I hope you had a meaningful and joyous Passover. Personally, I was blessed to share beautiful moments with my family, which were uplifting and grounding, as always. Now, I want to shift to something serious, something deeply personal.
I’m writing to you the day after Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, a time when we pause to remember the horrors of our past and the six million Jews who perished simply for being Jewish. It is chilling that as we reflect on that darkest chapter in our history, we find ourselves once again witnessing disturbing parallels, a rise in antisemitism, in irrational hatred, and public spaces turning against Jews, much like what we experienced in the years leading up to the Holocaust.
For over 10 years, we’ve walked this journey together at AISH. You’ve stood with me through challenges and milestones, and it’s with that spirit of partnership that I turn to you today.
We are in the midst of something momentous, something that I believe is critical for the Jewish people.
When I envisioned the creation of AISH Ha’am, our slate for the World Zionist Congress, it came from a profound belief: that AISH has the potential to not just teach, but to lead.
We are an institution rooted in three values:
Responsibility for our people and the world;
Wisdom, which is the transformative power of Jewish knowledge; and above all,
Love, because every interaction, every message, must come from a place of deep caring and compassion.
With these pillars, we built a platform to help shape a future for the Jewish people that is both proud and bright.
Our Influencers: Real Jewish Leadership
To bring AISH Ha’am to life, I reached out to two extraordinary groups. The first was Jewish influencers, individuals who, in the digital age, have cultivated platforms that reach and inspire thousands.
Since October 7th, we’ve seen these influencers rise as powerful voices for truth, for Israel, and for the Jewish people. Many of them have taken to their channels to combat misinformation and hate with passion and eloquence. I knew it was time the broader Jewish world made room for them at the leadership table.
And no, we didn’t pay them. Not a penny. What we gave them was a platform, a chance to live their Jewish mission and help lead us forward.
The second group is the young Jewish students fighting an entirely different battle on college campuses. These brave souls have stood up to an appalling wave of antisemitism sweeping through American universities. Places like Harvard, MIT, and Penn, once bastions of tolerance, now harbor irrational hate against Jews.
We saw this hatred laid bare when the presidents of these institutions testified before Congress and refused to clearly condemn calls for genocide. It was a dark moment in American Jewish history.
Even before October 7th, some were already sounding the alarm. One of them was Shabbos Kestenbaum, an AISH alumnus who studied with us for two and a half years before going on to Harvard. He spoke out early, and today, he’s the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against Harvard for its antisemitism.
We proudly placed him and others like him on our slate. These are our Frontline Warriors.
In the wake of the AISH Ha’am campaign, we created a documentary called Frontline Warriors, profiling antisemitism at Harvard, UCLA, and Columbia. We thought the Jewish world needed to see the reality our students are facing.
Apparently, Harvard thought differently.
We recently received a 999-page legal document from Harvard demanding our communications about the film and our interactions with Shabbos. Instead of introspection or reform, they’re choosing intimidation. They’re not confronting the hate on their campus, they’re coming after AISH.
Let that sink in.
The Torah tells us in Sefer Bereishit (Genesis 4:9), when God confronts Cain after Cain has killed his brother Abel, Cain responds: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”—Hashomer achi anochi?
This is not just a rhetorical question. It is the first moment in the Torah when God introduces the concept of moral responsibility. And the resounding answer is: Yes. You are. You are your brother’s keeper. You are responsible for one another.
This has always been the Jewish way—to take responsibility not just for ourselves, but for each other, for our communities, and for the Jewish future.
That’s what AISH Ha’am is about. That’s what this moment demands of us.
This is the moment to act. If you haven’t yet voted for AISH Ha’am in the World Zionist Congress elections, this is the final week to do so.
Please:
- Visit aish.com/vote to cast your ballot.
- Share the Frontline Warriors documentary with your network.
- Encourage everyone you know to vote and stand with us.
These young leaders, our warriors, our influencers, our future, represent the very essence of AISH: Responsibility. Wisdom. Love.
This is not just a campaign. It’s a call to arms.
Thank you for being part of this mission.
