(Click on image to ENLARGE) The world’s richest Jew and Boston native, Sheldon Adelson, has made history after pledging to give $200 million annually to Jewish philanthropy.
The foundation currently being established by casino and resort mogul Sheldon G. Adelson promises to change the face of Jewish philanthropy. The new entity will be a major boon to American and Israeli causes, with a pledge to dole out more than $200 million dollars to Jewish causes annually – the largest-ever pledge by a Jewish foundation.
The creation of the foundation comes on the heels of the announcement in October 2007 by Adelson and his wife Miriam, an Israeli physician, to give $25 million to Yad Vashem – the largest donation received by the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem by a single donor. The Adelsons, who live in Las Vegas, is also funding the construction of Las Vegas’ first Jewish high school—M.I.S. Hebrew Academy scheduled to open in fall 2008
Adelson recently contributed an additional $25,000,000 to the organization Birthright Israel, which finances Jewish youth trips to Israel. The gift is anticipated to be given annually for the foreseeable future.
The gift is anticipated to be given annually for the foreseeable future.
Sheldon G. Adelson noted, “The birthright israel program is more than just an idea whose time has come. The program’s success in creating and maintaining Jewish continuity and a commitment to Israel is unparalleled. I remember how moved I was by my first visit to Israel. Israel is the heart and soul of the Jewish people. We are privileged to be able to play a small role in helping tomorrow’s Jews create a connection to Judaism and Israel today. What happens to the Jews of the Diaspora depends upon the fate of the Jews in Israel.”
According to Taglit, in terms of sheer numbers, at a cost of $2,500 per person, the Adelsons’ gift of $60 million to date means that an additional 24,000 Jews between the ages of 18 and 26 will be able to visit Israel through Taglit-birthright israel. The extra capacity provided by the Adelson gift will help eliminate the long waiting lists that have resulted from the program’s overwhelming popularity, the organization said.
“I recently met Mr. Adelson and came away thinking if only we had a dozen or so philanthropists on the scale of a Sheldon Adelson who understands the importance of Jewish education & continuity so much can be accomplished in that realm”, noted Ezra Friedlander, CEO of Friedlander Group PR a New York based public relations company.
Adelson also founded Freedom’s Watch, a group that advocates America’s continued involvement in the war in Iraq, and is run and supported, in part, by former officials of the Bush administration.
Adelson also has funded the Boston based Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation. This foundation initiated the Adelson Program in Neural Repair and Rehabilitation (APNRR) with $7.5 million donated to collaborating researchers at 10 universities. Mr. Adelson has publicly pledged billions to medical research and has encouraged researchers to contact him with ideas that need to be funded.
“Keeping your word,” Adelson said, is of paramount importance in business. Another value-based commitment, he said, is to charity. He learned this value from his father, , who, though living in deprivation, kept a box on the family’s kitchen table where, said the father, “I am putting money for the poor people. Listen, son, you have to do this,” Adelson quoted his father, “because there are always people who are poorer than you are.”
Adelson said he is honoring the lessons taught him in his youth by supporting a number of charitable organizations, none more important than free drug rehabilitation clinics in this country and Israel that are run by his wife, Miriam, an Israeli-born physician.
Adelson, 73, the third richest American and chairman of Las Vegas Sands Corp., the parent company of Venetian Macao Limited which operates The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Sands Expo and Convention Center is a self-made billionaire who grew up in a poor immigrant family in Dorchester. His family immigrated to the United States from the Ukraine. Son of a Boston cabdriver borrowed $200 from his uncle to sell newspapers at age 12. In the 1980s, he made his first significant mark in the business world as the founder of the computer industry’s premier trade show, COMDEX. Adelson sold the company to a Japanese corporation for $862 million in 1995.
In 1988, Adelson and his partners purchased the Sands Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, in order to bring Las Vegas to a new phase of business centricity through the exhibition industry. The following year, Mr. Adelson and his partners constructed the Sands Expo and Convention Center, the only privately owned and operated convention center in the United States.
Today, his net worth stands at $20.5 billion, according to Forbes.
Jonathan Sarna, a professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University, said that Adelson’s landmark donation is a monumental step in Jewish philanthropy.
“I certainly think that donations like his raise the bar,” Sarna said. This new foundation will really serve as a role model for other foundations as to how to appropriately put money to use to strengthen the Jewish community in America, Israel and around the world.
In 2007, Adelson made an unsuccessful bid to buy controlling interest in the Israeli newspaper Maariv. When this failed, he proceeded with parallel plans to publish a free daily newspaper to compete with Israeli, a newspaper he had co-founded in 2006 but had left. The first edition of the new newspaper, Israel HaYom, was published on July 30, 2007.
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24 Responses
Wow, lets hope some of this mummoyn can reach the yeshiva world. I hear the BMG coffeeroom offer renovating
How can I contact him?
This guy has already donated millions to Chabad of Las Vegas (Harlig) Desert Torah Academy. Their “new” building off of Charleston Street is due to him and his wife. His megastructure the Venetian in LV is a must see. May Hashem grant him the wisdom and affluence to keep up the great work!
