Lost Tribes Activists and Group AMISHAV

Nadene Goldfoot                             

Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail of Amishav

 A most important organization I've heard about is                                Amishav.
"Amishav, the Organization on behalf of the Dispersed of Israel, was founded in 1975 with the encouragement of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, head of "Yeshivat Merkaz Harav" in Jerusalem and the spiritual leader of religious zionist Judaism. Rav Kook supported Amishav and encouraged its various activities to his last days."  It was Rabbi Avichail who founded this group.  
            Lost Tribes Activist Rabbi Passes Away at 83

Educator, activist, Ten Tribes researcher, and renowned Jerusalem citizen Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail has passed away.  Rabbi Avichail was identified for many years with efforts to find the descendants of the ten lost tribes. He founded Amishav in 1975 to help Bnei Menashe communities in India, Myanmar (Burma) and Israel. 

Amishav is the one of the organizations helping Bnei Menashe in India, Burma and in Israel. Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail, the director of Amishav, organizes activities from Jerusalem.  They also have been working on the Pashtuns of Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India.  

I had recently bought Rabbi Avichail's book, THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL and often quote some of his information about the Pashtuns.  The book is just loaded with information.  It's been translated from Hebrew to English.  

Afghanistan Jews 1961
Read: https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2018/07/jews-that-once-lived-in-afghanistan.html

"After the discovery of the Bnei Menashe community in India, there are other communities around the world that might have Jewish roots (descending from the Ten Lost Tribes) and the aim is to find these groups.
The purpose of this project is to study various communities around the world and find their connection to Judaism."

An older organization that is similar is "Shavei Israel (Hebrew: שבי ישראל‎, Returners of Israel) which is an Israeli-based Jewish organization that encourages people of Jewish descent to strengthen their connection with Israel and the Jewish people. Founded by Michael Freund in 2002, Shavei Israel locates lost Jews and hidden Jewish communities and assists them with returning to their roots and, sometimes, with aliyah (immigration to Israel). The organization’s team is composed of academics, educators and rabbis" with "headquarters in Jerusalem"

"The Shavei Israel organization was founded to help people whose ancestors had become separated from Judaism (including alleged descendants of the Lost tribes of Israel, crypto-Jews, hidden Jews, and Jewish forcibly assimilated under Communist rule,) reconnect with the Jewish people, and in the second decade of this century also became active in helping individuals and groups of converts become part of the mainstream Jewish and Israeli communities. Shavei Israel sponsors rabbis and teachers to work with groups of "lost Jews," provide them the Jewish education and assist them in aliyah if they choose. Its affiliated rabbis are posted in Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona, Valencia, Granada, and Sevilla in Spain; Belmonte in northern Portugal, San Nicandro in southern Italy, Brazil, Krakow and Wroclaw in Poland; and in Mizoram and Manipur, in North-East India. In December 2010, Rabbi Shlomo Zelig Avrasin was sent to work with the Subbotnik Jewish communities in Russia, particularly Vysoky..".

                                                       

Bnai Menashe of India now celebrating Purim in Israel

"After suspending the issuance of visas to Bnei Menashe for a few years, in January 2010 the Israeli government announced that the remaining 7,200 Bnei Menashe could make aliyah within a period of 1–2 years after completing conversion at facilities in Nepal. This allowed them to avoid problems with India."

Some of Bnai Menashe are now living in a town in Samaria (of Judea-Samaria)or West Bank called Shavei Shomron .  According to Amishav, the two million members of the Shinlung tribe from the Indian states of Manipur and Mizoram are descendants of the tribe of Menashe, which was expelled from Israel by the Assyrians in the eighth century BCE. Members of the tribe reached Assyria, and from there, according to Bnei Menashe tradition, they went to Afghanistan, to Mongolia and then to southern China.

Resource: 
 http://www.bneimenashe.com/Amishav.html
http://kulanu.org/wp-content/uploads/magazines/1993-winter.pdf
http://www.jewishprojects.org/project_e.php?id=16&name=Amishav
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavei_Israel
https://shavei.org/
"https://shavei.org/the-long-journey-home/
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/200765
https://kulanu.org/communities/india/coming-home-israel/
http://bechollashon.org/heart/index.php/articles/138

Update: "Shavei Israel" (Formerly known as Amishav)

Michael Freund, Shavei Israel , November 22, 2004

Life for Israelites From Assyrian Days to Pashtuns of Today

Nadene Goldfoot
                                                                         

It seems like Israel had very few peaceful days.  They were fighting against Damascus who held control of them on and off throughout the years.  Assyria had taken all the land, even Damascus.  Note Haran in the north.  Canaan would be all the land from Damascus down to Jerusalem.

