Who We Are
Our Mission
Aleph Beta seeks to renew the romance of the Jewish People with its founding document; in short, it seeks to give the “People of the Book” permission to ‘fall in love with their Book again’. Using an approach to text pioneered by Rabbi David Fohrman, Aleph Beta enables people to experience Torah like they never have before, in a way that is deeply meaningful and relevant to their everyday lives. Through a willingness to both question and take a deeper look at our sources, we help people find their place in a story that has been told for thousands of years.
What We Do and How We Do It
Aleph Beta produces animated videos that help the Torah come to life. The videos provide a multisensory experience, blending spoken word and visual representation. The depth of the content appeals to sophisticated audiences – but the animated style works to engage even young audiences – those who otherwise might find themselves at a loss to access material at this level of profundity or nuance.
Aleph Beta is a non-profit organization – so we are funded by contributions, but most of those contributions are small: We partner with the people we are serving, by asking our most passionate users (those who watch more than half hour a month) to contribute a $9 a month membership fee. Four years ago, we had 500 members. Today, Aleph Beta has about 5,400 individual, paying subscribers.
Aleph Beta now employs 14 employees, including three full time video animators, a producer, content editors and writers. Its annual budget is approximately $1,500,000. It is funded through individual subscriptions (as detailed above), and philanthropic grants.
Our Impact In Day Schools
Schools
Our videos and materials are being used by Jewish schools of all stripes -- primarily Modern / Centrist Orthodox, but also including Yeshivish / Chareidi, Modern Conservative, Reform and Community schools. All told, tens of thousands of students the world over are engaging with Torah produced by Aleph Beta, and our materials are being used as well in collegiate learning programs around North America.
To facilitate this engagement with students, Aleph Beta has, to date, provided free subscriptions to hundreds of teachers, worldwide. We have also developed teacher guides and outlines for the use of educators.
Reach
To date, in 2017, 250,000 people worldwide have engaged with Aleph Beta. In aggregate, our videos have now been viewed almost four million times, by adults as well as students. View our impact
Thank you for your support!
Aleph Beta is officially listed by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-for-profit organization under the name Hoffberger Fund for Biblical Studies, LTD. Our EIN is 27-3846145.
For your convenience, donations may be made by credit card or PayPal. Alternatively, checks may be mailed to:
Aleph Beta Academy
Hoffberger Fund for Biblical Studies, LTD
600 Bayview Ave Suite 313
Inwood, NY 11096
Bio Sketch:
Rabbi David Fohrman founded Aleph Beta. He lectures widely on Biblical themes and is the principal educator at Aleph Beta. He spent his early years in the San Francisco Bay Area, and attended Yeshivat Ner Yisrael in Baltimore. Eventually, he began to develop a literary methodology for unearthing meaning in Biblical text, and taught for about seven years as an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins University.
Prior to his work with Aleph Beta, Rabbi Fohrman served as a lead writer and editor for ArtScroll’s Talmud translation project. He is author of "The Beast that Crouches at the Door," finalist for the 2007 National Jewish Book Award, "The Queen You Thought You Knew," and “The Exodus You Almost Passed Over.” He lives in Woodmere, NY with his wife and children, where he also serves as a resident scholar at the Young Israel of Woodmere.
