Yaakov Langer grew up in an Orthodox family in Brooklyn, the youngest of four brothers.
“Maybe because I was the youngest, with a big age gap from my siblings, I was often bored as a kid,” he laughs. “I watched a lot of TV and movies. YouTube was just starting back then, but social media didn’t really exist yet. As I got older, I started wondering — Jews are great at Torah, at business, at science… but when it comes to entertainment, the Orthodox community always felt a little behind. That always stuck with me.”
That curiosity — and a desire to tell authentic Jewish stories — would eventually lead Yaakov to build one of the most influential Jewish media platforms in the world.
In 2010, he came to Jerusalem through a Masa program in Jewish Studies. He ended up staying four years, long after the program officially ended.
“It was an incredible experience. I’d been to Israel before, but living there was different. The first week was hard — the culture was so direct. I felt it in every taxi ride. But over time, I grew to love it. Jerusalem has the same energy as New York — but spiritual. It helped me focus on what really matters. America has so many great things, but also endless distractions. My time in Jerusalem helped me ask myself: what am I doing with my life? Where am I going? It was a healthy environment for me.”
Years later, after getting married, Yaakov and his wife lived in Jerusalem, where he began creating social media content around 2017–2018.
“I started sharing my life — no politics, just my day-to-day experiences as a newlywed living in Israel. It started small, on Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter.”
Then came WhatsApp Status — a feature most people in the Orthodox world hadn’t yet heard of.
“The day it launched, I said to myself, ‘I can post here what I post on Snapchat.’ Suddenly, people wanted my number just to see my statuses. It grew fast — from short updates, to a podcast, to a full blog. And then I realized — my content wasn’t only reaching Orthodox audiences. It was reaching people outside the community, and even non-Jews.”
That small experiment snowballed into something extraordinary. Yaakov went on to found Living Lchaim — a Jewish multimedia company with millions of followers and tens of millions of views worldwide. He also hosts the popular podcast Inspiration for the Nation.
“Our content is mostly Jewish, but not exclusively for Jews. Especially in the past two years, I’ve seen so many people curious about Judaism. We invite them into the conversation — not as propaganda, just open dialogue. We’ve had people from Meah Shearim call us — people who don’t even own smartphones — but they still find ways to listen.”
Yaakov runs the network together with one of his brothers, Eli, alongside a professional team — including data analysts, editors, and social media managers.
“When I started, I never imagined we’d grow this big. I feel very blessed. Walt Disney once said, ‘We don’t make movies to make money — we make money to make movies.’ That’s how I feel. We’ve turned down large sponsorship offers just to maintain the trust of our audience.”
The turbulence of recent years has also shaped his work and worldview.
“My grandfather was a Holocaust survivor. I never truly understood the level of hate he faced. Now I’m beginning to. I grew up in what was a golden age for Jews in America — but today, hatred is resurfacing in ways that are hard to believe. I’ve come to accept that some people will hate us no matter what we do or don’t do. So we might as well be proud of who we are.”