View source for Aish HaTorah

{{short description|Orthodox Jewish educational organization}}

{{infobox organization
| name                     = Aish/Aish HaTorah
| native_name              = {{Script/Hebrew|אש התורה}}
| native_name_lang         = he
| logo                     = File:Aish_logo.png
| image                    = File:Esh hatora.JPG
| caption                  = Aish HaTorah World Center in Jerusalem
| nickname                 = Aish
| established              = 1974
| founder                  = Rabbi [[Noah Weinberg]]
| type                     = [[Nonprofit organization|Nonprofit]]
| purpose                  = [[Jewish education]]
| headquarters             = [[Jerusalem]], Israel
| services                 = Online educational content, [[Yeshiva]], classes, seminars
| leader_title             = [[Rosh Yeshiva]]
| leader_name              = Rabbi [[Yitzchak Berkovits]]
| leader_title2            = [[CEO]]
| leader_name2             = Rabbi [[Steven Burg]]
| key_people               = * Steven Burg
* Yitzchak Berkovitz
*  [[Jamie Geller]]
| affiliations             = [[Orthodox Judaism]]
| website                  = {{URL|https://aish.com}}
}}

'''Aish''', formerly known as '''Aish HaTorah''' (Hebrew: אש התורה, lit. "Fire of the Torah"), is a [[Orthodox Judaism|Jewish Orthodox]] educational organization. The focus of Aish is the spread of traditional [[Judaism|Jewish religious teachings]] and [[Jewish culture|culture]] to Jews around the globe, utilizing a significant online presence made up of its website, Aish.com, and various social media channels. 

In addition to the educational organization, the organization's main campus in [[Jerusalem]] also includes a [[yeshiva]] and a [[women's seminary]], as well as several other in-person programs. In the late 1990s, the Los Angeles branch of Aish pioneered the [[speed dating]] concept as a way to promote marriages between Jewish partners. 

In 2001, as part of its outreach and advocacy, Aish set up the [[Hasbara Fellowships]], an initiative designed to combat anti-Israel ideas on North American college campuses, in collaboration with the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel)|Israeli Foreign Ministry]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Stub |first=Zev |date=2024-12-31 |title=From posters to protests, pro-Israel US campus leaders take varying paths to shared goal |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/from-posters-to-protests-pro-israel-us-campus-leaders-take-varying-paths-to-shared-goal/ |access-date=2025-11-18 |work=The Times of Israel |language=en-US |issn=0040-7909}}</ref>

== History ==

Aish, founded in [[Jerusalem]] in 1974 by [[Rabbi]] [[Noah Weinberg]] after leaving the [[Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem|Ohr Somayach yeshiva]], which he had co-founded, aimed to educate young Jewish students, particularly travellers and volunteers, in the history and traditions of [[Orthodox Judaism]].<ref name=MishAishR_NoachW>{{cite magazine |magazine=Mishpacha  |date=February 11, 2009 |title=The Fire Within: The Passion, Vision, and Teacity That Was Rav Noach Weimnerg ztz"l|pages=16–24 |author=Andrew Friedman}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://forward.com/opinion/348004/is-new-israeli-initiative-trying-to-turn-american-jews-into-orthodox-right/|title=Is Israel Trying To Turn American Jews Into Orthodox Right-Wingers?|last=Goldberg|first=J.J.|date=2016-08-16|website=The Forward|access-date=2016-08-24}}</ref> It later expanded worldwide and established 30 branches; each is currently run as its own entity. Aish continues to promote an extensive array of relevant in-person courses and online educational material.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rdSEzwrp4U |title=I had a conversation with a Jewish Rabbi |date=2024-07-08 |last=Nas Daily |access-date=2024-07-11 |via=YouTube}}</ref> After Weinberg died in February 2009, his son, Rabbi Hillel Weinberg, served as interim dean for a few years.<ref name=kikar>{{cite web |url=https://mobile.kikar.co.il/article/317606|title=משגיח הישיבה התארס עם הרבנית מעפולה|language=he|trans-title=Yeshiva's Mashgiach Engaged to a Rebbetzin from Afula |first=Shaul |last=Kahana |date=May 21, 2019 |access-date=October 29, 2019 |work=[[Kikar HaShabbat (website)|Kikar HaShabbat]]}}</ref> In 2015, Rabbi Steven Burg was named CEO of the organization,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Yudelson |first=Larry |date=June 18, 2015 |title=his place in jerusalem |url=https://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/his-place-in-jerusalem/ |access-date=July 11, 2024 |work=Jewish Standard}}</ref> and, in 2019, Rabbi [[Yitzchak Berkovits]] was named ''[[rosh yeshiva]]''.<ref name=aish>{{cite web |url= https://www.aish.com/jw/s/Rabbi-Yitzchak-Berkovits-to-be-Inaugurated-as-Rosh-Yeshiva-of-Aish-HaTorah.html|title= Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovits to be Inaugurated as Rosh Yeshiva of Aish HaTorah|first=Shraga|last=Simmons|author-link=Shraga Simmons|date=August 14, 2019|access-date=October 17, 2019|work=Aish.com}}</ref> 

