Greatest Frum Jewish Philanthropists

…..not telling

this sounds like ayin-hora material…

Bad idea for a thread.

apushatayid

+ 1

“I don’t think Adelson is Orthodox, although he finances a lot of causes that many frum Jews hold by.”

He makes his money from gambling, an occupation Jews are supposed to avoid, and his casinos are open on Shabat and serve non-kosher food. He does give a lot of money from his ill-gotten gains to Jewish causes but he gave spent even more in an unsuccessful attempt to elect Mitt Romney President of the US.

Howard Jonas is a frum billionaire who lives in my neighborhood. Actually, I may need to amend that statement as he has given away so much money he may have lost his billionaire status. The HQ of his main business venture, IDT, has a synagogue; he has a son and a son-in-law who are rabbis. He is also a total mensch and hosts huge numbers of Jews for Shabat.

I do admit that if Romney would actually have been elected, I would have had no idea what zchus Adelson would have had in being a part of one of the greatest Chasodim G-d did for the Jewish People in recent memory.

However, Howard Jonas has contributed money to the great bizayon haTorah and michshoilim, YCT and yeshivas Maharat.

Much worse than making money gambling or selling cigarettes.

Then you had those great donors to YU, Madoff and Merkin, who took more money in fees for investment advice from YU than they ever gave. An arrangement that somehow had not been disclosed on the 990 for years although they were interested parties. And we now know what that advice really consisted of.

There are quite a few frum Yiddin that give millions anually, but unlike Bloomberg and Adelson they live quiet lives in the community and shun publicity.

The Lowinger family has helped build many yeshivos. Mesivta Chaim Shlomo (part of Darchei Torah) in Far Rockaway was built by a Lowinger. I believe Torah Temimah has a Lowinger’s name on the building.

There’s also a well known yeshiva in Brooklyn which has a very wealthy benefactor, but unfortunately, he wasn’t always honest about paying employees – mainly one, who went to Beis Din over it. The benefactor (who is employed by the yeshiva) refused to respond to the hazmanah (along with the Rosh Yeshiva).

One sentiment expressed in Hazal is the notion of giving tzedakah secretly, so as to not be a hypocrite and seek glory for one’s generosity. The inyan of “not giving alms before men” is expressed in Bava Batra 10b: What kind of charity is that which delivers a man from an unnatural death? When a man gives without knowing to whom he gives. and the beggar receives without knowing from whom he receives. Tosafot even say that this type of giving has the potential to save the giver from Gehenim.

DaM.

Did they ask you to post their names here?

Perhaps even you can grasp the difference.

” Howard Jonas has contributed money to the great bizayon haTorah and michshoilim, YCT and yeshivas Maharat.”

I attended the Yeshivat Maharat commencement last week and Mr. Jonas’ name did not appear on the contributors list.

“Much worse than making money gambling or selling cigarettes.”

Supporting Orthodox Yeshivot like YCT is a mitzvah. Making money by gambling or selling things that kill Jews is asur. How many Jewish lives have been ruined by Mr. Adelson’s casinos, and how many Jewish lives have been ended Mr. Tisch’s tobacco? YCT alumni bring people to Torah, giving them life.

“How many frum institutions were built with money from people like Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel”

The Florida Jewish Museum in Miami Beach is a former synagogue that had Meyer Lansky as a member; he supposedly contributed much money to the shul. Lansky himself always insisted that he lost virtually his entire wealth to Castro.

I know a gentleman in an out of town community who made a celebration recently to mark a milestone. He had reach one quarter billion distributed to tzedaka over his lifetime.

“I attended the Yeshivat Maharat commencement”

A chilul Hashem of the first order ???. How can write this? Have you no shame? This is so painful to read.

YCT is worse than gambling or cigarettes for a number of reasons, YCT is causing spiritual death causing people to be ?????????. YCT and Maharat specifically target Jewish people to harm (although I am sure that they will ordain non Jews very shortly, but they will place these people in Jewish congregations were they will do their harm).

On top of that, supporting YCT is worse because the support is provided directly to spiritual terrorists. And while some of Tisch and Adelson’s money may come from sources that you don’t like, the sources are legal and its doubtful whether there is any ????? involved, your made up protestations not withstanding, the support is not to organizations that actively seek to destroy yiddishkeit.

Even the non religious birthright tours, which have gained somewhat of an unsavory reputation because of what goes on between many of the young adults, is not designed for that purpose and does in fact bring a number of participants back to yiddishkeit or at a mon prevents intermarriage.

“How can write this?”

I was correcting someone’s facts and explaining how I knew it.

” YCT is causing spiritual death causing people to be ?????????.”

