Moshe Rudinow was born in Liubech, Ukraine. He was orphaned at the age of eight, and was placed in the custody of Gedaliah Weinhause, a local cantor. Already at a young age he appeared as a cantor in the local synagogues. In 1904 he was brought to Kiev, where he lived with his uncle and joined the Brodski Synagogue choir.
Around 1913, Rudinow left for Odessa where he studied and graduated from the Odessa conservatory in 1918, after having taken a break in his studies due to being drafted to the army in 1915 and fighting in World War I. While in the conservatory, he met his wife-to-be and singing companion, Ruth Leviash.
Following his studies, Rudinow worked as a soloist member and conductor at Hazomir Society of Odessa and Kherson. While working there, he translated Russian songs into Hebrew and Yiddish, and performed the music of Jewish composers such as Engel, Saminsky, and Milner.
Due to a bad economic situation, the couple collaborated with several performers, travelling in a railway cart and giving concerts in military bases and villages. In 1921 they crossed the border to Poland and gave joint recitals there, in the Baltic States, and in Romania. The repertoire of their shows included operatic arias and Jewish songs, mainly sung by Moshe.
In 1925, the couple left for Palestine to perform with the Palestine Opera Company, where they met and maintained relations with composer Joel Engel. Subsequently in 1928, the couple immigrated to the US and settled in New York, where Rudinow began working as a choir soloist at Temple Emanu-El's choir, and was appointed cantor in 1931, a job he kept until 1948. In 1949, the couple moved to Oakland, California, in order to be closer to their children.
Moshe Rudinow died in 1953.
As a composer, Rudinow has composed the liturgical work Sabbath Evening Service, which he performed at Temple Sinai in Oakland.
Sources:
'Rudinow, Moshe.' Encyclopedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. 2nd ed. Vol. 17. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 523. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 5 June 2014; Temple Emanu-el Website; Rudinow, Moshe, and Ruth L. Rudinow. Two Lives in Song: Moshe Eli Rudinow (1890-1953) and Ruth Leviash (1890-1989). United States: Rudinow, 2003.
Further reading:
Full biography, written by family members, with quotes of Moshe Rudinow and his wife and colleague, Ruth Leviash (1890-1989): Two Lives in Song: Moshe Eli Rudinow (1890-1953) and Ruth Leviash (1890-1989).
