I hope this message finds you well and that you have had a productive and meaningful summer. Not only in terms of what you have accomplished, but also in finding those rare moments to pause, breathe, and reflect. The summer months often provide us with a precious window to look back and consider the direction of our lives.
The Jewish calendar gives us this structure. It guides us through cycles of celebration, mourning, renewal, and growth. Each time of year carries its own sacred purpose. Hanukkah brings the joy of light and the delight of giving, especially for our children who wait eagerly to see the menorah shine. Pesach calls us to cleanse our homes and gather around the Seder table to retell the story of our freedom. On Shavuos, as I often remind our students, we stay up through the night immersed in Torah, strengthening our connection with the Almighty through His wisdom. In the summer, as many of you saw in Jamie Geller’s powerful documentary film, we remember the destruction of the Temple and the pain of exile. Now, with the arrival of Elul, we enter into thirty days of deep introspection granted to us by the Almighty.
Think about what this means. Before we stand in judgment on Rosh Hashanah, we are given a full month to prepare. Just as someone facing a court case would carefully prepare with their lawyer, so too we must prepare our souls. We must reflect honestly on the year that has passed. What did we do well? Where did we stumble? What can we strengthen? The King of Kings is waiting for us, and He is giving us time to return.
Here, the Torah gives us a striking image. The verse in Shir HaShirim says, “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li; I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” The first letters of each word spell Elul. The rabbis teach that Elul is not only about fear of judgment. It is about love. God is not a distant judge waiting to condemn us. He is a loving Father longing for His children to return. This is why the shofar is blown each morning in Elul. Its sound is not meant to terrify. It is a call of love, an embrace in sound, saying: “Come closer. I am waiting for you.” When Moshe ascended Har Sinai for the final forty days, beginning on Rosh Chodesh Elul, he pleaded for forgiveness. On Yom Kippur, God declared, “I have forgiven as you have asked.” Ever since, this month has been sanctified as a season of mercy and return.
This lesson is crucial for us today. We sometimes feel overwhelmed by the challenges of Jewish life in this generation. Antisemitism rises around us. Our people suffer in Israel. We carry heartbreak that can feel unbearable. Yet Elul teaches that we are never alone. Even in the shadow of our failures, even in the darkest times, the Almighty waits for us with love. He calls us not only to repent but to reconnect. To feel that we are His and He is ours. That is the heartbeat of this month.
At AISH, this work of introspection and reconnection is constant. We are always looking at how to better fulfill our mission of spreading Jewish wisdom to millions. This past summer has been extraordinary. Our Tisha B’Av video reached countless Jews, helping them connect to the meaning of that painful day. We organized the largest Jewish online singles event in history, giving thousands the chance to meet and dream of building Jewish homes. Even now, as we look ahead, we are preparing to welcome record numbers of students to our yeshiva and seminary programs in Jerusalem.
I am especially inspired by the opening of the Suzana and Ivan Kaufman Women’s Educational Institute, an eight-story home for Torah in the heart of Jerusalem, dedicated to women’s learning. In the Old City, our fully Spanish-speaking Beit Midrash is thriving, showing how Torah truly belongs to every Jew. I invite you to visit in the coming weeks. You will see Jerusalem alive with young men and women seeking God, seeking wisdom, seeking a deeper connection with their people.
The mission of AISH is built on this very truth. We are the People of the Book. For two thousand years, even as other religions discouraged learning, Jews insisted that every man and woman must study and teach Torah. Torah is not only for rabbis or scholars. It is for every Jew. It is our prism for understanding the Almighty. The more we study, the more we come to love Him. That is why we push ourselves to reach millions online every week, and why we are creating deeper, richer opportunities for study. Because in Torah lies the key to love and responsibility.
Elul asks us to measure ourselves against these three values: Torah, love, and responsibility. Are we truly dedicating ourselves to Torah learning? Are we showing love as fully as we should to those around us? Are we stepping up and taking responsibility for the Jewish people in a time of great challenge?
Jewish history is our testimony that we can rise even from devastation. In 1945, after the horrors of the Holocaust, we rebuilt. By 1948, we stood proudly as a nation reborn in our ancestral homeland. In our lifetimes, after the heartbreak of October 7th, we have once again come together to defend our people and to love one another with a strength the world cannot comprehend. There is nothing stronger than the broken heart of a Jew.
I recently felt this reality on a personal level. While traveling, a stranger suddenly yelled “Free Gaza” in my face. This was not at a protest. It was simply because I was wearing a yarmulke. Instead of responding with anger, I took it as a sign of pride. They knew who I was and what I stood for. They understood that Jews never abandon each other, that we carry each other, that we pray for each other, that we are committed to bringing our brothers and sisters home.
It is tragic to see how antisemitism has spread in academia and institutions that should have been bastions of wisdom. Too often, administrations have ignored it or even encouraged it. Yet we know why we are hated. It is because we love each other and we care for each other. We are in it for the long haul. That is our greatest strength.
As we approach Rosh Hashanah, I ask each of you to take this season of Elul seriously. Ask yourself: Am I deepening my connection to Jewish wisdom? Am I loving the people in my life as I should? Am I taking responsibility for the Jewish people? If the answer is not yet, then now is the time.
May this Elul be filled with honest reflection, with renewed strength, and with the sweetness of knowing that the Almighty is waiting for us to return. I pray that this year we see the return of our hostages, the safety of our people, and the continued building of our eternal future.
