Arachim has stood among the leading organizations raising Jewish consciousness around the world for over twenty-eight years. Via an impressive array of programming, personal counseling, and community services in cities across the globe, Arachim has led a revolution towards reinstating Jewish values and practice. Arachim’s accomplishments have included helping thousands reclaim their Jewish heritage, bridging the gap between secular and Torah observant Jewish communities, strengthening communal and individual Jewish identity, and stemming Jewish assimilation worldwide.
Arachim was founded in 1979 by a team of academics, scientists, and Torah scholars in Israel who observed that widespread ignorance was slowly divorcing Israeli society from their Jewish heritage. A lack of basic Jewish education among Israelis included ignorance as to the fundamental principals of the Jewish faith, the miraculous history of Jewish survival, and other matters constituting the basis of Jewish identity. Besides their fluency in Judaic studies, the academic background of many of Arachim’s lecturers particularly suited them to the task of promoting Jewish education for the modern mind.
Arachim’s founders originated some of the most popular models of Jewish outreach and education in use today. The best known of those models is the seminar. Over the course of several days, sessions are presented by dynamic lecturers using audio-visual presentations to illustrate the intellectual foundations of Judaism. This model of Jewish outreach has proven to be extraordinarily impacting. Over two hundred Arachim seminars take place every year in a palette of languages around the world.
For Jewish education closer to home, Arachim provides hundreds of local classes, workshops, and symposiums every month in almost every neighborhood in Israel and many neighborhoods in the diaspora as well. Several cities also benefit from Arachim’s Torah Study Centers. The Centers offer educational activities for the entire family, including full-time Torah programming for women and evening kollels for men. An international specially trained staff is available to accompany Arachim alumnae though their first steps in a Torah observant lifestyle and to assist with the process of integration into the Torah observant community.
This world leader in Jewish outreach does not stop there. Arachim’s Media and Information Center has published dozens of explanatory booklets, information flyers, and flash cards with step-by-step instructions for basic Jewish practices.
Arachim’s Research and Development Division collects and collates studies, statistics, and newspaper and television segments relevant towards furthering Jewish education and creates Arachim’s video and multimedia productions.
Arachim’s Center for Training and Certification runs courses, symposiums, and continuing education seminars towards Arachim’s growing international endeavors. These services aim to qualify lecturers and activists for Jewish outreach and include exposure to both leading rabbis and academicians.
Arachim, the first and largest organization of its kind, today employs some seven hundred staff members and thousands of volunteers at branches throughout Israel and in dozens of countries around the world. Though a portion of Arachim’s funding is garnered by participation fees, the vast majority of the organization’s budget is derived by donor contributions from around the world.
Thousands of Jewish men and women around the world have Arachim to thank for their own and their children’s relationship with their heritage. Arachim continues to expand their efforts as outreach activities are demanded from the organization by Jewish communities across the globe. With continued assistance from the Almighty, there is every reason to look forward to Arachim serving the Jewish people for many more years to come.
