JewishPress.com regrets to inform our readers that Rabbi Shalom Gold, founder and rabbi of Congregation (Kehillat) Zichron Yosef in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood, passed away on the Sabbath at the age of 88.
The rabbi was taken to the hospital on Friday after having contracted an infection, according to the B’Hadarei Haredim news outlet. He passed away on Saturday with his family surrounding him.
Rabbi Dr. Sholom Gold was born in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, where he grew up and attended Yeshiva Torah Vodaath. He continued his learning at Yeshivas Ner Yisroel in Baltimore and at the Ponevezh Yeshiva and Chevron Yeshiva in Israel. He received his rabbinic ordination from Chief Rabbi Isaac Halevy Herzog and from HaRav Yaacov Yitzchak Ruderman, dean of Yeshiva Ner Yisroel.
The rabbi received a doctorate in Talmudic Letters from Ner Yisroel. In 1959 Rabbi Gold founded the Ner Yisroel Yeshiva College in Toronto and built Congregation Bnei Torah of Willowdale, Ontario. In 1971 Rabbi Gold accepted a position as spiritual leader of the growing community of Young Israel of West Hempstead. He built one of the first eruvin in North America, which became a model for communities worldwide.
Rabbi Gold and his family made aliyah to Israel in 1982, where he fought for the sanctity of the Land of Israel and organized rabbis to oppose the Oslo Accords.
Rabbi Gold also founded and served as the dean of the Avrom Silver Jerusalem College for Adults, which became the educational arm of the Israel Center. He was a vocal advocate for Religious Zionism and Aliyah from North America.
The funeral for Rabbi Gold will take place Sunday at 1 pm, setting out from the Zichron Yosef Synagogue in Har Nof.
Yehi Zichro Baruch.
