Miri Gold is the first non-Orthodox rabbi in Israel to have her salary paid for by funds taken from taxpayers. [1] She was born in Detroit, but in 1977 she immigrated to Kibbutz Gezer along with other North Americans. [2] When the founder of the kibbutz's congregation (Kehilat Birkat Shalom) left, Gold began leading High Holidays services and preparing children for bat mitzvahs and bar mitzvahs. [3] Gold entered the Reform movement's Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in 1994, and was ordained in 1999. [4] At the time she was paid by the congregation, since the Israeli government did not recognize non-Orthodox rabbis. [5] Gold petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court in 2005 to change this, and in 2012 a ruling by the Israeli attorney general granted her request. [6] [7]
In November 2024, Rabbi Gold was awarded a Doctor of Divinity honoris causa by Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, "for her work as a pioneering rabbi who conceived, founded, and built Birkat Shalom Congregation in Kibbutz Gezer, a groundbreaking model of state support and recognition of Reform Judaism in Israel". [8]
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