And precisely how are Rabbis Weiss, Lopatin, Linzer, Helfgot, Katz, and Love apikorsim? Has any of them ever denied Torah Mi Sinai? Or any of Rambam’s 13 ikkarim? (Not that the Orthodox world follow’s all of them.) Are any of them anything other than careful in observant of all mitzvot that apply to them? Rabbis Lopatin and Helfgot are featured on the Rabbinical Council of America official web site; are you saying that the Rabbinical Council of America is composed of apikorsim?.

“Adelson’s money mostly comes from a Casino in Macau. “

His company also owns casinos in Las Vegas, NV, and in Bethlehem, PA.

Reply to Rebdoniel (Post #4) But most of the philanthropists that you enumerated, although being Jewish themselves contribute very little to specifically Jewish organizations –which the original poster (Playtime) had in mind.

Charlie,

Many of the are ???? ???? ????? ??? ?????, and the others are ?????????. But that is not what I said, I said they cause people to believe ?????????.

I don’t care which web site they are listed on. And the very names you bring are proof to that fact. Lopatinn great chashovis is that he has a degree in Arabic studies. That is as close to yiddishkeit as he gets.

A yeshiva whose alumni publicly support ?????. They testify in support of homosexual marriage, which according to ???? was one of the reasons there was a ????. A reason that ????? felt that the entire world had to destroyed.

That is what that place stands for, drawing down yiddishkeit to levels that even recently the most base individuals know was shameful.

How far is this from ???? ?????, I can’t pasken. But it is horrible. Worse than cigarettes for sure. Those only destroy the smoker, not the whole world.

Again, I can’t believe you proudly say that you attended that ????? ???. What happened to the Jewish trait of ?????

Actually Rabbi Hillel goldberg put it best.

Writing in regard to Seth Farber (one of YCT’s leading scholars, using the term very, very genorously) in Dialogue Vol. 3

“the most powerful fallacy of all is that one can advocate policies directly forbidden by the Torah and still be Orthodox. Rabbi Farber for example write “There should be no penalty in the ORthodox world for being a non-celibate homosexual jew…if G-d overlooks the inevitable 9ones rachmona patrei) so should we” G-d may overlook it after the fact to approve the performance of forbidden acts before the fact contrary to the Talmudic dictum Kol Haomer Hakodosh Boruch Hu Vatron, Yivatru Chayuv”

BTW Dialogue is a publication that has a Rabbinic Boeard consisting of Rabbi Shlomo Miller, Rabbi Aron Feldman, Rabbi Moshe Meiselmanwith the Brocha of Rav Aoron Leib Shteinman and in fact Rabbi Aron Feldman is a contributor to the issue qouted from.

For whatever it’s worth, someone I know who learned at both List College (JTS undergrad division) and at Eretz haTzvi has told me that R’ Dr. Joel Roth, probably the leading halakhist nowadays at JTS, is more traditional and “frum” then R’ Krauss. To me, though, this just attests to R’ Roth’s stature.

Interestingly enough, it reminds me how on the topic of artificial insemination for unmarried women, R’ Yuval Cherlow is more meikil than the head of Machon Schechter, R’ Dr. David Golinkin. R’ Cherlow allows single unmarried women to conceive babies using donor sperm, whereas R’ Golinkin does not.

In this vein, I’ve also been told by quite a few rabbis associated with the UTJ (halakhic people who broke off from JTS in the early 80s over feminist/egalitarian issues) that they perceive a lack of fealty and submission to the halakhic process among certain elements associated with Open Orthodoxy. The boundaries between the Orthodox left and the halakhic right-wing of Conservative institutions are, in all honesty, nebulous, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there is greater collaboration. Frankly, I think that fealty to halakha and not to denominations is a positive thing. Judaism is either halakhic or it’s not.

I know of a YCT musmakh, R’ Hausman, who teaches at the American Jewish University (Conservative) in Calfornia, and Mimi Feigelson, a professor there, is on the advisory board of Yeshivat Maharat.

R’ Dr. Sperber is a brilliant scholar, and his gadlut is evident in all his scholarship. So too is R’ Berman. Rabbi Marc Angel, while not on their board, has appeared in YCT promotional videos, and is very scholarly.

You’re point isn’t takeh that these rabbanim aren’t talmidei hakhamim. You’re beef is that they don’t agree with you and that they don’t hold the same way you do. You hate the fact that people could be accomplished talmidei hakhamim and still come out with different shitot than you. To quote a well-known work by a rabbi associated with this sector, “you don’t have to be wrong for me to be right.”

Ben Levi: By going too far you actually hurt the proper (and necessary) arguments against YCT. Yes, there are people associated with YCT who are massive Talmidei Chachamim and who can still definitely fall within the acceptable parameters of Orthodox beliefs. Acknowledging that fact in no way changes the fact that the institution as a whole and several of its goals are entirely antithetical to Torah Judaism.