Opening
It was a beautiful sunny day. Rabbi Mordechai was at home with his family when the telephone rang. The request on the other end was not the sort of call he expected: "We would very much like to ask whether you could please come give a class about hafrashas challah at Google's headquarters."
Rabbi Mordechai could hardly believe what he was hearing. Google was inviting him into its offices to give a class. He accepted. From there, his name began moving through the large tech companies: Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and others.
Rabbi Mordechai is in his forties. He has a lot of energy and spends much of it answering Jews who want to come closer to Judaism.
The technology world is a multibillion-dollar industry with enormous research centers and huge office buildings employing tens of thousands of people, among them many thousands of Jewish employees. Some are observant Jews; others are traditional Jews. The article's premise is that Jewish ability and quick thinking are visible in that world.
We connected with Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone to hear how his relationship with Google began and how it developed over the years.
Background
Please introduce yourself.
My name is Mordechai Lightstone. I am the son of Rabbi David Lightstone of Los Angeles. Our family's roots go back to Montreal, where my parents grew up after their parents emigrated to Canada before the Second World War.
My great-grandparents lived during the war years in Ukraine and Lithuania. The last to escape was my grandmother, who left Soviet Russia in 1930. After their marriage, my parents moved to Los Angeles. We are a small family: just my sister and myself. My parents still live in Los Angeles today.
As a child I studied in the local Lubavitch schools and later I learned in yeshiva in Montreal. For a period I was in Warsaw, Poland, helping the local rabbi with communal functions. After that I spent several months helping the rabbi of another community in Vilna, Lithuania. Then I returned home to Los Angeles to learn for semicha.
Close to twenty years ago I married and we settled in New York.
Tell us about Jewish life in Los Angeles generally.
I do not think anyone needs an introduction to Jewish life in Los Angeles. It is not some remote, forgotten place. Jewish life in Los Angeles flourishes beautifully, thank God. There are thousands of religious Jews, Torah institutions, synagogues and yeshivas, especially the Ohr Elchonon Chabad yeshiva network under the leadership of Rabbi Ezra Schochet. There are also many stores and businesses. I have good memories of my childhood years there.
In recent years one often hears about high crime and astronomical living costs in California. How does it feel to live in Los Angeles?
I have not lived there for nearly twenty years, but I do not see it as so simple. It is easy to spread fear and agitation. People have their agendas and stirring people up can be a good way to gain political capital and votes in heated election campaigns. We see that in the Orthodox election campaigns in New York as well. Of course there are political differences, but when I was growing up in California I felt very calm.
Historically speaking, New York was also terribly afflicted by crime in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Who does not remember the Crown Heights riots? Williamsburg too was troubled by a great deal of crime in those days. But the reality is that the presence of Jews changes the face of a neighborhood. When Jews settle in a place, crime falls, with God's help.
How the work began
Let us turn to the subject of your role as rabbi to the technology companies. How far back does this go? How did it begin?
After my marriage I learned in kollel for a while. At the same time, I began writing about Judaism and posting it on different Jewish platforms.
Seventeen years ago we heard about a large annual gathering in Austin, Texas. The gathering draws a huge number of people and runs for several days. We went there with the goal of speaking about Judaism for the assembled people there.
After the talk, a Sephardic Jew approached me. He looked very far from our style of Judaism. He told me that he had come for work and had nowhere to eat the Shabbos meals. I was a stranger just like he was, but I put myself into arranging a Shabbos for him. The next year we also went to speak and we arranged a beautiful Shabbos for hundreds of Jewish participants, most of them traditional Jews. Since then, we go every year.
The gathering is enormous, with close to four hundred thousand participants. Many large companies and notable people attend. Over the years we heard from several participants that they live in New York City, near the Orthodox neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Crown Heights. While we were in Texas, we built relationships with local New York Jews. They asked us to stay in touch with them in New York about Judaism, to hear more about Jewish law, Shabbos, kashrus, holidays and so on.
We stayed in contact with a few Google employees. That continued for several years in a light way. Around Chanukah we organized a party at our home and before Rosh Hashanah we gave a talk, but not much more than that.
We moved very slowly. The reason is that Google does not look to bring random outsiders into its centers. They will agree only if it is a one-hundred-percent benefit for their employees. Over the years we became acquainted with more and more employees. It took time to get to know one another, build good relationships and trust, until the time was ripe for Google to invite us in.
