Russian Constituent Assembly
Rafes was a member of the 1917 Russian Constituent Assembly and also of the Central Council of Ukraine, the Petrograd Soviet, headed Jewish Bund in Kiev. In Kiev Rafes became a member of the Regional Committee in Protection of Revolution in Ukraine and served as the General Controller of the General Secretariat of Ukraine. He was succeeded at this post by another Bundist, Aleksandr Zolotarev.