Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg passed away today at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem. He was 89 years old.
He will be buried at the Mount of Olives Cemetery tonight.
Rabbi Goldberg served as Chief Justice of the Rabbinical High Court in Jerusalem and the rosh yeshiva of the Sadigura Hasidic yeshiva and the Jerusalem College of Technology (Machon Lev), and was the main editor of the Talmudic Encyclopedia.
Rabbi Goldberg conducted ordination tests for rabbis and judges and ordained thousands of rabbis who currently serve all over the world.
Israeli Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau eulogized Rabbi Goldberg. "We give a bitter cry, together with the entire people of Israel, for the departure of this great man, a genius and a righteous man, one of the pillars of Israel. A man who taught thousands of students the Torah. My teacher and rabbi, a pillar of strength for rabbis and judges in Israel, a member of the Rabbinical High Court and one of the great men of this generation, Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg."
Yeshivat Beit El released a statement saying: "Yeshivat Beit El mourns with all the thousands of students on the departure of the late Rabbi Zalman Goldberg to the better world. Rabbi Zalman Nehemiah was one of the geniuses of the generation. He was knowledgeable and clever in all matters of Torah and has spread the Torah in many yeshivas. We at Yeshivat Beit El were also privileged to learn from him for many years when he came to us regularly and our students traveled to his home for many years. This is hard for us, for all his thousands of disciples and for the world of Torah. It's a terrible loss and he will not be forgotten."
Jerusalem Chief Rabbi Aryeh Stern said, "Today we were informed of very difficult news about the death and departure of the great genius Rabbi Zalman Nehemia Goldberg, who could be said to have influenced all areas of halakha and Torah. You could ask anything and get an answer from him in his special style, he answered every question which came to him."