Mesorah Heritage Foundation

What it reported doing in 2025

The mesorah heritage foundation was created to respond to urgent needs that became apparent in the post-world war ii english-speaking world. These needs continue to grow, in part thanks to the scholarship sponsored by the foundation. In addition, the successful work of the foundation has brought demands from speakers of modern hebrew, french, and spanish to make foundation works available in their languages.the needs met by the foundation are threefold: (i) a large jewish public, including those with a yeshivah education, find it difficult or impossible to study classic jewish texts in the original ancient hebrew or aramaic; and (ii) there is a growing number of people who wish to study the jewish classics, but have little or no knowledge of the languages in which they were written. Even people who speak modern hebrew fluently are not familiar with biblical and rabbinic hebrew or aramaic, the language of talmudic times and much post-talmudic literature. Modern hebrew is much different from the hebrew of 15 centuries ago, and aramaic is a foreign, virtually extinct, language. (iii) there is a need for original works based on the classics and works on such subjects as jewish law as it applies to modern developments, theological and philosophical texts, and similar projects that shed light on traditional jewish and talmudic scholarship and practice. The mission of the mesorah heritage foundation is to select appropriate classic jewish works of religion, law, liturgy, culture, and scholarship that have previously been unavailable to the general public, or that have not been available with a thorough elucidation in the modern idiom. The foundation engages highly qualified scholars to translate, elucidate, edit, and prepare the works for publication. Our goal is to make these works accessible to scholars, students, and laymen in a form that is authoritative and accurate, with literary grace, and pleasing aesthetics.originally the foundation produced these works in english, but it has since expanded to modern hebrew, french and spanish. The foundation also commissions, in english and other languages, original manuscripts of jewish scholarship, law, ethics, liturgy, and history.to fulfill its mission and goals, the foundation engages scholars and editors, 90-150 at any given time, to research, write, and prepare the works for publication. The foundation's crown jewels are the complete 73-volume english and hebrew elucidations of the babylonian talmud. The late lord immanuel jakobovits, chief rabbi of the british commonwealth, described these editions of the talmud as "the greatest publishing project across the length and breadth of jewish history." currently in progress is a french-language elucidation of the babylonian talmud. Another major indeed historic project is the 51-volume elucidations, in both english and modern hebrew, of the jerusalem talmud. This seminal work, which has been virtually a sealed book for nearly 1,800 years, has now become accessible to modern readers, to lay and scholarly acclaim.the foundation's volumes of the talmud have made it possible for many tens of thousands of people to engage in daily study. On new years day 2020, 110,000 people filled metlife stadium and barclays center to celebrate the completion of daf yomi, the seven-and-a-half-year cycle of daily talmud study. Organizers of the event credited the foundation for enabling most of the attendees to study and understand the talmud, and to be active participants, instead of merely spectators. Also completed are english and hebrew elucidations of the mishnah, which is the basis of the talmud.the foundation's works include translations and explanations of the sabbath, festival, and weekday prayer books in hebrew, english, and spanish and also in transliterated and interlinear versions. These prayer books have become standard in synagogues all over the world. The foundation's editions of the chumash, the five books of moses, in english, french, spanis

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 80.1%; rating input score 80
• Program expense ratio: 89.4%; rating input score 89
• Fundraising efficiency: $21.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
• Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 12th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 12%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.64; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 8%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 11.7% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings