Combating the Challenges of Emunah

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emunah-foundationAn organization, called The Emunah Foundation, devoted entirely to teaching the basics of Emunah has been established to fill a gaping void in the Torah community.

Unfortunately, even among observant Jews, there are many who lack a firm grasp of basic principles of Jewish faith, and a clear awareness of Hashem and His involvement in their daily lives.

Michoel Ambush, Founder of the Emunah Foundation, tells Matzav.com, “Many people are just one adversity away from a crisis in faith or worse – a complete loss of faith. Our precious children are in even more danger because we are living in such dangerous times. We must teach them how to develop, strengthen and protect Emunah in the world we live in.”

“We are not talking about reconciling science and Torah as important as that may be. We are talking about the essential basics like understanding the importance of the Mesorah.”

Their mission is to raise awareness of the importance of Emunah and Emunah education, teach basics, develop learning tools and programs and provide Chizuk with a variety of innovative programs.

Projects initiated by the Emunah Foundation include the GoodShabbos2U weekly email and newsletter with Divrei Torah focusing on lessons of Emunah derived from the Parsha, and The Tzofiah Project, a program geared for women, who are the ones responsible for imbuing their homes with Jewish faith. The Foundation will publish texts and curricula for daily group study programs and offers lecture series and email newsletters to teach women Emunah. Its Yesodos Project will develop top quality extracurricular learning incentive programs with prizes designed to teach basic Emunah principles to our children.

“There is an absolute crisis-level need for this type of organization,” says Michoel. “While many people are doing good work to promote Emunah there is no one organization devoted entirely to teaching Emunah with the comprehensive approach The Emunah Foundation hopes to use.”

To learn more about The Emunah Foundation and its programs, call 917 334 7860 or contact the organization by email: [email protected]. You can also visit their website at www.theemunahfoundation.org. Sponsorships and dedication opportunities are available. The Emunah Foundation is a registered 501c3 tax-exempt organization.

The Emunah Foundation is a registered 501c3 tax-exempt organization and has the Haskomos of leading Rabbonim and Roshey Yeshiva.  All major decisions are brought to Rav Reuven Feinstein.

{Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}


16 COMMENTS

  1. In the one hand this is a very necessary topic to study. OTOH, why aren’t the schools doing it? If it’s important then the gedolei Torah should instruct the schools to incorporate this into the school syllabus. It seems ridiculous to make yet another organization to do that which we should all be doing anyway.

  2. Indeed a worthy cause. However, Emunah should be accompanied by names of people involved. Otherwise who knows who could infiltrate innocent….

  3. Kudos to Project Chazon – Rabbis Daniel Mechanic and Yerachmiel Milstein, and Rabbi Sapirman from Toronto on their noted groundbreaking results in this area!

  4. This seems dead-wrong.

    We need to return to basic family values. Parents must be available to their children and speak to them about issues and events as they are happening. In conjunction with the schools these values are taught. Parents need to step up to the plate here.

    Another organization, another demand for time outside the home, another way to take away from the quiet time we all need to focus on HaKodesh Boruch Hu in order to be a person of Emunah, with a regular relationship with Hashem… seems like the wrong direction to me.

    This seems like such an American approach … spend money on a problem, don’t just fix it. We have such fabulous seforim available to us. Learn the 13 Ikkarim with your children, the Igeres haRamban, Pirkei Avos. Stay within your budget, daven. Share your inner life with your children (and spouses).

    Please don’t add more to the school’s curriculum. Our kids are stuffed with these values through parasha and many other avenues in the classroom. It is only real life that will make them real.

    Our world is no more scary than that faced by many previous generations. What is new is the American expectations of security, comfort and even luxury. The Jewish world is not “more dangerous times” than past history in many, many instances. Please everyone wake up and let’s not be fooled into being pulled yet another direction when we need to focus both spiritually and financially. Let’s simplify and internalize our emunah based on the sources and traditions of our heritage. Let’s not outsource it.

  5. Project Emunah is a new web site that candidly discusses lots of the emunah issues that can worry frum people and offers a number of approaches to grow closer to HaShem. This material is actually online…perhaps people could try this too.

  6. Of course this is a postive accomplishment. But of course, if you want to have true Emunah, read your Tanakh daily. Read more and think and learn. But any dissemination of Torah is extremely important and who knows where your faith strengths will be constructed. Today’s Jewish community is clearly strengthened by things that are online and by some of these organizations. Lets see what they do.

  7. #3 So right you are.

    Rav AY Kook and his son Rav TY Kook zt”l established a learning seder of EMUNAH years ago, and when you have a chance to meet true talmidim of these Tzaddikim you are overwhelmed with the essence of their emunah.

  8. to #7
    I looked briefly at the link you provided and saw the first line:
    “Emunah is not something you inherit from your parents, it doesn’t just automatically appear as we age and getting it requires conscious effort.”
    which is wrong. We are “maaminim bnei maaminim,” believers children of believers. It is something we have automatically by virtue of being a Jew. It’s in our spiritual DNA.

    Now I’m not that interested in seeing the rest of that link 🙁

  9. to #5
    excellent points!
    Yes, to family values, to parents being available to their children, to talk to them, to learn with them.

  10. How is this different than the Ani Maamin Foundation which Rabbi Sapirman from Toronto is heading with Rabbi Pinchus Jung?
    Also, Rabbi Daniel Mechanic is on the cause as well, plus I heard a wonderful speech from R Benzion Shaefer (from the Shmuz).

    What does this Project Emunah do that all these wonderful other people are doing?

  11. #1, you ask why aren’t schools doing it. Well, why aren’t parents inculcating their children with emunah and yiras shemayim?

  12. Sadly most bochurim don’t take things like machshava and mussar seriously. The dor of the great mashgichim is past us. Rav Kook and the tradition of Yeshivos in Israel teaching Torat Eretz Yisrael in its totality always emphasized daily limmud of machshava as a crucial part of being a knowledgable Jew and saw these texts as part of a broader tradition of Toras haKulo.

  13. #5:
    The problem is that so many adults today don’t have basic grounding in the precepts of emunah and bitachon.

    This has been a problem for 20 years at least. It was assumed that frum children growing up in frum homes don’t need to be taught about emunah because they are not bothered by issues that posed challenges to previous generations.

    Unfortunately, that was a mistaken assumption and the next generation is now paying the price.

    The numbers of “adults at risk” because they don’t have the requisite background in emunah and bitachon to face the very many challenges of life – yes, especially today with the catastrophic economic situation – are astounding.

    I grew up Modern Orthodox but went to a high school that was geared to being mechazek the girls. We learned so much about emunah, bitachon, tzadik v’ra lo etc. – topics that our Bais Yaakov counterparts never touched (I know because I grew up out of town and there was interaction between the girls in both schools).

    We were encouraged to ask questions and knew that we would get answers.

    This is crucial for our heilige Bais Yaakovs AND yeshivos today. The nitty gritty challenges of life, as ironic as it may seem, present a much greater challenge to one’s emunah than do the great tragedies.

  14. to number 12 – the difference is in scope – he is talking about young kids not just teens etc and about going directly to them not just to the teachers -read his website

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