It certainly has been a hectic week. Much of America, and by extension, the world has been on edge due to the Presidential election in the United States. Coupled with the war that is still being fought in Israel and the hate that has risen against our people in America, the stakes have never seemed higher. As a result, so many Jews became very active and worked hard during this election season.
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. In many ways, this is a Jewish response as we don’t hold violent rallies or spew hate like so many other groups. Jews fix broken things and that certainly seems to be the case here.
There is one other important aspect of the world’s sociopolitical atmosphere. As Jews, we believe that there is a Creator. The entity that at Aish we affectionately refer to as the Almighty. It is a deep Jewish belief going back to the creation of the world, that the Creator runs the world. We are placed in this world to improve it. To build it. To strengthen it. To promote morality. To facilitate goodness. Jews exist to help the world become a better place. Yet we can never forget that there is a Creator and He is our partner.
Yes, we experienced an intense week. So many feel that there is an insurmountable divide in the United States. Our brothers and sisters are still captives in Gaza as we deal with daily hate here. Jews seem to be persecuted in a way that is reminiscent of Germany ninety years ago. Still, we must remember that the Almighty is keeping a close eye on every one of us and will always have our back. The time for faith is exactly when we experience anxiety and unsureness. Hashem is both our Father and King and He will always be by our side.
Within this context, I had the most fabulous Shabbos guests this past week. I was joined by six alumni of our Yeshiva who are now living and going to school in New York and Silver Spring, MD. The Shabbos stemmed from a conversation that I had with former student and staff member, Jared Stern who had come to my office to pitch a Tefilin project that he was working on with some other alumni. I enjoyed our meeting so much that I suggested bringing some other alumni to my home for Shabbos. Jared got right to work and set up the Shabbos following Sukkos.
The conversations we had were outstanding. We spoke about the history of Aish and so much of the progress that has happened over the last ten years. Many ideas were discussed regarding what can be done to strengthen Jewish students on campus, including Aish staff visiting and sharing Jewish wisdom on these besieged campuses.
Aish has started to play a more substantive role with university students. We have recently partnered with Cross River Bank to build an online platform that will allow Jewish students to have a safe place to connect and strengthen each other. Many thanks to my good friend Cross River CEO Yaakov Gade (who just had a grandson – Mazel Tov!!) and the Corporate Head of Social Responsibility, Miriam Wallach for having the vision to help facilitate this crucial program. I am also proud to announce that we have hired Olympic Marathon runner Beatie Deutsch to coordinate this dynamic program.
One of the most important conversations that we had was how to build the movement of Aish. We are not a regular yeshiva, institution, organization, company, firm, or corporation. We are a movement of Jews who believe in taking responsibility to fix the world around us. We believe that all Jews must understand and appreciate their heritage. We believe that the Jewish Nation is strongest when ALL Jews feel like brothers and sisters. We focused on the creation of our new WZC party, Aish Ha’am which is fostering incredible unity amongst our movement. I urge everyone to visit our site at Aish.com/vote to join the most dynamic, inspirational movement that is changing the world as we speak.
In the end, we all walked away from Shabbos committed to working to keep dreaming and doing. These six students can, and will, literally change the world. Our Aish family must work to build up the world around us. Elections come and go but the Jewish Nation will remain forever because we are built on a foundation of love. Love for each other. Love for the land of Israel. Love for the Torah. Love for the Almighty. Let us continue to commit to building Aish Ha’am on a foundation of love.
