Rūjiena — a town (since 1920) in Valmiera District (Republic of Latvia). It was founded in 1872 as the settlement of Rujen in Wolmar County of the Livonia Governorate. In 1918–1940 it was part of the Republic of Latvia, and in 1940–1991 of the Latvian SSR.

In 1897 there were 196 Jews living in Rūjiena (9.4% of the population); in 1920 — 75 (2%); in 1930 — 73 (2%); and in 1935 — 62 Jews (2%).

Jews began settling in Rūjiena in the late 19th century. In 1877 a building was purchased for a synagogue. From the 1920s a Jewish community functioned in the town. The main occupation of the Jewish population was trade. In 1935 Jews owned about one third of the town’s shops and commercial enterprises. Among the Jews were several craftsmen as well as a dentist. From 1936 the rabbi of Rūjiena was Yakov Grubin (1911, Dvinsk — ?). In 1939 the synagogue building was reconstructed.

On 25 July 1941 Rūjiena was occupied by Wehrmacht forces. In the summer of 1941 the Jews of the town were murdered.

Among those born in Rūjiena were M. V. Goldberg and Viktor Veniaminovich Goldberg (1903–1978, Federal Republic of Germany), a urologist and Candidate of Medical Sciences, who in 1959 was the first in the world to perform intravenous pyelography and hydraulic lithotripsy.