From the CEO

This year due to the confluence of Chanukah falling out in conjunction with the Christian holidays I have found myself being a spokesperson for the Jewish people. In the past few days, I have done eight interviews on cable news programs!

On Monday, I traveled from Israel to Washington for the White House Hanukka Party. As most of my advocacy work now happens in Israel I don’t have the time I’d like to spend in the U.S. with elected leaders. Still, I have always felt that it is important to attend the gathering at the White House no matter which administration is in power.

Shortly after I landed in Israel we hosted an important gathering of journalists in Israel. Under the leadership of Aish’s head of Public Relations Raphael Poch, we have coordinated a number of dinners at the Dan Family Aish World Center for journalists.

Assisted by Aish curriculum expert Andrea Schulman, a schedule was formed that would allow the Moms to immerse themselves in the Seminary experience. This visit to Israel would have no touring on the schedule. The participants would be going back to seminary to study Torah.

Any week that one gets to attend Jewish weddings is a special one. I had the honor of going to the wedding of two incredible Aish families whose children married each other.

Finally this week, we had the most beautiful kickoff event for the launch of our World Zionist Congress party Aish Ha’am. It was an online event attended by over 1000 people. It was so beautiful to see all the different faces that make up our slate.

As a result of the events of October 7 and all that followed, Aish decided that we needed to organize our efforts. We created a party that is running in the upcoming elections of the World Zionist Congress.

This has been a historic election as there are now six Orthodox elected officials serving in New York State. So many Jews are more prominently involving themselves to serve across America to better the country.

At this point in history, the right place for Jews is to be back home in Israel. I don’t say these words lightly and I take my responsibilities as a Jewish leader very seriously. These words that I write now come straight from my heart.

This week Aish had the honor of hosting the celebration of the completion of three Torahs written in memory of members of the security forces who fell defending our people on October 7.

Yesterday I joined our Yeshiva at the site of the Nova Festival memorial where the Erber family finished and donated multiple Sifrei Torah. These scrolls have been written over the last year, in a tent at the Nova Festival site, in memory of the heroes that gave their lives on October 7th.

I do think we have an obligation to every Jew in the world to embrace and love them, even Jews who have been brainwashed into fighting against their own people. In so many ways our community has failed these Jews by not searching for them earlier and not educating them in the truth about Judaism and Israel.

Last year so many of us gathered in synagogues to pray on Rosh HaShana for a sweet, healthy new year. Little did we know that a few short weeks later we would be facing the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

Inviting General Tibon to Aish, I did not know what to expect. The General identifies as a secular Israeli Jew and I was unsure of how many values we might share. I found a warm hearted Jew and a new friend who inspired me completely. It was the same with the Imam and the Minister.

One of the reasons that the Jewish people have survived and thrived for so long has been our ability to stay committed. This past Tuesday night, I saw this commitment firsthand as I ran back and forth between events in the Old City.

September is wedding season. I have been to many weddings over the last few weeks and all of them have been beautiful and moving. There has been one constant to all the weddings that I have attended.

It is hard to remember a week that has been this difficult. The entire Jewish people feel broken. I feel broken. The brutal murder of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lonanov, and Carmel Gat has affected all of us.

One of my favorite tasks at Aish is meeting with our students to hear their ideas about how to change the world. Many times they have become so passionate because our current Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovits, shlit’a, is constantly telling them that they must take responsibility for the world around them.

I am writing to you from Austria where I have had the honor of being the scholar in residence for an amazing Jewish heritage tour in Western Europe. There are so many lessons to be learned when walking in the footsteps of our forefathers.

I was so proud of our Aish team for producing the groundbreaking documentary “Voices of Pain, Hope, and Heroism.” It details the events of October 7th from the perspective of five Israeli families.

We are a Nation of heroes. From Ambassador Gilad Erdan to the Aish students we all must step forward and work together to strengthen our Nation.

I was particularly crushed by the horrific slaughter of the 12 young Druze adolescents murdered by Hezbollah while playing soccer. I had met the leader of the Druze community, Sheikh Muafak Tarif recently at a World Zionist Organization event. I immediately sent him condolences on behalf of the Aish global community.

The hate we are encountering is unprecedented in our lifetime. Yet, if we stand together united by the bonds of family we will emerge stronger, joined by the unbreakable bond of love. The love that I saw last week among the couples on our Aish Mission. The love that I saw in Tel HaShomer Hospital. The love that I saw between Dvir and Shalev.

We have a dynamic couples Aish Destiny mission which has come to spend time in Israel connecting with each other and the Almighty. I was asked to speak during the visit to the holy field where so many young Jews were slaughtered by terrorists.

This past week the executive team of Aish, together with many members of the senior leadership team, gathered in Ashdod for our Annual Strategic Realignment Meetings.

I had the honor of spending time in the Knesset this week. I spoke with my longtime friend, MK Yitzhak Pindrus. As we spoke about some of the many different challenges facing Israel he stated simply that normal rules don’t apply to the Jews. Everyone constantly predicts our demise and we always beat the odds.

This past week we met in person to talk about how to bring more partners into our circle in an official way. It was a day filled with much discussion on the makeup of who might fit the criteria. We were joined by Aish COO Hillel Scheinfeld and Aish Executive Director Rabbi Ben Gonsher.

My wife and I have been blessed to marry off our second child in six months. The experience has been one that in many ways escapes description.

October 7th has redefined us as a people. Our Aish Rabbis on campus have had to retool and deal with issues of anti-Jewish hate that we never could have imagined. At the concert, the Israelis in attendance were strengthened by knowing that American Jews are standing shoulder to shoulder with them.