Remembering a ‘down-to-earth icon'

Jules Rabin, a World War II veteran and widely respected leader in the Valley Stream and local Jewish community, died on January 10, 2022 from natural causes. He was 94. Rabin was among the last members of the Greatest Generation residing in the village, having lived through the Great Depression. He graduated from Clear Stream Avenue Elementary School and then soon after he graduated from Valley Stream Central High School in 1944, he enlisted as a merchant marine in World War II and later served in the US Army in the Korean War. By the end of the second world war, a returning Rabin obtained his bachelor’s degree from Hofstra University. Merging his two passions – writing and sports – he broke into sports journalism, writing for various publications including the Nassau Review Star, the Brooklyn Eagle, and the Long Island Press.

While on the sports beat, Rabin covered NFL athletic legend Jim Brown’s high school career at Manhasset High School on the North Shore. And he was a friend and confidante of Al Davis, a former assistant coach at Adelphi, before he moved west to coach for the Oakland Raiders. His love for sports began early on.

“He would tell me stories about him as a young boy going over to Ebbets Field to watch the Brooklyn Dodgers and the ushers would let him and his cousin in after the seventh inning to go watch without having to pay because they grew up during the Depression and couldn’t wrestle enough money for baseball games,” said his daughter Alison Walsh.

After he married, Sylvia Druckerman, 89, on June 13, 1954, Rabin abandoned the hectic traveling life of a sports journalist to settle down and start a family in Valley Stream, where his family first laid roots years before as Jewish immigrant business owners. With the same entrepreneurial spirit, he opened up an advertising agency on Rockaway Avenue known as Jules Rabin Associates Inc. which lasted for 50 years. He was an active member of the Valley Stream Chamber of Commerce, where he served as Vice President of the board.

Walsh remembers that his father had an unwavering dedication to family. From her first freshman year till her last day at Boston University, Rabin would send letters to her, and every day, she would find a comforting message waiting for her in her mailbox. “He wanted me not to feel lonely or miss out” on family, she said. 

Those who knew him said he was both “tough” and gentle, fiercely caring and loyal toward his community, and highly sought after by others for his advice. He had “a real sense of responsibility,” said Walsh. “He made it clear that when you take something on, you see it through. You don’t take words lightly. If you say you’re going to do something, you do it. And so you really have to think about commitments you make, and be sure that you intend to follow through. That’s just how he lived.”

He also served for multiple terms as president of the Sunrise Jewish Center-Congregation Beth Shalom and worked tirelessly to make it into a thriving congregation, now known as Chabad of Valley Stream.

Years ago, Valley Stream was losing its local congregation members to the “big Jewish communities in North Woodmere and Hewlett and Mr. Rabin advocated hiring Chabad clergy to reach out to non-members and open doors to everyone which was a significant change,” said Rabbi Yitzchak Goldshmid of the Chabad in Valley Stream. “And while Mr. Rabin and I practice our faiths differently, he had the clarity and vision to make the necessary changes for the sake of the community.”

“When Rabin walked into the synagogue, everyone would get up and greet him,” said son-in-law Nick Cassano. “Even the rabbi would stop the service to come down and greet him. He always had a smile and made a speech at the end of the services. He was a down-to-earth icon.”