Today is one of the most special days of the year. It is the first day of the month of Elul. Elul, while having no Jewish holidays during this entire month, was a gift given to us by the Almighty so that we have 30 days of preparation before Rosh HaShana, the Jewish New Year. During this time we reflect on our lives. What can we be doing better? What mistakes have we made? It is a time for us to look in the mirror and think about how we can be better. Do better. Accomplish more for humanity. The best way for us to start that process of introspection is to find a little extra time in our schedules to study Jewish wisdom.
Jewish wisdom was a gift from the Almighty to give us a window into our soul and to help us bond with our Creator. Find an extra five minutes a day over the next month to focus your energy on how to become a better version of yourself. One of the most touching refrains that I constantly hear is how the study of timeless Jewish wisdom has helped strengthen the family. I recently spoke with a husband and wife who study together who told me that it saved their marriage. With the kids out of the house they were struggling to speak to one another. Jewish wisdom gave them a language to grow together. Find some time as a family to peruse aish.com to find articles to review and talk about at the dinner table. Let’s all focus on our rich heritage over these next 30 days.
Thank you to all who have reached out regarding my last few weekly emails. The feedback has been off the charts. So many of you have expressed pride and full on joy at the success Aish is having online. Achieving 75 million video views on social media over the first seven months of the year has truly been awe inspiring. The biggest question I keep getting is, “Where do we go from here?” Now that Aish has transformed itself into one of the largest Jewish media companies in the world, how do we use that as a springboard to do more.
About seven months ago Aish hired the lynchpin for our ongoing strategy towards AISHVision 2030. We knew that we needed a COO to help align all parts of our network and propel us forward. We were very specific in our job description. It had to be a passionate Jew who lives in Israel and has significant experience in the technology business world. We found the perfect candidate in Hillel Scheinfeld.
Hillel made aliya shortly after he got married 30 years ago and is incredibly passionate about his love for the Jewish people and the land of Israel. He also has worked on a multitude of exciting technology ventures in Israel. We knew shortly after meeting him that he was the best candidate for this challenge and we quickly hired him.
Hillel is now working on a strategy to convert this massive influence that we have developed into a strategy to build it into a multitude of communities. One of the strongest, deepest desires every person has is to belong to a community. Years ago that may have been the village we lived in. Today, communities can span the globe. In Aish we have picked up on this trend and are looking to build a passionate network of communities both in person and in the cyber verse.
We are constantly having meetings around this topic and will be rolling out our global strategy in January 2024, three years into our ten year plan of AISHVision 2030. I encourage all of you to send me your thoughts on how Aish can facilitate the building of these communities. What topics would you like to connect with others about? How do you define community? What are the boundaries of community? We are delving into these topics and I would love to hear from all of you about how we can do the best job for all of you. My deep thanks and gratitude to Hillel as he leads us down this formidable path.
The success of the Jewish people has always revolved around community. We are strongest when our community is united and most vulnerable when we are at odds with each other. This past year in Israel has been tough on our community. So many have focused on what divides us more than the values that we share in common. Our antisemitic enemies have watched our infighting with glee. They know that the Jewish Nation is too difficult to defeat from without so they hope that we can turn on each other to weaken our beautiful community. For the next 30 days let us all find reasons to come together. To love each other. To grow together. To acknowledge one another with true respect and affection. Let us strive to build a rock solid community together.
