established in 2011. It is an international documentary film festival held annually every October in Sydney, Australia. The festival was set up to promote documentary as an art form, with programming focusing ...

and was selected for the documentary film festival, DOC NYC.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubin, Shelley Living people American Jews American Kahanists American newspaper editors American social activists Jewish American activists Year of birth missing (living people)

Biography

Lancaster City Council Prayer lawsuit

Depictions

See also

References