Aaron Gold, as a young “Yeshiva Bocher”, came to New York with his family before the Holocaust. After years of religious and secular education, a few Orthodox, and then Conservative pulpits, he became Rabbi of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in 1974, where he helped build the congregation and become active in the Jewish community.

While he was not a Holocaust survivor, he not only paid tribute to the victims, but to the survivors as well, celebrating many joyous occasions with the ‘New Life Club’. He was invited to join the Boards of UJF, Jewish Community Relations Council, and the Bureau of Jewish Education. He helped develop the ‘Coalition for Jewish Youth’ and establish the ‘Community Jewish High School for Jewish Studies’. He initiated and led the effort to establish the SD Jewish Academy, where the first classrooms were at Tifereth Israel. Aaron was a great preacher and teacher, an institute-builder and a visionary. He was also a kind, gracious and gentle man.

We married in 1975, and together we established the Tifereth Israel Scholarship Fund to send teen and young adults on an annual Torah study program. We led over 1,000 Jewish couples at Marriage Encounter weekends, a program that taught enriched communication in families. We held meetings in our home to start a vibrant Chavurah program at Tifereth. We led 14 synagogue groups on exciting tours to Israel, which often resulted in our dialogue sermons from the pulpit.

All of our synagogue and Jewish community involvement has led me now to want to continue the legacy of Rabbi Gold, our legacy, with a financial commitment to Tifereth Israel Synagogue and other Jewish organizations in San Diego. After Aaron died in 2001, I realized that putting this commitment into my trust was the best way to support Jewish tradition and the San Diego Jewish community.

Now that is a legacy!