The Miami Herald reports: A Miami Beach synagogue has the hottest ticket in real estate. Two tickets, actually. For $1.8 million. Temple Emanu-El launched an eBay auction this week for two front-row, right-in-front-of-the-rabbi seats for this year’s upcoming High Holy Day services. The winner will inherit the plush, red velvety seats for life and can pass them down from generation to generation. Bidding starts at $1.8 mil. As of late Wednesday, there were no takers.
The people who shell out the cash also will get their names engraved on the seats, and they’ll have exclusive access to the seats on all Friday night services and major holidays. For good measure, the temple also will throw in free parking — just two blocks away from the ocean — and two custom-made yarmulkes.
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31 Responses
Men darf zein meshuga!!!!!
wow !!
What a kiddush hashem,
I’d pay $1.8 million for a seat in the Beit HaMikdash too… oh, wait, that’s not what we’re talking about?
sheryl
I don’t think this is a Kiddush Hashem!- I don’t believe that a congregation called “temple” anything is fundraising “al pi derech haTorah”. And if you won the bidding, would you sit up front on the Bimah?
What some people will do for a little Kavod. Sad.
Like someone else said, I prefer my seat, next to G-d.
Thes people are mega mega rich and obviously have money to squandor on ‘velvet’ seats near their ‘rabbi’.
Its sad that they are naively investing their money in a reform orginization which will never yield them the same zechusim as those who are Shomer TORAH AND MITZVOHS
Are they considered First or Business class seats?It would make a difference as far as the meals…
nisht men darf zein meshiga…
Er is meshugga!!!!
Lev l’achim could use some ceisef!!!
yesh koneh olamo bshaah achas
I’m going to send the ebay seller an email asking how much THEY WOULD PAY ME to sit in that seat. I don’t think 1.8 million would be enough!!
It can’t be 1.8 million, and must be a typo. Probably, 18 million. Now, I personally wouldn’t pay more than about 17 million, unless it had a comfortable footrest.
1.8M for a plush red chair. makes you wonder how much a spot on the wooden bench next to the YWEditor would go for…
K’Siva v’Chasima tova u’M’sekuah to all my friends out there
makes the $800 for the firt pie of pizza motzei pesach sound cheap.
If anyone needs a free seat, you can get it at BMG. just a joke
yoyo thinks that he is paying for a seat in shamayim.
What exactly are they doing with $1.8 million?!
Will you “commentators” some going meshuga?
Go to Ebay and you’ll see that no one is bidding!
I think we all miss the point. No one would pay that much for a seat. It would be as a donation to a shul (or “temple” in this case), a rather large one at that.
I bid $1.80
if u were wondering y they r called ‘high’ holidays its because of the high prices for seats
Yes sheryl,
I also think this is as kiddish Hashem. Bottom line is they are paying for a seat in shul.
1)of course they know this is fundraising.
2) For those who shout KOVOD!! i answer hypocrite! Doesn’t your shul have plaques on the wall inside and out?
3)to those who denigrate;; Don’t be so smug. It is precisely this attitude of holier than thou that gives the frum a bad image of no ahavas yisroel.
4) People are judged by how far they’ve achieved not where they started, or what sviva they happen to live in.
5) some of you sound like Lakewood or Monsey schools. “Unless you’re perfect (according to my definition of course)we don’t want you, because you’re not good enough. We won’t help you change, we will judge you!
I’d be very hesitant to buy this on eBay. The seller has no history and can probably not be trusted. It could easily be a scam to get 1.8 mil and scoot off to Canada.
I used to work for Temple Emanu-El back in the early 90’s and while they call themselves “Temple”, they have always been a Conservative synagogue. I have no doubt the story is true. But the shul has been dying a very slow death since it’s heydays in the 50’s and 60’s.
They used to have such huge numbers on Rosh Hashana/Yom Kippur that they held those services across the street at the (now named) Jackie Gleason Auditorium at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
I’m new to Yeshivaworld and I’m trying to understand…
1.why is it that it’s always the stupidest piece of news that yield the most comments? (elul article= one comment, $1.8 m article= 22 comments)?
2.why is it that people are so eager to denigrate while someone told you (and you could have checked it yourself before you post) that actually no one ever bid for these seats?!
3. why do so many people feel the need to waste time on these infos while the editor posts interesting articles on elul?
I think I have an answer, people have too much time on their hand. Therefore they’re faced with their daily lives and their personal issues, and especially before elul, they reflect and see the problem of their lives, the things they should be changing and how they should better themselves. But it’s hard to change, and probably much easier to find some people that are even worse than them, that are supposed to do even more changes to their lives so they start to critisize and they feel much better with themselves. After all, having to improve one’s davening, one’s middos, one’s anger issues, one’s brachos is after all not “as bad” as being conservative and willing to give $1.8 m to a shul/temple.
People get your priorities right. It’s a pity some people won’t give to the charity you think is the most deserving but YOU, take care of your own life, go daven better, take care of your children, help your wife, enjoy a real shabbos and I wish you all to win the lottery very soon and be able to make such a large check to BMG, Ponovitch, Belzer, the Mir and the such…
The temple (conservative) used to use the MB Auditorium across the street, renamed Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts, for high holiday services. Obviously declining membership has enabled them to remain in their own building on the high holidays. So the question remains, wil they have a minyan for my 1.8 million dollars. (You could probably rent one, together with Helfgott, for less them 1.8 million.) I just sent the guy an email: “if they include a set of leather bound Hebrew-English machzorim it’s a deal.” I’ll keep you posted. The TE website has a message from the rabbi. And he kills a good chassidisha ma’aseh. He obviously never listened to YomTov Ehrlich tapes.
UUmmmmm Ani Tapuach-
They call it the HIGH HOLY DAYS, not holidays.
Interesting that on the blog about paying 50 000
dollars for a seat next to GEDOLIM Belzer Rebbes and Vishnitz etc, people were critical that this money should rather be given for Tzedakkah.
The blog about Uman , MANY WERE FUMING that
people are splurging for tickets and leaving their families EVEN if its to daven by the Kever of a tzaddik.
Here, where there is NOTHING more involved than Gashmiyos and Kovod ,BAAL BOOSE is critical of those who point it out by saying its a lack of Ahavas Yisroel! PLEASE…
just a question (or 2) for post 27: How much time did it take you to come to that conclusion? and when you did, did you check yourself out to make sure you are not putting just down others as opposed to doing a true introspection of yourself?
k’siva v’Chasima Tova u’M’sukah
Who would pay 1.8 million for two seats in a temple that is dying quickly and might not be around in future genarations
I don’t see how this is so much different from paying $50K to sit next to some big name rebbe or even bidding for an Aliyah, just a bigger number. If that $1.8 million (or what ever the number is) can keep the organization going it seems a perfectly honest way to raise it.
Personally I’m quite happy to sit in the back and not be noticed, but thats just me.