                                                                         

Assyrian soldier marching off the Israelites

The people who inhabited Assyria belonged to the great Semitic race.  In stature the Assyrians were of average modern European height, and were powerfully built. Their complexion was dark, forehead high,nose prominent, hair, eyebrows, and beard were black thick and bushy and the lips were full. 

They rarely intermarried with neighboring peoples.

 The prisoners of war were forced to become "people of restricted freedom" and to work in the temple or palace once they reached their destination.   The palace was considered the household of the king while the temple was a household of their god, and their god had to be clothed and taking care of. It was usually the slaves who actually tended to the needs of the god. The palace and the temple were highly organized and the whole Mesopotamia society contributed to its maintenance, whether it was through taxation, property, trade or war.

They were very superstitious and had rules about good and bad days with omens.  ""On the first day he shall not expose himself to the gale on the field. He must not eat garlic, otherwise a scorpion will sting him. He must not eat white garlic, otherwise he will suffer a heart attack. On the second day he must not climb upon a roof, for Ardat Lili (an evil demon)would find him. He must not eat roast meat, otherwise he will be covered with sores. On the third day he shall have no sexual intercourse with a woman, for the woman will rob him of his virility. He shall not eat fish; it is disrespectful and a crocodile would attack him. He shall not eat dates, for they would give him a stomach illness. He shall not irrigate a sesame field, for the sesame caterpillar would overcome him…"

The prophet Hosea of Israel in 726 BCE was into politics as well.  He was a man who felt immense national pride of the Kingdom of  Israel very much nationalist, comparing his love for his country with a man in love with a woman who saw her go astray  in her ways but never stopping his love for her.   He lived and prophesied in the kingdom of Israel from the reign of King Jeroboam II in 744 BCE, but was involved chiefly in the last years of the kingdom up to the year 722 BCE.
                                                            Baal Peor                 

The prophets tried to end the attraction of Baal worship which had taken hold of the Israelites and Judeans.  They had first encountered it while on the exodus in the desert.  Baal Peor was a local Canaanite deity they met up with when they entered the Promised Land that the local Canaanites worshiped with sexual orgies on Mt. Peor in Moab.  The Israelites had been temporarily attracted to this cult and were punished for it during their wanderings, but found it fascinating them again.   He had forcasted Israel's exile, due to the battle with with the  irreligious beliefs of Baal, but comforted his people with the vision of restoration after the people's repentance from becoming involved with other gods of Baal. Practicing Baal, the leading  religion of Canaan with the whole area's other inhabitants was taking over the monotheism that Moses had presented to them. 
                                                                             

Priests instructed the people that the bright sky god Baal was responsible for droughts, plagues, earthquakes and other calamities. People were often worked up into great frenzies at the prospects of displeasing Baal. In times of great turbulence human sacrifices, particularly children, were made to this father of the gods!  King Ahab of Israel (876-853 BCE) was one of the most notoriously wicked king’s of the bible. Under the influence of his wife, Jezebel, Ahab built altars to Baal.  Common enough in the Canaan of biblical times, these rituals sacrificed humans, typically children, to the patron God of the city. The bodies of these victims were placed under the foundations or in the walls of the structure.

Baal Zebub was another Canaanite deity adopted by the Philistines.  His shrine was at Ekron, and when Ahaziah,(853 BCE)  king of Israel, fell sick, he sent messengers to consult this oracle.  The name might come from Baal Zevul or the Lord of heavenly habitation.  

Baalbek was a Lebanese town and cult-center of the Phoenician sun-god Baal.  This was popular in the later Roman days as well.  
                                                                           

Hosea attempted to throw off the yoke they were under by 726 BCE and this led to Shalmaneser V's siege of Samaria, their capital,  and its capture in 721 by his successor, Sargon.  

