A few weeks after October 7, 2023, I flew to Los Angeles to attend a conference about antisemitism. In the finest Hollywood tradition, the room was thick with what the entertainment press likes to call A Listers, actors and directors and studio moguls revered by millions around the world.
Even in that illustrious room, however, Dan Loeb stood out.
The investor and philanthropist delivered a short and poignant speech. A lot of people are asking me what we can do right now, he said, and the answer is simple: learn Torah.
He wasn’t speaking hypothetically. He had purchased each of the attendants that evening an elegant Chumash, and urged the famous folks in attendance to pick up a copy on their way out and get busy reading.
The gesture made an impact – it’s not every day you see Hollywood power players leaving a meeting and talking about nothing but the Bible – but it also gave Loeb an idea.
“We Jews shouldn’t define ourselves by who hates us or how to fight back against their bigotry,” he said. “We should define ourselves by who we are, and there’s no better place to start than the book that has been holding us together for millennia.”
And that book, he knew from years of studying the Torah himself, was conveniently arranged into weekly portions, or parashiyot, each delivering a life-changing message. Instead of another effort to fight antisemitism – as if any investment, no matter how sizeable, could ever curb the world’s most ancient hatred – Loeb’s insight was far more basic and profound: there’s no better response to our grim moment in time, he reasoned, than getting as many Jews as possible to plug back into their spiritual operating system and read the Torah.
On September 19, 2024, Loeb announced the launch of the Simchat Torah Challenge. The goal was simple: get 10,000 Jews to read the parashah every week by delivering short and inspiring emails summarising each portion, videos, podcasts, and anything else that could make the ancient text feel surprisingly modern. He struck a partnership with an impressive coalition of organisations, including Chabad, Yeshiva University, UJA-Federation of New York, Tablet Magazine (full disclosure: I remain an active contributor to the project), Moishe House, Hillel International and others, and hoped for the best.
By the end of October, 13,741 people had signed up. By the end of the challenge’s first year, in October of 2025, the number of subscribers doubled. As of this month, it’s well past the 40,000 subscriber mark, and it keeps growing exponentially.
Why? “After October 7, many Jews, especially Jews who hadn’t grown up with too much by way of Jewish education, felt like they needed some way in,” said Tanya Singer, the Simchat Torah Challenge’s programme director. “The desire for accessible, inspiring, life-changing wisdom was absolutely there. All we did was build an on-ramp.”
Don’t take Singer’s word for it: after two years of rapid growth, the Challenge’s most recent internal survey shows not only what drove members to sign up, but what keeps them coming back to the parashah year after year.
“I joined the Simchat Torah Challenge because I’d never read the Torah in its entirety,” wrote Abby G from New Jersey. “In fact, I couldn’t even remember what my batmitzvah parashah was about. I wanted to connect more deeply with my Jewish practice and better understand our core book and its wisdom. I have kept up religiously (pun intended!) with my reading each week… It’s been a gift in this difficult last year as a Jewish American.”
Many others expressed similar sentiments, but, Singer said, reading between the lines, two major themes emerged.
The first had to do with family. “We see so many people who are using the challenge to create a family tradition they never had before,” Singer said. “Whether it’s reading the parashah together during the week or discussing it over Shabbat dinner, we regularly hear from parents bonding with their children over Torah.” And then, she added, there’s accessibility.
“A lot of our members live in areas that don’t necessarily have a robust Jewish community,” she said, “or feel like even if there’s a synagogue next door, they don’t feel comfortable or knowledgeable enough to enter.
"The challenge is their de facto shul, the place that gives them a weekly infusion of Jewish warmth, meaning, and pride and over time, gives them the courage and skills to engage more fully in Jewish spaces.”
The survey supports Singer’s insights: more than a third of the Challenge’s subscribers define themselves as “Just Jews”, without any specific denomination. And more than 30 per cent are between the ages of 18 and 44, suggesting that the Simchat Torah Challenge may indeed be that rarest of achievements: an effort that succeeds in attracting those young, unaffiliated Jews long assumed to be adrift, inspiring them not by championing some social cause but by going back to basics and doubling down on proud and passionate Jewish learning.
“Should people be surprised?” Singer asked.
“No, not really. I mean, if you’re wondering how Jews braved so many challenges for so long, the answer is by doing exactly what we’re doing right now and turning to a very old book that always offers surprisingly relevant insight to our lives right now.
"When in doubt, read the Torah.”
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