Shraga Simmons spent his first 18 years trekking through snow in Buffalo, New York. He earned a degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and went on to serve as a reporter for newspapers and magazines, specializing in politics and entertainment.
In 1994, after receiving rabbinic ordination from the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, he served for three years as Director of Outreach for Aish HaTorah in Los Angeles.
He is currently editor of Aish.com, the world's largest Jewish learning website with 2.6 million visitors monthly and 270,000 unique email subscribers. As senior editor, he develops, writes and edits modules on Jewish holidays, current events, spirituality, relationships, personal growth, and the weekly Torah portion. He is also the chief editor of JewishPathways.com, a more advanced learning site.
Simmons is an expert on media bias relating to the Middle East conflict, and was the founding editor of HonestReporting.com, the pro-Israel media watch group. He has lectured to a variety of community, youth and university groups. His seminar, "Israel's Battle Against Media Bias," has been presented to groups throughout North America and Israel, and is a key component of the Hasbara Fellowships program to train college students in pro-Israel activism.
He is the author of the popular "Shraga's Weekly" commentary, and through his "Ask the Rabbi" email list has answered tens of thousands of questions, featured on About.com and Jewish.com. His work has been translated into Hebrew, Spanish, French, Indonesian and German.
He has produced a number of short films, including the 2006 "Photo Fraud in Lebanon" which was viewed by 5 million people in a span of days.
Simmons is co-editor of three anthologies, "Heaven On Earth" (2002), "Israel: Life in the Shadow of Terror" (2003), and "Triumph - Inspiring True Stories of Challenge and Spiritual Growth (2006).
He lives with his wife Keren and children in the Modi'in region of Israel.