It was way back in 835 BCE that Shalmaneser III had attacked Damascus whose leader was Ben-Hadad II.  King Ahab of Israel supported Damascus in an indecisive battle of Karkar.  Shalmaneser had made a 2nd attack in 848 which failed.  However, the House of Ahab (876-853 BCE) in 842 was liquidated by their enemy and King Jehu(843-816 BCE) , the next Israeli king, had to pay tribute.  All this time, Damascus was able to hold out against the attack and it was Damascus that controlled Israel at this time.
                                                                               

Damascus was captured in 806 BCE and this freed up Israel from their control.  Then again from 803 to 802 BCE  Adad-Nirari II compelled the submission of Ben-Hadad III of Damascus  from 810 to 783 BCE.  

It was time for some successes for Israel.  Jehoash (800-785 BCE)  of Israel and his son Jeroboam II (785-745 BCE) fought against Ben-Hadad II with success.  Possibly they were successful now was because of Shalmaneser IV (782-772 BCE)  was so passive about the fight as he was under the pressure of the kings of Ararat and of Ashur-DanIII (772-759 BCE).  

Then Jeroboam II of Israel died, and Judah's King Uzziah 780-740 BCE)  became head of the Western anti-Assyrian alliance.  The Assyrian decline which made this possible was ended by Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 BCE) who overthrew the Syrian confederacy.  
                                                                               

British Museum display of Assyrian Days

Unfortunately, Assyria came out of their decline because of Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 BCE) who was able to overthrow the Syrian confederacy.  By 735, Ahaz, who was attacked by Pekah of Israel in alliance with Damascus, Philistia and Edom, had appealed for help from Tiglath-Pileser.
                                                                           

As a result of this, Israel lost its territory in Transjordan and Galilee, while Philistia, Tyre, Moab and Edom became Assyrian provinces.  The blue land above Judah is Israel and Tyre would be above that and on the coast. 

All this fighting led to Shalmaneser's siege of  Samaria and its capture in 721 BCE by Sargon who annexed the country and deported 27,290 Israelites to Assyria and Media and replaced them with Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.  

This resulted in returning Israelites to Assyria whence they came from in the first place.  The Israelites were the Ivrim (Hebrews). They had been living in Ur "Kasdim." They had left to go to the land of Canaan and settled in Haran.  Former Syrians now were living in Israel as their replacements.  People were taken away and later returned or almost returned  

Aram-Dammesek was the most important Aramean kingdom in Syria till the 8th century BCE, called after its capital, Damascus.  It was a constant danger to its neighbor, Israel which it often exploited in its many disputes with Judah after 933 BCE when Solomon died and the kingdom split.  It joined the kings of Israel, Judah and Syria in opposing the Assyrians in 853, 848, and 845 BCE.  In 805, the Assyrians took Damascus and forced the king to pay a heavy tribute.  The kings of Israel then took the opportunity to win back land conquered by Aram- Dammesek and even to annex  it for  a time.  In 738 BCE, Dammesek allied itself with Israel against Assyria.  During the following campaign conducted by Tiglath-Pileser from 733 to 732 BCE, the Aram-Dammesek was plundered, its population exiled, and its existence as an independent state ended.  
                                                                 

Sennacherib II-Sargon-the same person
Sennacherib was the king of Assyria from 705 BCE to 681 BCE. He is principally remembered for his military campaigns against Babylon and Judah, and for his building programs – most notably at the Akkadian capital of Nineveh. He was assassinated in obscure circumstances in 681 BCE, apparently by his eldest son.

The city of Ashdod revolted and this was supported by King Hezekiah of Judah but the whole affair was suppressed in 715 BCE.  On the accession of Sennacherib in 705 BCE, an uprising broke out throughout the Assyrian Empire. Hezekiah reasserted his independence.  Sennacherib marched south and subdued the Phoenician cities one by one and defeated the Egyptian forces at Eltekeh in 701 BCE.   He took Ascalon and Joppoa, sacked Lachish and invaded Jerusalem in 700 BCE.  

The Kingdom of Judah was ravaged, but Hezekiah held out and obtained moderate terms by paying tribute and ceding some territory.  Later, Sennacherib was forced by a plague in his army to go back home.  King Manasseh (692-638 BCE) of Judah was exiled to Assyria in 652 BCE as a result of complicity in a plot against Ashurbanipal (669-626 BCE).  After this time, Assyria went into a decline quickly and was succeeded by Babylon.  

