Israel’s Olympic Bronze Medalist Yarden Gerbi put her name tag up for auction on Ebay, saying she’d use the money to buy medical equipment for a Tel Aviv hospital. Gerbi’s bronze during the Rio games made her only the second Israeli woman to win a medal at the Olympics. Although uncertain as to how much money she’d be able to raise for the charity of her choice, her gesture was one that garnered significant media attention in Israel for its benevolence. With only a few hours till the auction’s end and the highest bid standing at a meager $13,200, a mysterious bidder put down $52,100. However the bidder’s identity had been concealed…
Who was it?
Shlomo Rechnitz, a Los Angeles based Mega-Philanthropist whose acts of kindness have now become internationally known – from buying 400 United States Soldiers meals during a stop-over in an airport in Shannon, Ireland to buying 18,000 Powerball tickets for all of his employees.
This inspirational story illustrates that you need not be a millionaire or billionaire to make a difference. Philanthropy and charity can come in all forms – and it’s all the more powerful when we each give what we’re able to. In this story, an Olympic Bronze Medalist gave her name tag. And a gold-hearted philanthropist did his part, giving over $50,000 ($52,100) of his hard-earned money.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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9 Responses
Hard earned money? The way he gives it away you’d think he had a printing press!
#1 Arizona – you are making a mistake about rich people. The richer one is the harder it is to give it away. Only one who has been in that position can understand that. The fact that Rechnitz has given away so much is merely a sign that he has worked on himself. It doesn’t come easy.
Hkbu knows who to be his shluchim NOTHING comes for free
Doesn’t ebay only increase your bid to a minimum greater than the previous bidder? In other words, if bidding increased in $100 increments, doesn’t that mean there was a $52,000 bid first? If Rechnitz bid $52,100 when the bidding was at $13,200, it would have only gone up to $13,300 unless someone was bidding against him.
1.
You jealous??? Only a socialist liberal democrat would fargin someone and how he spends his hard earned money.
SHAME ON YOUR MIDAH RA!
Hospital needs the $$$, Amen!
@LBK I think you are correct. He would have needed someone to bid against him for it to jump to 52,000
Something doesn’t sound right. How come every time he puts a penny in the pushka, its mentioned on YWN?! There are so many ba’alei tzedaka who are not getting mentioned. Hmmm…
YWN, if Mr. Rechnitz chooses to do these מצות anonymously, why would you rob him of it?! Is it really worth the news article and its (now) 9 comments?!