Stephen Turner (b. 1951) calls them convenient beliefs: the ones a man holds because they pay, not because they are true. Such beliefs run the Ohr Somayach Jerusalem campus right now. They run the global center directors’ calls, the development office, the late-night rabbinic strategy sessions. The U.S.-Israeli campaign enters its second month. Khamenei is dead. The Iranian nuclear sites sit in rubble, and antisemitism climbs across the West. These beliefs let the rosh yeshiva, the program directors, and the outreach staff hold morale, keep the baal teshuva pipeline full from North America and Europe, reassure the major donors, and present Ohr Somayach as the gateway for serious Jews returning to Torah in a world coming apart. They do all this without conceding that the war has made kiruv harder, or that many young Jews drift from tradition rather than toward it.
Here are the ten most useful, circulating among the leadership today.
The war is the birth pangs of Moshiach and the final shaking of the nations. Every Iranian missile shows the world stands as the Torah and our sages described. Turns global chaos into theological proof rather than a security and fundraising problem.
This crisis is the great kiruv opportunity of the decade. Jews who were drifting now ask the deep questions only rigorous Torah study answers. Reads every worried parent call, every campus incident, every spike in inquiries as recruitment material.
Our refusal to water down deep Talmudic learning for modern sensibilities is why Ohr Somayach remains the most effective outreach yeshiva on earth. Lets the leadership treat donor pushback as assimilation talking and double down on the hard curriculum.
The Iranian threat and the campus antisemitism wave tell us that secular education and liberal Judaism have failed the Jewish people. Only authentic Torah observance protects us. Casts every alarming headline as vindication of the school’s model.
Our global network of alumni and centers stands stronger and more unified than ever. The war has reminded every graduate that all Jews answer for one another and that Torah is the only anchor. Holds the donor base loyal and the staff motivated through travel disruption and rising security costs.
That Israel prevails with Hashem’s help while Iran collapses confirms that the Jewish destiny rests on Torah, the Land, and serious learning, not on diplomacy or assimilation. Turns battlefield news into shiur material for Discovery programs and weekend retreats.
Attacks on our uncompromising stance are the old assimilationist pressure in a new costume, the pressure that has always tried to dilute authentic Judaism. Shields the brand from any call for moderation or relevance, inside or out.
Our partnerships with the major philanthropists and the broader Orthodox world hold firm. The crisis has deepened their commitment to honest Jewish education. Files any quiet donor nervousness about optics under temporary and surmountable.
Patience and unrelenting Torah outreach will deliver the victory. History shows the Jewish people survive and thrive when the nations rage. Guards the long horizon against any inside voice that wants a softer, more mainstream approach.
Ohr Somayach remains the bridge that reconnects the Jewish people to their eternal mission. In a time of upheaval our honest approach to Torah stands more vital than ever, and history will record that we stood firm while others wavered. The master belief. It lets the leadership sleep, in Jerusalem or on the red-eye to a donor dinner, sure that every emergency Zoom shiur, every new baal teshuva, and every appeal is stewardship in a dangerous age.
These are not conspiracy theories. They are survival tools for an organization whose mission, donor base, and self-image rest on never conceding three things: that the war has complicated outreach, that some young Jews turn away rather than toward tradition, and that the old script, kiruv through deep learning works everywhere, needs a rewrite. Iranian missiles keep the region twitchy. The war will not end on schedule. The beliefs keep the staff inspired, the programs running, and the brand sealed against the too-religious complaint from the left and the not-religious-enough complaint from the harder right. Question too many of them aloud and you become the rabbi or director who has lost step with Ohr Somayach’s eternal mission.
