The Tune of a Tzaddik
Remembering Rabbi Avi Goldberg Hy”d
BY RABBI ARON WHITE
On October 26th, Shabbat Bereishit, Rabbi Avi Goldberg was killed in Lebanon. Rabbi Goldberg spent his life on the front lines for Am Yisrael – the front lines of teaching Torah in Israel and the USA, the front lines of achdut, building bridges across Israeli society, and the front lines of the IDF, where in this war he served for 250 days as a reservist until he fell. A gifted musician, Rav Avi left an indelible mark in the hearts of thousands around the world – and the tune of his life will continue to resonate in the hearts of Am Yisrael.
Israel’s military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon reached unprecedented intensity during the month of Tishrei. While Israel succeeded in destroying significant portions of Hezbollah’s infrastructure, it paid a heavy price with the death of 79 soldiers. One of those killed was Rabbi Avi Goldberg, who left behind his wife Rachel, his eight children, and his students at the Himmelfarb high school in Yerushalayim. He served both as a military rabbi for a battalion and as a regular combat soldier. For Rav Avi, serving on the front lines came naturally to him.
Avi’s parents made Aliyah from the UK and settled in Yerushalayim. As a young boy growing up in Katamon, Avi showed an aptitude for the clarinet, an instrument that would accompany him throughout his life. After graduating from Himmelfarb high school, he went on to study at a pre-army Mechina in Tzfat before joining the Yeshivat Hesder there. He joined Golani in 2002 as part of the Hesder program, serving as a Negevist, a physically demanding role that requires operating a heavy gun.
During his military service, Avi met Rachel, who was from the same neighborhood of Yerushalayim and a talented musician herself. “One Motzaei Shabbat, someone hosted a Melave Malka in the neighbourhood,” said Rabbi Zvi Elon, the head of World Bnei Akiva and a lifelong friend of Rav Avi. “Avi brought his clarinet, and Rachel her violin, and it was just a match made in heaven – it was obvious to everyone there that they should be together!” They started dating, but Avi insisted that they wait until he finished his military service to get married. Getting married earlier would mean he would serve less than his fellow soldiers, and he felt that wasn’t right. At age 22, they married, and Avi continued on to study for semicha at Yeshivat Hakotel. He received semicha from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
From 2008 to 2012, Rav Avi and Rachel served as shlichim in Memphis, where they led the Torah MiTzion Kollel. “The word that best describes Avi for me is radiant,” wrote Rabbi Aaron Feigenbaum, a colleague of Rabbi Goldberg from that time. “You can see it in pictures of him even if you never met him. The glow in his eyes, the smile that was almost always on his face. He was m’kabeil et kol adam b’sever panim yafot, greeting everyone with a warm demeanor. I would add that when I say kol adam, “everyone,” I purposefully intend a broad swath of people. Living out of town, in a city like Memphis, you interact with Jews from across the religious spectrum, and Avi had a way with everyone. He could talk in learning with Rav Nota Greenblatt z”l and then later have a long conversation with unaffiliated Jews at the JCC. He told me about his experiences doing weddings through Tzohar with unaffiliated Jews. He told me that he met couples before their wedding and that he became their rabbi and primary reference for anything Jewish. I understood exactly why he was so successful. It was more than a smile, which is why I say he was radiant. He gave off a positive energy – an energy, if you never met him, that is hard to describe.”
After returning to Israel, Rav Avi and Rachel settled in the Makor Chaim neighborhood of Yerushalayim, where Avi became a teacher and then the school rabbi at Himmelfarb high school, his alma mater. He was a beloved teacher who impacted hundreds of students throughout his years at the school. Throughout his milu’im service, he would regularly send videos to his students.
In 2022, Avi joined the course to become an army rabbi. At this point, he actually had a double exemption from reserve duty – he was both over the age of 40 and had more than six children – but he waived both of these exemptions to join the course. He was the mitztayen kors, the valedictorian, and thus had the right to choose which unit he wanted to serve in as a rabbi. He specifically chose brigade 8207 of the Alon battalion because it was a combat unit. There, he served as the army rabbi and also continued to operate as a regular soldier. In certain contexts, he served as the spiritual leader, but during military operations, he was a soldier like all the others.
