How It All Started
Aish Tamid began in late 2001 when a phone call for inspiration was made by a student in Los Angeles to Rabbi Avi Leibovic, a Jewish Attorney and Founder of Aish Tamid.
The words of that telephone call still ring out today...
“I’m dying spiritually here in Los Angeles....Since I came back from my year in Israel, I stopped putting on tefillan...I am unsure why I still keep shabbos...I am tempted daily to stop keeping kosher and I am at the point that I almost don’t even care anymore if I stay religious or not....You are the only person that I feel comfortable to learn and talk with... If we don’t get together and talk all this our soon - fast – I may be finished for good with Judaism...You can write me off...”
Immediately after that passionate cry for inspiration, an intimate study group was set up with the student and another friend in the back of a local synagogue in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles.
Within a week, another four (4) friends joined the group. Soon, another few more friends came to learn, talk and share. Slowly and by word of mouth, even more students from all over the city started coming…
Who would have imagined? Who would have dreamed that within a few years a rotation of over five hundred (500) different students, from all of Los Angeles’ different schools and communities, would be actively engaged and attending inspirational classes, workshops and/or one-on-one life-coaching discussions.
This program has come to be known amongst the Los Angeles students as Aish Tamid of Los Angeles - the Perpetual Fire of Los Angeles.
Our Name
The name Aish Tamid has since taken on a special meaning by all of the students in Los Angeles since the origin of the name has a meaningful story...
Fifteen (15) years earlier, Avi Leibovic asked Harav Mordechai Friedlander, shlitta, a well recognized and accepted halachic authority in Israel, the following question:
“Rebbe...I have worked so hard over the last few months to get closer to G-d and change my life.....I want to continue growing in my Jewish studies...But my year in Israel is over and I have to return back to Los Angeles...back to my old friends and back to my old neighborhood and influences...I am so scared that without some help or inspiration I will return once again to my wild high school ways...Do you have any advice? Do you have a magical answer for my dilemma? Please help me...”
Without hesitating a moment, Rabbi Friedlander, who is known in Israel and globally as simply “The Posek”, gave the following advice:
Harav Mordechai Friedlander, shlitta.
“Our sages teach us that if you say the following biblical verse over and over again until you feel a burning in your heart then you will always be able to draw strength and inspiration....the verse states:
“AISH TAMID TOKAD AL HA’MIZBEACH, V’LO TICHBEH”
“A PERPETUAL FIRE SHALL REMAIN AFLAME ON THE ALTAR,
IT SHALL NOT BE EXTINGUISHED”
Levitikus, 6:6
Rabbi Freidlander’s message was crystal clear.
Within each and every one of us is a fire that burns in our hearts and souls. This fire is the love for life and the love for G-d and His Torah.
Some days a person wakes up in the morning and the fire is burning strong and the person cannot wait to jump at the first opportunity to do a good deed or a mitzva and get close to G-d. Other mornings, unfortunately, a person will occasionally wake up and find that the fire is burning very very low. These are the days when we aren’t running to grow in our spirituality.
But one thing is clear.
No matter how low we think that the fire inside of us is burning, no matter how long it has been burning on a very low flame...the fire is perpetual and eternal and “It shall not be extinguished”. Just like a pilot light in a stove is never extinguished, even if the burner is burning on low or has been turned off for some time, so too the fire or pilot light inside each and every one of us, that burns with a yearning for life and a yearning to connect to G-d and His Torah, will always burn inside of us.
Rabbi Friedlander’s meaningful message was that a person’s job everyday of his life is to remember that “A perpetual fire shall burn on the altar; It shall not be extinguished.” That the fire and love for G-d that is kindled inside each and every one of us is always burning. It is a perpetual fire and it shall never be extinguished.
This biblical verse and it’s inspiring message has been the catalyst for Aish Tamid of Los Angeles.
Each of the students who have come to participate in this program have been taught this life-saving and life-changing message of how to keep the love for life, the love for G-d and a love for Torah burning inside of them.
It’s message and impact will remain ignited inside of them for the rest of their lives.
Identification of Daily Challenges
Can anyone deny that Los Angeles, California stands alone in the United States in regard to the casual openness and acceptance of temptations or materialistic desires?
To view a 1 minute video of challenges facing Los Angeled Teens and Young Adults, Click Here.
There is a real reason why a popular "#1" song was written and entitled “I Love L.A.”.
Although no specific hard data on the Los Angeles Jewish community and/or the Jewish youth of the city has been collected (or made public), it is clear that the change in the social perceptions and everyday “norms” of living in “Hollywood adjacent” Los Angeles has stained and penetrated our insulated schools and communities significantly. Drug scandals, wild parties, cheating in schools, violent tendencies amongst students, poker nights and teenage sex have all been identified as on the rise in all of our Jewish high- schools across the city.
