Brit Olam · Jerusalem
Brit Olam is an Israeli non-profit organization based in Jerusalem, registered with the Israeli Registrar of Associations under number 580537744. It is chaired by Rabbi Oury Cherki and directed by its chief executive, Rabbi Chaim Goldberg. The Noahide World Center is the department of Brit Olam that serves Noahide communities worldwide.
Brit Olam, the World Center for Universal Judaism, is an educational and religious organization founded in Jerusalem. Its purpose is to make the universal dimension of the Torah of Israel available to every person, in every language.
Its work has three parts. It teaches and publishes for the Israeli public. It teaches, publishes and provides rabbinic guidance for non-Jews who have chosen to live by the seven Noahide laws. And it supports the communities those people have formed, in several hundred locations around the world.
The organization has been active for more than twelve years. Its head office is at 44 King George Street, Jerusalem.
This question matters, because Noahide work is carried out by several different movements with different theologies, and they are frequently confused with one another.
Brit Olam's intellectual lineage runs through Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Mandatory Palestine, and through Rabbi Yehuda Léon Ashkenazi, known as Manitou, who taught in Paris and Jerusalem. It belongs to the religious-Zionist school of Jerusalem, and its published work is grounded in the writings of Rabbi Oury Cherki, a student of that tradition.
The governing theological formulation is this: Israel is a heart among the limbs, not a head above a body. A heart is not superior to a hand. It has a different function, and it fails without the rest.
From this follows everything else. The nations are not asked to dissolve into a single world faith, to submit to Jewish political or judicial authority, or to become junior Jews. Each nation keeps its own land, its own language and its own identity. The biblical model is Jethro, priest of Midian, who fed Moses in his exile, gave Israel its entire judicial structure, and then returned to his own country, still a priest of Midian.
Alongside the professional staff, dozens of volunteers, transcribers and class facilitators contribute to this work.
Brit Olam is governed by a chairman, a board of directors, an organizational council, and a chief executive who reports to the board. Departmental heads report to the chief executive. The head office is in Jerusalem.
As an Israeli registered association, Brit Olam is subject to the reporting, audit and disclosure requirements of Israeli non-profit law, and holds approval under Section 46 of the Israeli Income Tax Ordinance for tax-deductible donations. Its American affiliate files an annual return with the United States Internal Revenue Service.
Israel — on record
United States — on record
Brit Olam also maintains a French affiliate organization serving French-speaking Noahide communities. Its registration details are available on request.
We publish the method alongside the number, because a figure without a method is not information.
Figures current as of July 2026.
Letters of endorsement for Brit Olam and for the Noahide World Center have been written by the following, and are published in full with translations:
No. Brit Olam is a registered Israeli non-profit with a named chairman, a named chief executive, a board of directors, an organizational council and a professional staff of more than twenty named people across a dozen language departments. It is subject to Israeli non-profit reporting law, and its American affiliate files annually with the IRS. Its work has been endorsed in writing by Chief Rabbis of Israel, by the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, and by other senior rabbinical authorities.
More to the point: nothing in the Noahide path asks a person to leave his family, surrender property, transfer assets, cut contact with anyone, relocate, or accept an intermediary between himself and God. A Noahide lives in his own country, in his own home, in his own culture.
No. The Noahide covenant is the opposite of a single world religion. It holds that each nation keeps its own land, language and identity, and is not asked to become Jewish or to adopt one universal creed. Jethro advised Moses, gave Israel its judicial structure, and returned to Midian as a priest of Midian.
No. Brit Olam is an educational and religious organization. It does not seek legislation, judicial jurisdiction, enforcement powers or state authority over any person in any country. Its activity is teaching, publishing, and supporting people who have chosen this path of their own accord.
No. Noahides are not Jews of a lower rank. The covenant with Noah preceded Sinai and was addressed to all humanity, not to Israel. Whoever comes to it is not joining someone else's tradition late; he is returning to the one that came first and was addressed to him. Israel is a heart among the limbs, not a head above a body.
The details of the seven laws are learned through the tradition of Israel and its sages, in the way any student of a discipline works within its accumulated body of knowledge. This concerns study and halachic guidance. No rabbi in Brit Olam holds authority over a Noahide's household, finances, employment, marriage or family decisions.
No. Judaism does not seek converts. The Noahide path exists precisely so that a non-Jew can stand in covenant with the God of Israel without becoming Jewish, and without leaving his people.
This is the question most often asked at the gate, and we do not answer it with a slogan. It is a serious question with a serious answer, and it is worked through in our introductory course rather than settled in a sentence.
We state this openly rather than at the end of a process. Maimonides, in the Laws of Kings 8:11, draws a line: a person who keeps the seven laws because he reasoned his way to them is called one of the wise of the nations, while a person who accepts them as commanded is counted among the righteous of the nations. The actions are identical. What differs is where final authority sits. Entering the covenant means moving that authority outward. That is the requirement, and it is the whole requirement.
Head office: 44 King George Street, Jerusalem, Israel.
Email: israeli@britolam.community
Websites: brit-olam.org (Hebrew) and noahideworldcenter.org (Noahide World Center)