How do we apply for a grant????
Some money meant for yeshivos, etc, as well?!
Which person in the picture is Mr Adelson?
will any money be allocated for yeshiva OPERATING budgets and not just capital ie buildings etc.
or to tomchei shabbos or other worthy organizations that help people in need?
Can I get a few bucks myself , once hes giving out cash?
Kol Hakovod!
This guy is the 6th richest person in the WORLD – we have no hasogah of this wealth!!
1. William Gates III
2. Warren Buffett
3. Carlos Slim Helú
4. Ingvar Kamprad
5. Lakshmi Mittal
6. Sheldon Adelson
And # 3 in the US!!
1. William Gates III
2. Warren Buffett
3. Sheldon Adelson
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_Sheldon-Adelson_ER9O.html
Wow, a guy gives such amounts and all we see is grumbling, sour grapes and “where do I get some?” Not a kind word to be seen.
Has the yeshiva oilem become so “arangetoon” in K’sofim?
why would you want a grant from him, if you can just back to work & earn it?
“soneh matanos yechya”
I have seen his name on aseveral Chabad moisdas I have visted. He gives money in Vegas where he lives and to a few chabads in MASS where he is from.
#13 – I think if he was the one on the right, we wouldn’t be wondering if he gives money to yeshivas. Since he is obviously not the one on the right, and its not second from the right (that’s Malcolm Honlein) and the one on the extreme left looks like Gerry Nadler, he must be the second from the left.
Process of elimination!
wow kol hakavod iy’h the frum oilam will benefit as well maybe!!!!!!
Doesn’t look like he merits the z’chus to support Torah.
As in countless cases in the past, BIG Jewish $$$ will unfortunately go to “very shvache” causes at best, and “highly questionable” at worst.
Seems that Torah still needs to struggle.
But Torah will live on nevertheless!
I am now beginning to understand the verse in :קהלת (י-יט
והכסף יענה את הכל
$200 million is not even 1% of his net worth of 20 and a half billion dollars. From his perspective, he is extremely cheap with his charity. Let him take a lesson from l’havdil the goyim like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates who gave a much much higher percentage of thier wealth to charities. $200 million from a guy like this is nothing and not one penny will go to a torah organization. Unless you count the bais Yaakov in Las Vegas I guess, which is a terrible thing. To encourage yiden to raise families in the most triefa location in the world in an atrocity. It’s wrong to praise a rasha for rishus.
#19: “Seems that Torah still needs to struggle.”
That’s right; it’s a Zohar on “vayigah bekaf yerech Ya’akov.”
But it doesn’t mean we can’t do our hishtadlus.
number 22…
1- He doesnt make 20B a year. He’s worth that much. Id like to see you give a percent of your net worth…
2- Stop complaining, if anything a bais yaakov might convince these girls to leave las vegas…
3- Incredible how you can call him a rasha and even predict that “not one penny will go to a torah organization…”.
Wow incredible how one can judge a person without first analyzing one self…
2morecents –
maybe you should keep your two cents to yourself – no one here needs them. There are 90,000!!!! Jews living in the LV area. I beleive that they are actually still considered Jewish in Halacha. I don’t know why or what they are doing there but they deserve authentic Torah institutions. How dare you say that it is a “terrible thing” to have a beis yaackov there?! I personally know that there are many Gedolim who are supporting the newly founded Yeshiva Day School of Las Vegas (ever hear of Torah Umesorah? Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim? Harav Mattisyahu Solomon?) If you felt one ounce of achrayus to your fellow Jews, you would be thrilled that there are those that have the “platzes” to leave the enclaves and go into the wilderness to save our brothers and sisters. Maybe you should take a look at the Medrash that speaks about how Yisro left klal yisroel – the Dor Hadeah in the Midbar with Moshe Rabbeinu as the Rebbe just to go back and try to be Megayer the people of midyan!! Think about that for a minute. KOL SHKEIN being MEKAREV JEWS!!!! Go keep your two cents and put your head back in the sand.
I can’t believe what I’m reading. Here is a man who needs allocate at least 25% of his net worth (apprx. 5 billion dollars) for his foundation in order to be able to disperse 200 million dollars a year. And people have the audacity to make false assumptions about his intentions or the results of his donation.
You’re espousing a ghetto mentality which has no roots or basis in yiddishkeit what so ever. Instead of encouraging and supporting his noble act, you’re condemning him in a situation where you know none of the facts and indeed it is a disgrace to know that a fellow brother is writing this.
It so happens to be that I recognize the chassidishe man on the right. His name is Ezra Friedlander who is quoted in the article very much to the point.
i am 100 times more impressed with a yid who is struggling & gives away his 10% maaser gelt! then his 200 million.
but his donation shouldn’t be made fun of.
perhaps if he was thought the mitvah of maaser, he would do it.
i am 100 times more impressed with a yid who is struggling & gives away his 10% maaser gelt! then his 200 million.******BTW who cares who is impressed, annoyed, delited or agitated? Thank Gd he shares his wealth with others in need. AMEN!!