Miri Gold is the first non-Orthodox rabbi in Israel to have her salary paid for by funds taken from taxpayers.
[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.
[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".