When did Google first invite you in?
It was sometime around the year 5779. One day I received a phone call. On the other end, someone introduced himself as a Google employee. They wanted to ask us to come to Google's headquarters in Manhattan to give a class about challah. We agreed.
My wife organized a lecture at Google about baking challah. The center has its own kitchen, but we did not want to use their non- kosher ingredients. So we went to a local store and bought all the ingredients ourselves: eggs, flour, sugar and our own pans. We made sure everything was done with complete kashrus and on the appointed day we arrived at the Google center.
To our surprise, more than eighty employees attended the lecture. We were very surprised, because we did not know what to expect and certainly did not expect such a large turnout. My wife prepared the dough, formed the challah and placed it in a pan. At the same time, I taught the assembled group the Torah source for the mitzvah of separating challah, related ideas and the blessing made at the separation.
Not long afterward, the Covid pandemic broke out and everyone was closed at home. The Google employee then called us and said they wanted to arrange virtual Jewish classes for their workers, but they did not have a speaker. That is when I began giving classes for them. From there it spread very quickly. They arranged gatherings at the same time that I was speaking, so employees in centers in London and other countries could participate live.
At those talks we discussed interesting halachic topics, for example what happens if one is riding in a self-driving car and, God forbid, an accident occurs. Then the companies began asking for help arranging gatherings, such as Chanukah parties. We would come speak, light the menorah and distribute menorahs to the participants.
Why employees are seeking Judaism
What would you say is the reason employees are trying to come closer to Judaism?
We are living through a very unsettled time for our fellow Jews around the world, especially since the October 7 attack. The Jew is truly hated among the nations and many are afraid to display their Jewish identity. So people are looking for strength in Judaism. The October 7 attacks made many people want more Jewish practice, not less. Many call us because they need mezuzahs for their homes. Others ask for tefillin. After October 7, someone called us and sponsored forty mezuzahs. We distributed them.
One of the large technology companies informed its Jewish employees that the budget had extra money and that they could arrange an end-of-year event. The employees asked instead to experience a Shabbos. They called us to arrange a Shabbos meal for them. They chose a Shabbos instead of going out with music.
At one Shabbos meal in my home, a friend of mine was present. After the meal, my son recited birchas hamazon, but the guest did not. My son asked him, "Why are you not bentching?" He answered that he did not even know the alef-beis. My son asked, "How old are you?" "Thirty," he said. My son told him, "Rabbi Akiva began learning the alef-beis at forty. You can begin at thirty." My son started learning the alef-beis with him.
Have you met technology employees who did not know they were Jewish?
Certainly. Many lost Jews do not even begin to know that they are Jewish. On one occasion we met someone who said that his father was not Jewish but his mother was. We explained to him that according to halacha he is a complete Jew. He had not known that.
Inside the companies
How did you get from Google to the other big technology firms?
Over time, the Google employees introduced us to their friends in other technology companies.
Where do you give classes now?
The activities vary from company to company. We have close relationships with Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, X/Twitter, Snapchat, Squarespace, Palantir, WhatsApp, Brex, OpenAI and many others. We also go around quite a bit to offices of startup companies.
Squarespace, the company that builds websites, called us for an event before Purim. The company invited many Jewish employees from a range of other technology companies. We spoke to them about the holiday of Purim. They helped assemble mishloach manos packages for autistic children and those were distributed on Purim day itself. We arranged a Megillah reading and Purim meals for them.
Things kept going. Today we teach a weekly Wednesday afternoon class on the weekly Torah portion. Thousands of people around the world follow it. The class is in the afternoon so employees in California can take part too.
How does it work? Can any employee arrange visits however he likes?
Our first "class" was arranged through a mid-level employee who asked all the way up to the highest levels in order to make it happen.
You mentioned that each company has its own Jewish programming. What do the lectures depend on?
Every company has its own arrangement and they turn to us after that. We do not go into every company to deliver lectures.
At Amazon, they call us and ask for help arranging gatherings for employees around Chanukah, Purim, before Pesach and so on. On Chanukah we light the menorah, sing Chanukah songs, distribute menorahs and speak about the miracle. On Purim we speak about the ideas of Purim, Megillah reading, what Haman was aiming for, mishloach manos and the Purim meal. Before Pesach we arrange boxes of shmurah matzah for the employees. The same happens before Rosh Hashanah and Sukkos.