Yes, for the curious young mind and heart, Los Angeles offers it all...
Expensive automobiles, luxurious Hollywood lifestyles, attractive fashion models, trendy clothing and apparel, glorification of the Rap ‘gangster’ and ‘thug’ way of life, the influence and drive of the entertainment industry, the excitement of getting a new tattoo, the powerful desires to indulge in inappropriate relationships and, most unfortunately, the appeal of drugs and alcohol.
No other city, not even Manhattan, New York, is as influenced, controlled or driven by the pursuit of these temporary and fleeting pleasures.
All of these things, individually and cumulatively, play on the impressionable hearts and minds of adults - How much more so does it affect our children and students. And can there be any other greater threat to the sanctity and pureness of a young impressionable soul?
The pressure amongst friends to ‘fit in’ and be part of the ‘cool crowd’ is tremendous and has pressured many students to engage in activities that they know they should not be involved in and, most often, regret being a part of.
Aish Tamid of Los Angeles was never supposed to exist.
But from where can students draw inspiration? From where can students receive coaching, direction and guidance?
The Los Angeles Jewish community has exploded in size over the last 10 years. However, the increase in community size has brought an increase in community problems and while many existing programs have taken on the enormous task of providing unique resources to solve specialized youth and family issues, there remains a large segment of boys who have been overlooked and have not had their needs addressed on a regular and consistent basis. This same group of students is also, arguably, the largest growing and most concerning sub-section of our community.
Certainly, the schools, synagogues and families care about their students and children and they are doing a remarkable job with there resources that they have - but even they are overburdened with the needs and demands of day-to-day operations and commitments. They can only do so much.
The communities of Los Angeles have known for some time now that there is an urgency and demand to create a resource, “safety-net” and support center for teenagers, young adults and their families.
And so…Aish Tamid of Los Angeles was born.
Mission Statement
The mission of Aish Tamid of Los Angeles is to provide a wide array of innovative programs, services and resources which have been specifically designed to provide individual and family solutions commonly associated with “At-Risk” behavior.
To this end, Aish Tamid of Los Angeles will initiate structured and inspirational support programs for Jewish teenagers, young adults and their families who have been identified as “at-risk” of losing touch with themselves, their families, their community and their faith.
By establishing a non-judgmental and warm environment, Aish Tamid of Los Angeles will engage, motivate and inspire all participants to overcome external and internal obstacles which have prevented and/or hindered them from succeeding academically, socially, professionally and religiously. Programs and services will be designed to enhance the individual skills and abilities of each participant and provide opportunities for natural talents to thrive and flourish in a conducive and positive environment.
Each of the professional staff members and motivational role-model mentors will have the requisite education, training and/or experience to work with participants in identifying their goals and aspirations, as well as realistic timeframes for reaching short-term and long-term goals.
Ultimately, the mission of Aish Tamid of Los Angeles is to provide each participant with the necessary skills and tools to enable them build and maintain a loving home and family, live a healthy lifestyle, make responsible life decisions and be an active and contributing member of the Los Angeles Jewish Community and to the Jewish people, as a whole.
Rabbinic Advisory Board & Endorsements
Aish Tamid is proud to work in partnership and under the direct guidance of top Rabbinic scholars and community leaders. Some of the Rabbinic endorsements are from Rabbis who live in the Los Angeles area and other endorsements are from leading Rabbis in the East Coast and/or Israel.
The following is not an exclusive list of Rabbinical endorsements. Rather it is a collection of rabbinic personalities who have given significant time, effort and guidance over the last several years in helping Aish Tamid design its programming and services and in providing custom-tailored strength and inspiration to all of its student, family and community participants.
RABBINIC ADVISORY BOARD
Rabbi Mordechai Friedlander, Shlit²a
Rabbi Baruch Yehuda Gradon, Shlit²a
Rabbi Nechemia Langer, Shlit²a
Rabbi Nachum Sauer, Shlit²a
Rabbi Dov Silver, Shlit²a
Rabbi Moshe Weinberger, Shlit²a
RABBINIC ENDORSEMENTS
Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetzky, Shlit²a
Rabbi Mattisyahu Salomon, Shlit²a
Rabbi Gershon Bess, Shlit²a
Rabbi Chaim Yisroel Blumenfeld, Shlit²a
Rabbi Chaim Fasman, Shlit²a
Rabbi Aharon Feldman, Shlit²a
Rabbi Naftali Jaeger, Shlit²a
Rabbi Meyer May, Shlit²a
Rabbi Elchonon Tauber, Shlit²a
Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman, Shlit²a
Rabbi A.Y. Weinberg, Shlit²a
Rabbi Usher Weiss, Shlit²a