During the year before the October 7th attack, Israel was gripped by unprecedented social tensions. Throughout the year, Rav Avi and Rachel gathered friends and neighbors in their home, which became a de facto meeting place for people with different opinions. At a time when society was becoming worryingly fractured, the Goldbergs did what they could to bring more unity and understanding.
After October 7th, Avi spent hundreds of days away from his family as a reservist. He balanced his role as a combat soldier with providing spiritual guidance and leadership as an army rabbi. A few weeks into the war, he arranged for Gemaras to be sent to the unit so he could give a daf yomi shiur. When Tu BiShvat arrived, he spent hours ensuring that the unit would be able to perform the traditional netiot, planting for Tu BiShvat, to give them a sense of connection and inspiration.
During his time away, Avi’s wife Rachel became a powerful voice among the milu’im wives. During a pre-Rosh Hashanah concert where she played the violin, she shared her feelings with thousands of women, crying as she expressed her emotions about the front lines of this war:
“We are living in times of hester panim, but we are called upon to wear faces of hope. This year, hope and joy have not been trivial things; there are many things blocking us from feeling that. We approach Hashem, empty and poor, in pain, but with confidence that we are being moser nefesh. Today, my husband Avi is in Lebanon; I don’t know how he is. He has served 230 days of milu’im, like so many others. I heard something beautiful today from Rabbi Eyal Vered. He was sitting with a soldier in the north, and they were watching the sunset. The Gemara says ‘If a husband and wife merit, the shechina dwells between them.’ Today, the shechina is all over Israel, because the husband is up north and his wife is in Be’er Sheva, in Yerushalayim, in Gaza, all over. With this shechina we are praying, together with those who dwell on high, those angels who have fallen this year, melitzei yosher for us, to pray together with them. A prayer that is full of hope, a prayer that connects what is lacking to another reality, for a full redemption.”
Rachel emerged as a powerful advocate for universal military service across the Jewish community. The extended reserve duty being served by men like Avi – fathers in their forties – stemmed from a critical shortage of soldiers, one that could be resolved if young Charedi men joined the IDF. Weeks before Avi’s death, she addressed this issue in a letter to members of the Knesset:
“I work as a nurse in various clinics of Maccabi, and I meet diverse populations, including Charedim. I cannot understand how you can support laws that exempt such large amounts of the population from drafting. Where is the morality in that? Where is the helping in the societal burden? Why does it have to fall to my family to sacrifice so much for the state, with such significant danger, for months on end not having our father and husband at home? My husband serves as a teacher and school rabbi in a religious school in Yerushalayim, with semicha from the Chief Rabbinate, and he doesn’t consider himself exempt from the obligation to ‘protect Israel from its enemies’ – Rambam’s definition of milchemet mitzvah, an obligatory war in which all must fight – for which even a bride and groom are obligated to leave their celebration to join the war effort! The Religious Zionist world that learns Torah, lives Torah and keeps mitzvot also serves Am Yisrael and the state to ensure that it can continue to exist!”
She offered an analogy to describe the immorality of the status quo: “It’s like on Friday afternoon when everyone is cleaning for Shabbat. Everyone helps out! It’s not like one kid sits at the table and prays that the house should be clean. Everyone needs to clean! Everyone needs to get up, to take action, to do something. And one who doesn’t – it is not educational to reward them for that. It is not Jewish, and it is not ethical. Hashem, please help to remove the orlat halev, the foreskin of the heart. Remove these walls that have been created over the last 30, 50 years.”
At his funeral, thousands accompanied Rav Avi, paying him their final respects. The shul that he loved, BeOrcha, has organized many events and is building their new shul in Yerushalayim in his memory.
In reflecting on his legacy, Rav Avi represents another link in the chain of our eternal capital city. It is often noted that the Jewish people in Israel are perhaps the only people to speak the same language, in the same land, with the same religion, as they did 3,000 years ago. Rav Avi exemplifies another dimension of this continuity: if David HaMelech himself were to return today and be told about a man from Yerushalayim who teaches Torah, is a musician, and serves on the front lines against our enemies from the north, he would recognize him as one of his own. The memory of Rav Avi will continue to inspire Jews around the world to live according to the tune he played – one of Torah, service to Am Yisrael, and achdut.
Rabbi Aron White is the Managing Editor of HaMizrachi magazine.