Rabbi Mark Golub, founder of JBS, dies; funeral set for Thursday
(NEW YORK) – Rabbi Mark S. Golub, the founder, president and host of Jewish Broadcasting Service (JBS), a national Jewish TV network broadcasting over cable and live streaming services died on January 31 with family surrounding him. He was 77.
Rabbi Mark Golub. (Courtesy JBS)
Beginning as Shalom TV, Golub’s dream of a national Jewish news and entertainment service went national in 2006. It featured Jewish films, many in Hebrew with English subtitles, children’s shows and breaking news out of Israel.
The service was rebranded as JBS in 2014 and memorably broadcast religious services over the COVID pandemic that allowed locked out Jews the ability to connect to Jewish liturgy.
In addition to JBS, Golub also created the Russian Television Network of America (RTN), which was the first Russian language network in the United States.
Golub was also the host of”L’Chayim,” a TV interview talk show broadcast over JBS. He served Chavurah Aytz Chayim in Stamford, CT. as its pulpit rabbi since 1979.
A native of New York, Golub attended Columbia University, where he worked on the campus radio station WKCR-FM, eventually becoming general manager. As the head of Seixas Menorah, the Jewish organization on campus, he frequently engaged with leaders of other religions on campus. After graduation, he matriculated to Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion from where he received his ordination in 1972. That same year he founded Chavurah Aytz Chaim. While Golub was a Reform rabbi, he frequently referred to himself as a “Humanistic Jew.”
Golub worked in media early in his career. He created a series of sex education programs in conjunction with Planned Parenthood called “The Biology of Love.” The series was later used for training by the New York City Board of Education.
Golub partnered with his brother David in producing several successful Broadway plays including the Tony Award winning “The Gershwins’ ‘Porgy and Bess‘” “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” and “The Bridges of Madison County,” which won Tony Awards for the score and orchestrations by Jason Robert Brown.
A statement issued by JBS on Tuesday announced his passing and the upcoming funeral service that will be broadcast live on Thursday, February 2 at 11:00 a.m CST.
“Mark had a profound love for the Jewish people, the Jewish tradition and the state of Israel,” the statement read. “JBS was the fulfillment of his lifelong dream to transmit this love through the power of television, and work to ensure the continuation of American Jewry for generations through ‘Expanding Jewish Understanding, Celebrating All Things Jewish.'”
