Rufus Learsi, Noted Jewish Educator, Author, Journalist, Dead at 76

Funeral services were held here today for Israel Goldberg, prominent American-Jewish educator, author and journalist, known under the pen name of Rufus Learsi, who died this weekend, aged 76.

Born near Bialystok, Russia, he was brought to this country by his parents when he was a child. He was educated in the New York public schools and received his degree from City College. After teaching history and foreign languages in the city high schools, he turned to writing. Among his most prominent works were “Fulfillment, the Epic Story of Zionism, ” “Israel; A History of the Jewish People, ” “The History of the Jews in America,” and a number of children’s books. He worked with both the Jewish Education Association and the Jewish Education Committee, founded and edited “World Over, ” and was editor, among other publications, of the Zionist Quarterly and the Jewish Forum. He was the co-author, with Dr. Samson Benderley, of the three-volume “Outline of Jewish Knowledge.”

One of his most prominent contributions was the authorship of the prayer to the martyrs of the Warsaw Ghetto which has entered the Jewish liturgy. The prayer is now recited in Jewish homes each year as part of the Seder on Passover.