Morton A. Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is honored and proud to announce that accomplished real estate investor and manager and extraordinary Zionist activist Rubin Margules has been elected ZOA’s Chairman of the Board. Rubin is a graduate of the City University of New York and received an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business.

Since working on the Kibbutz Tirat Tziri out of high school, Rubin has committed his time, energy, and finances toward strengthening the Jewish State of Israel. During the Six-Day War, he organized his first fundraiser for Israel. 

He is a member of the Board of the Jerusalem Reclamation Project, Ateret Cohanim and is also a Member of the Ariel University Board of Trustees. In addition, Rubin has served for 10 years as president of his congregation, The Manhattan Beach Jewish Center.

He has also become well known for his 20-year leadership of the annual ZOA Purim distribution of mishloach manot to over 9,000 IDF soldiers each year. He organizes hundreds of people bringing gifts, singing songs, and presenting letters from Yeshiva students thanking the IDF soldiers for their courageous defense of Israel.

His wife Cecilia serves as vice president of Emunah of America and co-chair of the Holocaust Study Center at Emunah College in Baka, Jerusalem.

Rubin is a recipient of ZOA’s highest honor, the Justice Louis D. Brandeis Award for Defense of Israel. He was also honored with the Jerusalem Award for Diaspora Leadership at the Jerusalem/Arutz Sheva Conference in 2022, as well as the Shomer Yisrael award from the Bet El, Israel Educational Institutions. Rubin shared with his wife the Jerusalem Reclamation Project Bonei Yerushalayim award.

Rubin Margules epitomizes and exemplifies the true meaning of the word “Zionist”. The ZOA is thrilled to have him serve as our Chairman of the Board.