Father of Late Actor Best Known as Pee-Wee Herman Was Co-Founding Pilot of Israeli Air Force
by Shiryn Ghermezian
Paul Reubens speaking with attendees at the 2019 Phoenix Fan Fusion at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo: Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons
Jewish American actor and comedian Paul Reubens — who was best known for playing the nerdy, eccentric and comedic character he created, Pee-wee Herman — died on Sunday night at the age of 70 after battling cancer, the same illness that killed his father, who was a co-founding pilot of the Israeli Air Force (IAF).
The writer and producer was privately battling cancer for the past six years. In a statement shared by his family on Instagram, Reubens said before his passing: “please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years. I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you.”
Reubens’ father, Milton Rubenfeld, helped establish the IAF. The actor told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in 2004: “My father didn’t like to talk about his many accomplishments. In 1948, he and a small group of Americans helped establish the state of Israel and form the Israeli Air Force. Israel honored him for his heroism and leadership and his plane was preserved and displayed outside the airport in Tel Aviv with a plaque bearing his name.”
Rubenfeld taught aerial acrobatics before World War II. During the war he joined Britain’s Royal Air Force to fight against Nazi Germany and later was part of the US Air Force unit Air Transport Command, helping to transport planes, people and materiel to and from the United States.
In February 1948, Haganah, a Zionist paramilitary organization that wanted to create an air force for the Jewish state, was looking for Jewish WWII pilots with combat experience and approached Rubenfeld, according to Military.com. He began ferrying planes to Israel and was one of only five of the eight volunteer aviators recruited by the Haganah that could fly Israel’s four Avia fighter aircrafts in combat. Those five volunteers created Israel’s first Air Force. He first mission was on May 30, 1948, attacking an Iraqi armored column that was advancing against Israel. He flew alongside Ezer Weizman, who later became Israel’s seventh president.
Rubenfeld died from cancer at age 84 in Sarasota, Florida, in February 2004. Reubens took two years off from his career to relocate to Florida to care of his terminally ill father, the Today show reported.
The actor made his big screen debut as Pee-wee Herman in the 1985 comedy Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, which was Tim Burton’s feature film directorial debut. He also starred in Pee-wee’s Playhouse, a series on CBS that ran for five seasons from 1986 to 1990. The show won 22 Emmy Awards, including two personal wins for Reubens. He later starred in 1988’s Big Top Pee-wee, Batman Returns, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Matilda, and Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, among his many television credits. The comedian received a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame in 1988.
He is survived by a sister, Abby Rubenfeld, and a brother, Luke Rubenfeld.
