Shraga Simmons
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Shraga Simmons (born July 1, 1961 in Buffalo, New York) is an influential rabbi involved in kiruv (Jewish outreach). He has worked in the fields of journalism and public relations, and currently serves as senior editor of Aish.com, the world's largest Jewish learning website with 3 million visitors monthly. He has produced a number of short online films, including the 2006 "Photo Fraud in Lebanon" which was viewed by 5 million people in a span of days. He is also director of JewishPathways.com, the advanced learning site.
Rabbi Simmons grew up in Buffalo, New York. Upon graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism, he worked as a reporter for newspapers and magazines. He received rabbinic ordination from the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem in 1994. He served three years as Director of Outreach for Aish HaTorah in Los Angeles.
Simmons is also regarded as a foremost expert on media bias relating to the Middle East conflict, and was the founding editor of Honest Reporting, a pro-Israel media watch group. He is in the pre-publication stage of a 60,000-word, non-fiction book chronicling his experiences exposing media bias in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
His columns, particularly "Shraga's Weekly" and "Ask the Rabbi", are featured on many Jewish websites, such as Aish.com, Jewish.com, About.com, Beliefnet and others. His work has been translated into Hebrew, Spanish, French, Indonesian and German.
He lives in the Modi'in region of Israel.
[edit] Books
- Triumph, Targum Press, 2006. ISBN 1-56871-411-4
- Israel: Life in the Shadow of Terror, Targum Press, 2003. ISBN 1-56871-237-5
- Heaven on Earth, Targum Press, 2002. ISBN 1-56871-206-5
