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. Since setting forth AISHVision 2030 three and a half years ago we have learned so much. We are constantly reevaluating our progress as we march towards facilitating 3 million Jews to connect to the Almighty through Jewish wisdom.
We are grateful to our media team that since embarking on this journey we have acquired almost 4 million new followers across all of our social media channels and are now averaging 1 million video views a day! In addition, Aish.com continues to be the most used resource in the Jewish world with millions of visits every month. While these stats place Aish firmly as the leader of the Jewish world online we are never satisfied. We find ourselves in the unique position of constantly trying to outdo ourselves. In essence, Aish is competing with Aish!
A few interesting things came out of our meetings. A major discussion was held about transitioning many of our current users to arenas of deeper, long-form, meaningful, content. This will mean investing in more Judaic personalities and giving them platforms to deliver their content. We also discussed the need to build community online. Jews always thrive and excel when they are a part of a thriving community. Aish is in the midst of important discussions with a major entity to create a community that will provide a safe space for discussions for Jewish University students around the world. More to come on that later!
Two discussions that were very revealing as to the nature of our staff was that everyone there had said that they joined Aish to change the world. Many wonderful Jewish organizations do important crucial work for the Jewish people. Rav Noach Weinberg ZT”L created Aish to literally change the world. That is why our goals are so audacious and always take into account EVERY Jew. Aish literally takes responsibility for the entire Jewish world. As a result, our staff are world-class talents who think bigger than big.
The other important discussion revolved around “What is Aish?” Are we an organization? Are we an international business? Are we an educational institution? We listed almost 20 entities on a whiteboard that we could identify as describing us. The one that stood out and received unanimous consent in the room was the concept that Aish is a “Movement”. There was a feeling that if Aish’s goal is to connect every Jew to the Almighty through Jewish wisdom we need to be a movement. That means that our vision is so much bigger than we are. We have to work with many other entities to help us spread this approach and philosophy.
I believe that this will be the key to Aish’s success. Our work is in service of the Almighty. Therefore we must work with anyone and everyone to facilitate every Jew’s journey to engage with their heritage. We must urge every Jew to come together and appreciate the beauty and majesty of their birthright. We were appointed to be the Almighty’s ambassadors in this world. “A light unto the Nations”. We have brought morality and ethics to every corner of the globe. When the Jewish nation is strong, the world is strong.
My friends, I will put this as bluntly as I can. We need you to join our movement. We need you to be a part of Aish. We need you to live and embrace our brothers and sisters who are currently distant from us. The way to do that is by sharing the greatest book ever written. The Torah. We must bond with each other through our shared sacred text. By doing that we will start the process of building the Almighty’s Palace in Jerusalem together. May the Almighty shower us with His blessing as we unify and build a bright future for humanity.