   WHAT HAPPENED TO THE 27,290 ISRAELITES TAKEN BY THE ASSYRIANS? 
         MANY EVENTUALLY WOUND UP IN AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN

How did the Pashtuns come from Israel?  We know that Pashtuns of Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India have been practicing remnants of the Israelite culture, even knowing of their connections of being the sons of Israel. So yes, many of us feel that the lost 10 tribes of Israel have been found to be the Pashtuns, at least some of them are the descendants of some of those tribes.   
                                                     

In 2011, Afghanistan had 28,395,716 population
   Pakistan had 172,800,000
Both are Islamic States

The Pashtuns, historically known as ethnic Afghans and Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group who mainly live in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They speak the Pashto language and adhere to Pashtunwali, which is a traditional set of ethics guiding individual and communal conduct.(Wikipedia)  Some speak of being descended from King Saul.  Other tell of coming from the tribe of Benjamin.  Those who claim descent all say they are sons of Israel. "The book, "Afghan and Pathan" by A. Scott, says that the Abdullis, Saub-Zai and Barukh- Zai belong to the Sons of Israel from the Kingdom of "Gur." He further notes that the Ghilzais, Kurianis, Shinwaris, and Muhamandis are said to belong to the Sons of Israel.  The Jajis and Lewanis also live n Kandahar.  Mr. Khardim heard that the king considers himself to be of the tribe of Benjamin."  

"The tribes marry only among themselves. Moseh Khardim, an Israeli student who traveled to Afghanistan in the summer of 1975 and an Amishav emissary, saw and photgraphed a beautiful 1,000-2,000 year old pillar with a Shield of David on it.  Three years ago, one of the Shinwaris came to the synagogue in Kabul and recounted that his grandmother lit candles.  He continued coming for 6 months on Sabbaths and New Moons, and then stopped coming.  

Pakistan: 30,699,037 (2008)

Afghanistan: 13,750,117 (2008)

Iran: 110,000 (1993)

India: 13,000 (2009)

Germany: 37,800 (2012)

Russia: 9,800 (2002)

Afghanistan's civilization also began as early as 3,000 BCE which would take us right to 721 BCE when Assyria carried away our Israelites.  At the time, Zoroastrianism was the religion in the area.  Later, Buddhism and Hinduism emerged there due to the closeness of those countries involved and left their mark in the region.  Gandhara was an ancient kingdom from the Vedic period (1500-500 BCE) with its capital city between the Hindukush and Sulaiman Mountains of Solomon.  
                                                         

Zorastrian Temple 

Zorostrianism practiced before the 6th century BCE,  was closer to Moses's teachings than Baal certainly was.  It is more of an Iranic religion.  The descendants of Zoroastrian Iranian (Persian) immigrants are known as Parsis, or Parsees.
Zoroastrianism is one of the world's oldest religions that remains active. It is a monotheistic faith, centered in a dualistic cosmology of good and evil and an eschatology predicting the ultimate destruction of evil.
                                                        

  Zoroaster, the Greek form of his name)—is traditionally regarded as the founder of the religion. Zoroastrianism contains both monotheistic and dualistic features. It likely influenced the other major Western religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It wasn't as monotheistic as they are today, but  it does represent an original attempt at unifying under the worship of one supreme god a polytheistic religion comparable to those of the ancient Greeks, Latins, Indians, and other early peoples. Although the "burning of fire" was a key element in Zoroastrian worship, the burning of "eternal" fire, as well as the presence of "light" in worship, was also a key element in many other religions.  It served as the state religion of the pre-Islamic Iranian empires for more than a millennium, from around 600 BCE to 650 CE.                                                             

                                                 

Pashtun warrior
Most of the Pathans have sidelocks and beards;  all the Afridis have beards.
Some of the Pathan children have strings on their clothes like a small tallit.  The Pathan tribes that a Mr. Betzalel feels are descended from the 10 Tribes are Afridis-Ephraim, Lewani-Levites, Rabbani-Reuven, Shinwari-Shimon, Daftani-Naftali and Jajis-Gad;  all living in the PeshHibur area.  

                                                            

Of course, in 642, Afghanistan became Islamic.  Afghanistan at that period had a number of different independent rulers, depending on the area. Ancestors of Abū Ḥanīfa, including his father, were from the Kabul region.   The early Arab forces did not fully explore Afghanistan due to attacks by the mountain tribes. Much of the eastern parts of the country remained independent, as part of the Hindu Shahi kingdoms of Kabul and Gandhara, which lasted that way until the forces of the Muslim Saffarid dynasty followed by the Ghaznavids conquered them.

