Steven Burg (born April 23, 1972) is an American Orthodox rabbi, educator, and Jewish communal leader. He serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Aish, a Jewish outreach organization. [1] [2]
Rabbi Burg received his rabbinic ordination and a master’s degree in Medieval Jewish History from Yeshiva University in 1996. He completed executive education programs at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 2011 and Harvard Business School in 2012. [3]
In 1991, Burg began his career at the Orthodox Union (OU), serving until 2013. During this time, he held the positions of OU Managing Director and International Director of NCSY, the OU's youth movement [3]
From January 2013 to June 2015, Burg was the Eastern Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. He managed the Museum of Tolerance in New York City and worked on efforts to combat antisemitism. [2]
Since 2015, Burg has been the CEO of Aish. He introduced AishVision2030, a ten-year plan aimed at engaging young unaffiliated Jews and addressing antisemitism through education. He has also been involved in interfaith initiatives and discussions. [2] [4]
Burg serves on the Board of Governors for the Jewish Agency, the Executive Board of the Rabbinical Council of America, and the boards of Yeshiva University High School and Naaleh High School. [2] [5]
At NCSY, Burg founded the Jewish Student Union (JSU) and the Anne Samson Jerusalem Journey (TJJ), a summer program for teens. [6]
Aryeh Moshe Eliyahu Kaplan was an American Orthodox rabbi, author, and translator best known for his Living Torah edition of the Torah and extensive Kabbalistic commentaries. He became well-known as a prolific writer and was lauded as an original thinker. His wide-ranging literary output, inclusive of introductory pamphlets on Jewish beliefs, and philosophy written at the request of NCSY are often regarded as significant factors in the growth of the baal teshuva movement.
Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin or Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin is an American Haredi Lithuanian-type boys' and men's yeshiva in Brooklyn, New York. The school's divisions include a preschool, a yeshiva ketana, a mesivta, a college-level beth midrash, and Kollel Gur Aryeh, its post-graduate kollel.
Aish, formerly known as Aish HaTorah, is a Jewish educational organization. The focus of Aish is the spread of traditional Jewish religious teachings and 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.
The Orthodox Union is one of the largest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the United States. Founded in 1898, the OU supports a network of synagogues, youth programs, Jewish and Religious Zionist advocacy programs, programs for the disabled, localized religious study programs, and international units with locations in Israel and formerly in Ukraine. The OU maintains a kosher certification service, whose circled-U hechsher symbol, U+24CAⓊCIRCLED LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U, is found on the labels of many kosher commercial and consumer food products.
Richard M. Joel is a Jewish scholar who was the fourth president of Yeshiva University (YU), a Modern Orthodox Jewish university in New York City. He has written on topics that include Jewish leadership, the BDS movement on college campuses, and civil discourse.
The Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy, also known as Yeshiva University High School for Boys (YUHSB) and Manhattan Talmudical Academy, is a Modern Orthodox Jewish day school, yeshiva, and boys' prep school of Yeshiva University. It is located in the Washington Heights neighborhood in New York City. It is the brother school to the Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for Girls.
Yisrael Noah Weinberg was an Orthodox rabbi and the founder of Aish HaTorah.
NCSY is a Jewish youth group under the auspices of the Orthodox Union. Its operations include Jewish-inspired after-school programs; summer programs in Israel, Europe, and the United States; weekend programming, shabbatons, retreats, and regionals; Israel advocacy training; and disaster relief missions known as chesed (kindness) trips. NCSY also has an alumni organization on campuses across North America.
Gil Ofer Student is the former Book Editor of the Orthodox Union's Jewish Action magazine, former Managing Editor of OU Press, and an Orthodox Jewish blogger who writes about the interface between different facets of Judaism, specifically Orthodox Judaism and Modern Orthodox Judaism. He is an ordained non-pulpit serving Orthodox rabbi who serves as a member of the Editorial Committee of the Orthodox Union's Jewish Action magazine and the Director of the Halacha Commission of the Rabbinical Alliance of America. He is currently serving on his third term as a member of the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America.
Yitzchak Shmuel Halevi Berkovits is an American-born Orthodox Jewish rabbi, rosh yeshiva, rosh kollel, and posek in Israel. In 16 years as Menahel Ruchani of Yeshivas Aish HaTorah and halakha lecturer at EYAHT, Aish HaTorah's College of Jewish Studies for Women, he built a reputation as a lucid orator on Jewish law and philosophical topics and a mentor to hundreds of English-speaking, baalei teshuva young men and women. In 2001, he founded The Jerusalem Kollel, a rabbinic ordination and training program which prepares students for kiruv (outreach) positions around the world. In 2019, he was appointed rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem. He also serves as rosh kollel of an international network of evening kollelim run by Linas HaTzedek: The Center for Jewish Values in Israel and the United States, which spreads the awareness of the laws of bein adam lechaveiro.
The Association for Jewish Outreach Programs,, also known by its abbreviation AJOP, is an Orthodox Jewish network which was established to unite and enhance the Jewish educational work of rabbis, rebbetzens, lay people, and volunteers who work in a variety of settings and seek to improve and promote Jewish Orthodox outreach work with ba'alei teshuvah guiding Jews to live according to Orthodox Jewish values. AJOP was the first major Jewish Orthodox organization of its kind that was not affiliated with the Chabad Hasidic movement.
Orthodox Jewish outreach, often referred to as Kiruv or Qiruv, is the collective work or movement of Orthodox Judaism that reaches out to non-observant Jews to encourage belief in God and life according to Jewish law. The process of a Jew becoming more observant of Orthodox Judaism is called teshuva making the "returnee" a baal teshuva. Orthodox Jewish outreach has worked to enhance the rise of the baal teshuva movement.
Tzvi Hersh Weinreb is an American ordained rabbi and psychotherapist who is the Executive Vice President Emeritus of the Orthodox Union, the largest Orthodox Jewish organisation in North America; a position he has held since 2002. Weinreb serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Koren Talmud Bavli with commentary by Adin Steinsaltz.
David Luchins is a professor at Touro College and chair of its political science department. He is a national vice-president of the Orthodox Union and a national officer of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA). Luchins is a "much-lauded longtime Orthodox Jewish activist" who is active in Jewish communal life and is a frequent speaker on educational, political and Jewish topics. Luchins served as an aide to then-Vice President Hubert Humphrey and for 20 years on the Senate staff of New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Harold Milton Jacobs was a Jewish and civic leader who headed a number of American Jewish organizations and institutions, and also played a significant role in New York City educational affairs.
The Jewish community of the Greater Cleveland area comprises a significant ethnoreligious population of the U.S. State of Ohio. Jews from Bavaria immigrated in the 1830s and its size has significantly grown in the decades since then. In the early 21st century, Ohio's census data reported over 150,000 Jews, with the Cleveland area being home to more than 50% of this population. As of 2018, Greater Cleveland is the 23rd largest Jewish community in the United States. As of 2023, the Cleveland Jewish Community is estimated to be about 100,000 people.
Jeffrey Saks is a Modern Orthodox rabbi, educator, writer and editor. Saks has published widely on Jewish thought, education, and literature. Born into a secular Jewish family and raised in suburban New Jersey, Saks became interested in religious observance in high school through the influence of a local rabbi and the NCSY youth movement.
David Bashevkin is an American Modern Orthodox rabbi, writer, adjunct professor, and podcast host. He serves as Director of Education at NCSY, an Orthodox Union youth group.