Forum Yod Bet b'Heshvan was founded in the month of Iyyar, May, 2007 by religious Zionist organizations, together with individuals representing a broad political spectrum, in order to encourage tolerance and openness.

The forum will work to enlist public and financial support in order to support synagogues, youth movements, schools, yeshivot, ulpanot, and midrashot and intellectual movements that work to educate and encourage love of Torah, love of Israel, and love of fellow man. The forum will also work to deepen the existence of the State of Israel as a democratic, moral, and ethical Jewish state. It will educate to respect and honour the institutions of the country, its symbols, and its leadership, and will strive towards openness and tolerance towards other attitudes within Israeli society.

The movements under the umbrella of the forum will grapple with current changes within Israeli religious society such as the role of women in society, while respecting at the same time the obligations of halacha. The forum will also work to solve specific problems relating to women, such as agunot, women who have been refused divorce, sexual harassment, and will try to develop and encourage equal, creative possibilities for both men and women alike. Also, forum related movements will educate towards intellectual and human curiosity, and the recognition and valuing of general education and knowledge: the world of the spirit, science, and the arts, and understanding their influence on the development of Judaism and mankind.

The movements connected to the forum will also try to educate towards respect for other people as people and will encourage accepting people with special needs and help them to find their place within society.

Yod Bet b'Heshvan is an intellectual forum, and it is neither connected to a political party nor is it of a particular political persuasion. It is neither “left” nor “right””.

Yod Bet b'Heshvan decries fanaticism:

On the night between Yod Aleph and Yod Bet b'Heshvan , about 40 days after the murder of Gedaliah ben Ahikam, the head of the Israeli government, Yitzhak ben Nehamia and Rosa Rabin was murdered. The murder of the head of state in Israel by a religious Jewish fanatic is the most extreme expression of the lack of tolerance and the contempt for the rule of law, as well as an extreme expression of hatred.

The movements connected to the forum arose in order to strengthen pluralism, the ability to heed and to honour the institutions of the state., its symbols, and its leaders.