Boruch Dayan Hoemes: Rabbi Yehoshua Binyomin Gordon, 66, OBM

With great shock, sadness and pain we inform you of the very untimely passing of Rabbi Yehoshua Binyomin (Josh) Gordon OBM, Shliach of the Rebbe to San Fernando Valley, California. He was 66 years old.

Sent on Shlichus by the Rebbe in 1973, he established Chabad of the Valley and Chabad of Encino in California. Speaking to JEM’s My Encounter he told of receiving his Shlichus, “It happened near the occasion of the Rebbe’s 70th birthday and, on that momentous occasion, he sent me a special blessing. He blessed me to make firm decisions with alacrity, and to work hard with faith and trust in G-d.

“I took the Rebbe’s message to be a universal message. If you want to succeed, you need, first of all, to work hard. You have to wake up very early in the morning and pound the pavement. But that’s not enough. You have to do it with alacrity. And with everything you do, you must have a tremendous amount of trust in G-d that your work will succeed.”

Today Chabad of the Valley includes 26 Chabad centers under its umbrella.

Recently he suffered from a terrible illness and this morning he passed away.

He is survived by his wife Deborah, and their children Yossi Gordon, Yochanon Gordon, Faygie Herzog, Eli Gordon, Dena Rabin and Chaya Drizin all of California.

He is also survived by his siblings Mrs. Yocheved Baitelman (Crown Heights), Mrs. Chanie Friedman (S. Paul, MN), Mrs. Bluma Rivkin (New Orleans, LA), Rabbi Yossi Gordon (Australia), Rabbi Mendy Gordon (London, UK) and Mrs. Frumie Posner (Birmingham, AL).

The Levaya will take place today, Monday, Shvat 29, at 1:30pm at Chabad of Encino, 4915 Hayvenhurst Ave, Encino, CA 91436.  The Kevurah will follow at Mt. Olive Cemetery, 7231 E Slauson Ave, Commerce, CA 90040.

Boruch Dayan Hoemes

19 Comments

  • Yankee T.

    BD”E what a great man and a tragic loss. May Hashem console his Family and extended community family through this dark time.

  • Chaim Hershkop

    BD”E

    I read this news while listening to the his Tanya class.

    Rabbi Gordon has been my teacher for these past five years. A teacher I never met face to face, a teacher who will live on forever this way.

    May we merit to hear from him once again with the coming of moshiach now!

  • O.T . boy 73-76

    BDE WOW WHAT A GR8 LOSS TO US
    TALMIDIM , WHO LISTEN AND LEARN WITH HIM EVERY DAY , I GREW UP WITH HIM IN MONTREAL YESHIVA . HE WAS THE OLDER BACURE TO LOOK UP TO .. .
    AS LONG AS WE CAN LEARN ON LINE , WITH HIM . HE WILL LIVE ON 4 EVER AND EVER AND EVER ………………………….. AND MORE
    WE MISS YOU JOSH . YR MORE THE JUST A KID FROM N. J. LIKE YOU ALWAYS TELL US .
    YOU ARE OUR TEACHER 4 EVER
    WATCH US FROM HEAVEN , AS WE LEARN WITH YOU ON LINE CHITAS AND RAMBAM

  • Rabbi Elli

    ברוך דיין האמת- המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים – Baruch Dayan HaEmes – Blessed is the True Judge. May his memory be for a blessing and his family be comforted among the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

    I was with the Gordons in a Motel during the first few Shabbosim they were in the Valley before they had a home. After that I would often walk 2-1/2 hours (6.8 miles) from my parents home to Chabad House on Shabbos morning and spend Shabbos there getting a ride home after Shabbos. Now that I live in NYC there is a Chabad of Northridge 10 minutes from where I lived back then. (Irony at it’s best).

    Rabbi Gordon hosted my Sheva Brochos and his brother Yossi was one of my chavrusas in Yeshiva in Miami and remains a dear friend. He built an amazing network of Chabad centers and Schoos throughout the Valley which is an amazing feat.

    We have all suffered a great loss of a Rabbi, a teacher and a friend.

    He will be missed.

  • Flatbush

    Baruch Dayyan HaEmes.

    What a tragic loss. I can’t believe that he is no longer here for family, all Chabad and beyong.

    I watched his Tanya classes all the time.

    המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון ורושלים

  • May Hashem comfort the family

    … And bring Moshiach Now!
    I thoroughly enjoy his Tanya and Chumash shiuriim on chabad.org. He is so clear (and throws in humor) and makes it memorable. May he live on in his wonderful family and amazing deeds.
    Ad mosai!

  • Larraine Levy

    Baruch Dayan HaEmes

    Wish I would have had the opportunity to tell Rabbi Gordon how my learning with him every day has enriched my life as well as the life of my family and friends as I quote him all the time and repeat his jokes.
    He will live on and never be forgotten through his classes and family.
    May his memory be for a blessing and may his family be comforted among the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

  • Galia Berry

    Our wedding was at R. Gordon’s Encino Chabad house 38+ years ago. And though we now live in Maine, my husband learns daily via the internet with Rabbi Gordon’s online shiurim. He will be missed! BDE

  • Zev

    What a loss!
    I am not affiliated with Chabad but once came across Rabbi Gordon’s online Chumash and Tanya classes and have benefited many time since.

  • Greatness...

    He, along with few others, were the “great ones”.
    But great or not, rich or poor…his passing, is a sobering thought for us mortals…makes us pause, clarify life, and prioritize, if only for the moment…
    I can hear him, say this, right now.

  • Chaim dalfin

    Bd”e. When we eere bochurim shluchim to yeshivss ohr elchonon chabad i spent a shabbos by one of Josh’s baalei teshuva. We took some mashke and a farbrengen ensued. Josh walked over and statted the nigun essen edt zich w such dveikus and pnimius…it nlew us away. Our false impression was he was from the more modern shluchim etc. Buy were we wrong… his facade was open mindedness but pnimius was a chasidishe durch getribener chssid who put us to shame…
    We encountered and studied w his baalei teshuva and they were intellectuals. His ability to reach them was real…

    Zol er zein ah gutter beter un brengen Masiach now.

  • Chaya levy

    ברוך דיין האמת
    I am deeply saddened at the פתירה of such a wonderful man . I listened to his wonderful chumush rashi online no one explained the םדרה as well as rabbi Gordon his jokes were so funny he really had such a great sense of humour. המקום ירחם בתוך עבלציין וירושלים.

  • Trailblazer

    Our rabbis are to blame for all these tragedies, we simply don’t have anyone to teach us ,

  • Chaim Jacobs

    Saddened and shocked that we have lost a real soldier of the Rebbe who gave everything until his last breath in trying to spread yiddishkeit throughout Californis and beyod
    Our heart goes out to his wife, family and community
    המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון ורושלים

  • O.T . boy 73-76

    In his personal reflections, Rabbi Gordon shares unique words of consolation that the Rebbe told his father and grandfather at the shiva of his paternal grandmother in 1957.

    “When someone passes away,” said the Rebbe to the Gordon family, “They don’t leave. They just go up to the second floor.”

    JOSH YOU WILL ALWAYS BE WITH US
    ESP WHEN WE LEARN WITH YOU EVERY DAY ON LINE

  • Yirmi

    Boruch Dayan Emes. I enjoyed his shuirim and seemed like a very loving and caring person. a real dugma chaya for Yiden and especially shluchim around the world.

  • Abraham hope

    Such a great Rabbi a friend teacher, you did a great job here on earth. All you did will surely be rewarded. Enjoy what you earnt. Thank you Rabbi and God bless.