Pashtuns have for centuries been the dominant ethnic group in Afghanistan. Tensions between them and other groups, such as the Tajiks and the Hazaras, burst into the open during the country's civil war in the 1990s.  Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan.

                                                                           

  The exile of the Ten Tribes remained in populated concentration in the region in which they were places, in the general direction of the exile cited in the Bible, NORTHEAST OF ISRAEL.   ISRAEL WILL BE REDEEMED ONLY WHEN THEY BECOME REUNITED AS ONE.  It seems that the kings of Assyria exiled the 10 Tribes to the kingdom of Assyria, itself and across the Euphrates river.   That's where Abraham and his family originally came from!  

Resource: The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heresy_of_Peor
http://www.ancientdestructions.com/baalbek-temple-human-sacrifice-worship-baal/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zoroastrianism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Afghanistan
THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL-THE LOST AND THE DISPERSED by Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail
https://www.bible-history.com/assyrian-social-structure/assyrian-social-structure_social_organizations.html

Second Shabbat Attack on Synagogue Congregants

Nadene Goldfoot                                               

Cousin Rabbi Abraham Goldberg on left
Rabbi Moshe Twersky on Right

                                  On Remembering Our History So As Not To Be Repeated

"On the morning of 18 November 2014, two Palestinian men from Jerusalem entered Kehilat Bnei Torah synagogue, in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, and attacked the praying congregants with axes, knives, and a gun. They killed four dual-nationality worshippers, and critically wounded a responding Druze Israeli police officer, who later died of his wounds. They also injured seven male worshippers, one of whom never woke up from a coma and died 11 months later. The two attackers were then shot dead by the police. " One of those killed was my cousin, Rabbi Avraham Goldberg, my partner in genealogy searches who had a Goldfoot on his tree. " 

"Killed were American-Israelis Rabbi Moshe Twersky (59; head of the Toras Moshe kollel, son of Harvard professor Rabbi Isadore Twersky, and part of a Boston rabbinical dynasty); Rabbi Calman Levine (55); and Rabbi Aryeh Kupinsky (43); and British-Israeli Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg (68), the first four rabbis resided in Har Nof; and Master Sergeant Zidan Saif (30), the Druze police officer shot in the head during the attack and rescue response, who later died from his wounds.   Saif lived in the Northern Israeli Druze village of Yanuh-Jat, and was father of a 4-month-old daughter.
                                                    

At approximately 07:00, during the weekday Shacharit morning prayer, as the worshipers were saying the silent amidah standing prayer, two Arab men from Jerusalem entered Kehilat Bnei Torah synagogue, in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, and attacked the worshippers with axes, meat cleavers, and a gun.

One of the worshippers fought back and hit a terrorist on the head with a chair twice, before escaping upstairs.

The terrorists killed four dual-national worshipers and a responding Druze Israeli police officer, and injured seven male worshipers, one of whom never woke up from a coma and died 11 months later. It was the deadliest terror attack in Jerusalem since the Mercaz HaRav massacre in March 2008.

Two traffic policemen who heard gunfire came running to the synagogue, and engaged the attackers in a gun battle. A third policeman arrived shortly after, and shot both attackers dead. Two policemen were wounded, one of whom subsequently died from his injuries.

The first responder was a Druze Israeli police officer, Zidan Saif. He was critically wounded when he was shot in the head during the ensuing gun battle, and later died.

The perpetrators shouted "Allahu Akbar!" as they attacked the worshipers."

Ironically, this past October 28. 2018 but in the Squirrel Hill area of Pittsburgh, 

Pennsylvania's "Tree of Life" Synagogue was hit by an anti-Semitic hater, Robert

Bowers,  who managed to massacre 11 Jews attending  Bris-the naming of an

8 day old boy which attracted his family to attend this morning's service. This

large Conservative synagogue was very popular within a Jewish community with

nearby Carnegie Mellon University, where another cousin of mine had attended

many years ago.  They immediately went on lockdown as did surrounding homes.