Google manages its parties on its own. They call us for deeper Jewish subjects. We teach classes in Judaism and discuss interesting halachic questions, such as the debate around machine-made matzah and how that issue might apply today, when machines are built through AI and other advanced robots.
At Microsoft we do not give lectures, but they call us before Chanukah to distribute menorahs, as well as Megillahs and shmurah matzah.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and WhatsApp, is set up much like Microsoft. They call us before the holidays to distribute holiday needs. We also have individual employees who ask us to learn with them about Judaism, keeping Shabbos, tefillin, tzitzis and similar subjects. One Meta employee asked us for a daily phone class, and we learn every day at 6:30 in the morning for twenty to thirty minutes.
Have technology companies ever rejected your appearances?
Thank God, we have never received an outright no. Some have answered that now is not the appropriate time.
What do you do about trips to tech centers around the world?
Most of the time we appear in centers in New York City. There are occasions when they call us around the world, but today everything can be done virtually. We arranged a Chanukah gathering for Amazon and scheduled it so the London Amazon employees could participate while a colleague of mine, a local rabbi, lit the menorah in London.
How often do you teach in the centers?
The weekly Torah-portion talk takes place every week. Other programs run more or less monthly, depending on the Jewish calendar. How often we appear also depends on each company.
What is your status with the companies? Are you employed by them?
Corporate companies do not look for just anyone to come in. Their standards are very strict, so we cannot simply stroll into a building. Each time, they specifically invite us to come teach. Our status is as a guest, not as a company employee.
AI, executives and personal stories
The world of AI is very large. Have you already had occasion to speak to Google employees about AI as it relates to Judaism?
Not long ago we appeared on a panel about AI and antisemitism. In general, AI is trained by gathering information from the internet. Because the internet is filled with a great deal of incitement against Jews, including claims that Jews have great power and control the world, we brought out the point that companies must invest effort to make sure AI has no part in spreading antisemitism. At that event, a senior chief of staff from a Google-related company was present. We hope it had the right effect.
Have you met Elon Musk or other business leaders personally?
The leaders of large companies are very hard to meet. I have not met Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg, but we have met other high-ranking executives and founders of smaller technology companies.
As someone who deals with so many traditional Jews, have you seen people become Torah-observant?
Certainly. We had a woman who told us she would no longer come to our Shabbos meal because she had begun keeping Shabbos and could not use public transportation. We have also had Google employees ask us to arrange the kiddushin for their wedding.
What are the plans for the future?
We hope to expand, to provide gatherings and classes more often and in more centers.
Have you personally felt antisemitism when appearing in the tech centers?
I personally have not felt it, thank God, when going to speak at the technology companies. But I hear a great deal from employees who receive a lot of hate. One woman told us that she was speaking with her mother in Persian when suddenly an Arab woman began berating her loudly about her Judaism. This woman is not Orthodox and could not understand how anyone had identified her Jewish background. Later she realized that during the conversation she had said "Baruch Hashem" to her mother. The other woman understood from that that she was Jewish.
Recent activity and closing
Tell us about recent activities you were invited to do.
This past Thursday of Parshas Behaalosecha, we had a gathering with the participation of about 150 employees from technology and startup companies. We provided them with a kosher meal.
On Shabbos Parshas Behaalosecha, we arranged a Shabbos meal for more than one hundred founders and investors for an AI-financing company. The company asked us to provide the Shabbos meal at its office in Manhattan. After the Friday-night meal, we walked home on foot in the rain.
Please share an interesting story from over the years.
For our Orthodox community, it may not be so visible, but to me the most interesting story is what has happened over the last few years among traditional Jews. Many more of them want to come closer to Judaism, even though there is so much hatred against Jews. People call us constantly with requests to begin Torah classes, tefillin, Shabbos candles and so on. It happens often when I enter the technology centers that someone calls me aside: "Rabbi, I have a question to ask." They ask all kinds of halachic questions.
Thank you very much for taking from your precious time to share such an interesting look into your holy work among the technology centers. May the Almighty help you continue for many healthy years with even greater strength.