Social Activism and Community Work

Nora Gold has always been actively involved in social activism and community work, and over the past thirty years she has served on dozens of committees, task forces, boards, and advisory councils. Some of these have involved the general community (for example, her work on disability issues, or with a multicultural theatre company), but the majority of her activism has focused on organizations working in support of a progressive, socially just Israel.

In 1982, Gold (with others) founded the New Israel Fund of Canada (NIFC), the Canadian branch of an international organization committed to furthering pluralism, civil rights, democracy, and social equality in Israel. For the following 18 years, she served as Vice-President of NIFC, and for much of this time also sat on the International Board of the New Israel Fund, and then on its International Executive.

In 1998, Gold helped to establish a second organization by co-founding Canadian Friends of Givat Haviva (CFGH), an educational organization promoting tolerance and mutual understanding between Jewish and Arab youth in Israel. For five years (until 2003) she served as the Vice-President of CFGH.

In 2011, Gold started a new organization called JSpaceCanada, in order to provide Canadians with an alternative to both the extreme pro-Israel right and the extreme anti-Israel left.

Other noteworthy contributions: Gold was the first female Chair of the Ritual Committee at the First Narayever Congregation in Toronto; a founding member of Kehillat Yedidya in Jerusalem; a board member of Autism Society Canada, Canadian Jewish Congress, Pleiades Theatre, The Dafna Fund, and Heart to Heart; a member of the Public Affairs Committee of UJA Federation of Toronto; a member of the Academic Advisory Council of the Canadian Institute for the Study of Antisemitism; and an Expert Community Resource to the Ontario Hate Crimes Commission. Gold has been formally recognized by the Toronto Jewish Community as an Outstanding Volunteer.

Dr. Gold’s current involvements include serving on the advisory councils of The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute at Brandeis University and JSpaceCanada.