Bowers was a true white supremecist, hating all who weren't in his opinion; 

Blacks, Jews, who screamed at the congregants, ALL JEWS MUST DIE!  He

had been obsessed with an old group called HIAS, which stood for Hebrew

Immigrant Aid Society which started in 1881 till 1945. 

 and then  the State Dept asked HIAS to aid in resettling 3600 Vietnam refugees.  He

had hit some boiling point when he wrote on facebook that "THEY ARE KILLING ALL MY

PEOPLE.  I'M GOING IN!.  Obviously, that meant going into the synagogue to kill. 

So there Robert was, all prepared to kill Jews.  There was no security system at the door.

A doctor in the neighborhood could hear the shooting from his home, so he hurried to help.

Past president Michael Eisenburg also rushed to help when he realized what was going on.

Rabbi Jeffrey Meyers had heard a commotion sounding like the hangers in the closet  of

crashing metal  at about 9:45am when the service started. He had never heard gunfire in his

whole life, but instantly knew this was it and yelled to his congregents to get down.  The

sanctuary's walls filled with pock marks from gunfire.  The shooter was coming up the stairs.

Eight congregants were in the back in the line of fire. 

 The rabbi, standing and in line of fire,

(Photo: Jeff Swensen, Getty Images

ran towards the bathroom area and hid where SWAT found him and got him out to safety, but 4 of them were shot.  Others in another closet had opened their door thinking all was safe, but he was right there and shot those hiding.  

In the end, Robert was shot and taken to the hospital.  NBC had a survey this morning wondering if places of worship needed armed guards.  The vote was about 90 to 10

against the idea from this one morning survey.  

As long as this is not a perfect world, we will need protection from crazies who go off the

edge into deadly behavior towards others.  All want to live in an open society, but who is

going to protect us as it isn't?  Isn't this why our police are armed?  As long as anti-Semitism

continues, Jews are at risk.  As long as hatred towards Blacks exist, Blacks are at

risk.  Evidently we have a lot of trust that we will remain protected.  So the answer is to

watch a society and its attitude towards both people.  When people are becoming tense

and are apt to blame all problems on the smallest of different groups such as Jews, who are only 2% of the USA population and the most selected for hatred, be prepared.  

There's so much left unsaid to Rabbi Goldberg.  At the time, I hadn't discovered DNA testing. I didn't find out who his Goldfoot was, but knew it was on Stanley Goldfoot's line.  He told me to look for an Abraham and that would connect the 2 lines of South Africa and

the USA together.  He was right; my father's 3rd brother who died in infancy was an Abraham.  Chances are that Abraham was my 3rd cousin.  We'll never know now.  He

hadn't even told me he was a rabbi.  That was such a shock to find out after this horrific

shooting that he was the one and the same person.  Without him, I wouldn't have known

that our family had come from Lithuania, knowing only that it was Russia as listed on census

information.  At the time, the Pale of Settlement countries had been taken over by Russia. 

"The Anti-Defamation League said it was the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in US history."  This was the 3rd massacre on Jews; 2008, 2014, and 2018.  

UPdate:  
There was a previous Rabbi Abraham Goldberg.  I wonder if he's related to the other. Avraham Goldberg (Hebrew: אברהם גולדברג, January 22, 1913 – April 13, 2012) was an Israeli talmud scholar. "Goldberg was born in Pittsburgh, and was educated at yeshivot Torah V'Daat and Chafetz Chaim, as well as at the University of Pittsburgh, where he studied English literature. He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1941.

After serving as a chaplain in the United States armed forces during World War II, Goldberg moved to Israel to study at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he remained until his retirement. In 1952 Goldberg received a PhD in Talmud from Hebrew University, with a critical edition of Massechet Ohalot serving as his dissertation.

After graduation, Goldberg served at the Hebrew University as professor and professor emeritus of Talmud, as well as chair of the Talmud department. He also served as visiting professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary and University of Pennsylvania."https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avraham_Goldberg

Books

  

Resource:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Jerusalem_synagogue_attack

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/son-boston-rabbi-killed-jerusalem-synagogue-article-1.2014515

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/18/synagogue-murders-binyamin-netanyahu-despicable-murderers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIAS
https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/middle-east-unrest/three-americans-among-four-rabbis-slaughtered-jerusalem-synagogue-n250556

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/10/29/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-what-we-know/1804878002/
https://www.thejc.com/news/world/photo-gallery-many-dead-in-tree-of-life-synagogue-shooting-in-pittsburgh-1.471617

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