The 1960s and 1970s were a time of searching for meaning by Western-educated, college-age men and women. In 1972, Rabbis Noah Weinberg, Mendel Weinbach, Nota Schiller, and Yaakov Rosenberg founded Shma Yisrael Yeshiva to teach young Jewish men with little or no background in Jewish studies.[5][6] After a few years, Weinberg left the yeshiva over a difference in philosophy and founded Aish HaTorah in 1974,[6] whereas Rav Rosenberg left and founded Machon Shlomo in Har Nof. Shma Yisrael subsequently changed its name to Ohr Somayach, after the commentary on the Mishneh Torah written by Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, the Ohr Somayach, in response to critics who contended that the name belonged to the entire Jewish people, not just one institution.[7]
Ohr Somayach International
Schiller was the driving force behind the development of Ohr Somayach International, which has opened yeshivas and learning branches in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, South Africa, and Australia.[8] He founded the first international Ohr Somayach program in Yonkers, New York in 1977. The program became an independent spin-off in 1979 and relocated to Monsey.[9]