==Politics==
The organization is ideologically [[Jewish conservatism|conservative]]. Its officials have stated they oppose a full hand-over of the [[West Bank]] to the [[Palestinians]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/nyregion/in-police-training-a-dark-film-on-us-muslims.html|title=In Police Training, a Dark Film on U.S. Muslims|last=Powell|first=Michael|date=2012-01-23|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-08-24}}</ref> In 2012, Aish HaTorah officials were linked to the [[Clarion Project|Clarion Fund]], publishers of the controversial film [[The Third Jihad: Radical Islam's Vision For America|''The Third Jihad'']], alleging a muslim strategy to infiltrate and dominate America.<ref name=":1" />

==Activities==
{{see also|Hasbara Fellowships}}

Aish operates roughly 30 full-time branches on five continents, providing seminars, singles events, executive learning groups, [[Shabbat]] and [[Jewish holiday]] programs, and community-building. Its Jerusalem headquarters includes a high-tech main campus and outreach center featuring a rooftop vista overlooking the [[Temple Mount]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=JLNJ |date=2022-02-17 |title=US Ambassador To Israel Visits Aish |url=https://jewishlink.news/us-ambassador-to-israel-visits-aish/ |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=The Jewish Link |language=en}}</ref>

The organization operates a website at Aish.com that attracts a global audience.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wire |first=Aish/Jewlish |date=June 14, 2022 |title=Aish and Jewlish enter into a strategic partnership, making Aish the #1 global Jewish food media brand |url=https://www.jns.org/wire/aish-and-jewlish-enter-into-a-strategic-partnership-making-aish-the-1-global-jewish-food-media-brand/ |work=Jewish News Syndicate}}</ref> Among the services offered are live chat sessions with Rabbis who are available to answer questions.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-06-19 |title=DMing my rabbi: Aish's live chats see spike 300% post-Oct. 7, antisemitism surge |url=https://www.jpost.com/judaism/article-806821 |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |language=en |issn=0792-822X}}</ref>

In the late 1998, Rabbi Yaakov Deyo, then Educational Director of the Los Angeles branch of Aish,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Greenwald |first=Toby Klein |date=2021-10-18 |title=Torah Live Breathes New Life into Education |url=https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/341472/torah-live-breathes-new-life-into-education/ |access-date=2025-11-18 |website=Jewish Journal |language=en-US}}</ref> invented the [[speed dating]] concept.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Pagan |date=2013-09-27 |title=Who Made Speed Dating? (Published 2013) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/magazine/who-made-speed-dating.html |access-date=2025-11-18 |work=[[The New York Times Magazine]]|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> Speed dating events under the auspices of Aish have continued to the present, designed to promote marriages between Jewish partners and thus continue the Jewish tradition.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Staff |first= |date=2025-08-05 |title=Largest-ever Jewish virtual dating event timed to holiday of Tu B’Av |url=https://www.jns.org/largest-ever-jewish-virtual-dating-event-timed-to-holiday-of-tu-bav/ |access-date=2025-11-18 |website=JNS.org |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2001, the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel)|Israeli Foreign Ministry]] worked with Aish HaTorah to create the [[Hasbara Fellowships]], an initiative designed to combat anti-Israel ideas on North American college campuses.<ref name=":2" />

In December 2013, Aish HaTorah of New York filed suit against its former chief financial officer Jacob Fetman to enforce a [[Beth Din]] ruling that Fetman had stolen $20 million in funds from the organization.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://forward.com/news/310895/when-rabbis-rule-secular-courts-listen/|title=$20M Charity Embezzlement Case Shows Power of Rabbinic Courts|last=Nathan-Kazis|first=Josh|date=26 June 2015|website=The Forward|access-date=2 July 2019}}</ref>

==Notable faculty==
* [[Noah Weinberg]] (1930 &ndash; 2009), founder
* [[Chaim Malinowitz]] (1952 &ndash; 2019)<ref>{{cite news |last=Landesman|first=Shmuel|date=5 December 2019|title=Rabbi Chaim Malinowitz, Artscroll Editor And Rav, 67 |url=https://www.jewishpress.com/review/in-print-review/rabbi-chaim-malinowitz-artscroll-editor-and-rav-67/2019/12/05/|work=Jewish Press |access-date=16 December 2019}}</ref>
* Rabbi [[Steven Burg]], CEO
* Rabbi [[Yitzchak Berkovits]], Rosh Yeshiva

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{official|https://aish.com/|name=Aish official website}}

{{AishHaTorah}}
{{Orthodox yeshivas in Israel and the West Bank}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aish Hatorah}}
[[Category:Aish HaTorah| ]]
[[Category:Baalei teshuva institutions]]
[[Category:Educational institutions established in 1974]]
[[Category:Orthodox Jewish outreach]]
[[Category:Orthodox yeshivas in Jerusalem]]
[[Category:Giving]]
[[Category:Jewish organizations based in Israel]]
[[Category:Religious organizations based in Israel]]
[[Category:Lithuanian-Jewish culture in Israel]]
[[Category:Israel articles missing geocoordinate data]]
[[Category:Jewish Quarter (Jerusalem)]]
[[Category:Zionist organizations]]
[[Category:Religious Zionist organizations]]
[[Category:Synagogues in Ontario]]