Tikva Melamed Goff

Tikva Melamed Goff was born in Baghdad, Iraq on December 25, 1938. As a toddler she, her parents and two older siblings fled Iraq having miraculously survived the Farhoud: successfully escaping to Jerusalem. Growing up in Jerusalem, Tikva went to school and later began working in the Bank of Israel. She dutifully served in the Israeli Defense Forces as a member of the Air Force from 1959-1963. During a trip to the United States to visit her beloved brother who was studying to enter the Rabbinate at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, she met and married the father of her children Rabbi Ronald Bernstein-Goff in 1964. Tikva spent many years as a homemaker and Rebbetzin teaching Hebrew School midweek and on Sundays. Later she returned to school, first earning her ESL and GED and then obtained her Nursing education and went on to serve the Pediatric, Oncology and Geriatric populations for over 25 years in Illinois and California. In 2003 Tikva moved to Florida to be near her children and grandchildren. She is predeceased by her parents, Yehudah and Regina Melamed z”l, her sister Berta Ron z”l and brother Ezra Melamed z”l. She is survived by her adoring family including her brother, Rabbi Joseph Melamed, sister, Racheli Galor, her two children, Karen (Cary) Reich and Elan (Nicole) Melamed and five grandchildren (Yael, Ariel, and Avi Reich) and (Mattan and Gilad Melamed).