Shalom Arush

In 1998 Arush opened a branch of Chut Shel Chesed in Ashdod, Israel, and appointed his student Rabbi Lazer Brody, another combat soldier-turned-baal teshuva, to head the rabbinic ordination program. In 2006 this branch merged with the Jerusalem yeshiva and Brody became the mashpia (spiritual guide) for Arush's students and the translator of Arush's books into English.

Arush's quest for spirituality led him to Rabbi Eliezer Berland, who introduced him to Breslov practices such as hitbodedut and hosted him for Shabbat meals. Together with Berland, Arush learned with such Breslov giants as Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Bender and Rabbi Shmuel Shapiro. Arush next enrolled at Yeshivat Dvar Yerushalayim as he took on more mitzvah observance. Eventually he cut his long hair and became a practicing Torah Jew. He was introduced to his wife, Miriam, on a shidduch, and the newlyweds moved to Moshav Chazon Yechezkel. Later he moved to Bnei Brak to join Berland's new yeshiva there, and when the yeshiva moved to Jerusalem, he and his family followed. Upon the directive of Berland, in 1985 Arush opened his own yeshiva with 15 students; a year later, he had 80 students and moved into his present quarters in the Musrara neighborhood of Jerusalem.

The family settled in Petah Tikva, where his parents enrolled Arush in a state-religious school; he later attended a secular high school. In 1970 he joined the Israel Defense Forces as an airborne combat medic, taking part in many missions, including missions during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. During that time, five of his closest friends were killed in a helicopter crash while carrying out an army mission. This event was one of the catalysts for his personal teshuva.