From the website FrumSlang.com:
n. "Hot Chanies are married women who supposedly adhere to the laws of modesty by dressing in wigs and skirts, but usually the skirts are tight and short and the wigs are sexy. Hot Chanies reside mostly in Flatbush and Lawrence and are slowly trickling into Baltimore.
"Hey Dovi, if you’re not busy this erev shabbos, me and the boys will be hanging out on Avenue J checking out all the Hot Chanie’s, and you’re welcome to come with."
The losers in the Bernie Madoff scandal rarely have clean hands. They were knowing participants in a scheme that was entirely imprudent and in more jeopardy than a virgin at a jailhouse rodeo.
The Elie Wiesel Foundation had $9 million in assets (2007 990 filing, 2006 filing). A very small amount as charities go – check out the Wiesenthal Center’s filings for some real ducats. You simply cannot hand $9 million in charitable funds to anyone, not even King Midas himself, and say, hey, daytrade the living bejeezus out of this thing, even though any financial advisor from Suze Orman to Louis Rukeyser (RIP) would tell you that you were a few fries short of a happy meal. These charities should have read the filings and asked, hey, Bernie, is there a safer way than daytrading like a poker shark to make my foundation money? And they knew that Bernie’s answer would have been – hey, if you do not like the type of activity, take your money elsewhere. So they accepted the risk and they should not get to complain when having to take a ration of crap.
Now look at pages 24-25 of the return, where the trading records are. The foundation turned its portfolio almost 10 times in one year – that would be like me taking my $100,000 401k and making $1 million worth of trades – ridiculously speculative, and that is with my money. This is the charity’s money, and this is pattern daytrading, and it is reckless. RSM McGladrey, who did the return, should have covered its tuchas with a letter to the foundation warning them of the amount of daytrading. It is also quite bizarre that trades all occur on the same day – this is not due to options expiration each month (charities cannot trade options and this is a charitable account and there would be no options trading). I think someone went back and did a bit of revisionism in creating trading dates to hit a certain profit/loss target. It is easier to do this on one day every quarter.
I wonder if you paired up the dates of purchase and sale if the numbers even match up – although madoff was probably clever enough to conform that to reality.
I am telling you, this sort of thing is too big for the normal media to cover. Its tentacles go to the professionals involved, the charities who enjoyed the cream while it was rising, and those greedy people who got their money out early and who are now crying about lost funds – baloney – they put in $5 million and probably got cash returns sent to them for about half that over the years. Net, they lost 50% – same as the Dow and S&P did recently, they just have a sexy story to tell and their story is going to land people in prison,some of whom are old enough that they will die there.
I dug up the tax return for the Jewish Community Foundation from 2006. There’s no return available on guidestar.com for 2007.
I want to understand what culpability the Jewish Community Foundation has for its bad investments with Bernie Madoff.
It lists the top five paid employees for that year:
* Simone Savlov $233,000
* Baruch Littman $164,000
* Elliot Kristal $162,000
* Susan Grinel $152,000
* Steven Price $151,000
It spent about $64,000 for public relations and $454,000 on marketing.
Shuls and churches and mosques don’t have to file 990 tax returns with the IRS, so I can’t dig these up for all our favorite shuls and publish them.
In 2006, according to this return, the Jewish Community Foundation gave out these sums to these places:
* Jewish Television Network $100,000
* American Friends of the Hebrew University $151,543
* United Jewish Fund $189,429
* St. Johns Hospital $1,000,000
* American Kosher Supervision $450,000
* Congregation Torah V Chesed $2,550,000
* Mercaz Beth Jacob in Eretz Yisroel $100,000
* Yeshivath Torath Emeth Academy $500,000
Here’s the report for 2007 on the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America. 2006 2005
Rabbi Ken Menken’s Project Genesis 2006. 2005.
The Elie Wiesel Foundation had $4 million in assets: (2007 990 filing, 2006 filing)
Here’s one approach posted on the blog ModernOrthodoxPrax: "The rambam states quite clearly that skeptics are to be murdered in cold blood. One does not even need a beis din, but any Jew can take matters into his own hands and kill the skeptic. One does not need witnesses or warnings, rather whoever kills them did a great mitzvah and removed a stumbling block. If one has the power to murder them publicly with a sword, he should do so. If he does not, he comes to them with trickery till he can bring about their murder. How? If he sees one of them fall into a pit and there is a latter in the pit, he goes and removes the latter and says, "I need the latter to get my son down from the roof, but I will return it to you when I am done with my son." [But then he doesn’t actually return the latter so the skeptic dies.] We do not mourn for them when they die. Rather, their brothers and other relatives don white cloths and eat and drink and are merry that those who God hates have perished. Their penitence is not accepted. It is forbidden to talk to them or even respond to their claims. The Rabbis did not need to say that these people are not accepted as witnesses because the Rabbis only counted the evildoers of Israel, but these skeptics are lower than gentiles and have no portion in the world to come."
From the blog ModernOrthodoxPrax:
This is unbelievable. A British reader has written to tell me that since coming out as a skeptic, the London Beis Din has forbidden him to get an aliyah in shul. He writes:
Dear XGH,
I recently made a public statement in my community (Birmingham, England) that "I don’t believe anything in the Torah is actually true, nor in the existence of any god".
Result: the London Bet Din has ruled that I can’t be sheliach tzibur, can’t leyn, can’t receive an aliya even when I’m the only levi present. (This has already happened once. But they don’t actually call up the kohen again, he just says the brachot without call-up. This is to avoid causing me embarrassment.)
I am not sure what other rulings have been made, and am seeking clarification from the rabbi. (E.g. whether I can make kiddush for myself on grape juice that I squeezed myself before shabbat. I did this when I was abroad but was unsure if it was OK.)
I made clear that I accept these rulings. This is because I want to focus on what matters (truth) rather than relatively unimportant questions about aliyot etc.
I think this has interesting implications for observant (and semi-observant) skeptics.
Paul
Solomon Schimmel is father to my friend David and a professor at Hebrew College.
He’s published this new book through Oxford University Press (and here is Solomon’s blog).
It is primarily about why Orthodox Jews do not accept secular scholarship about the origins of the Torah — that it is a post-Mosaic composite work. Orthodoxy posits that the Torah came directly from God to Moses and every word of it is divine and binding upon us Jews (as interpreted by the rabbis).
I pressed leading Modern Orthodox scholar Marc B. Shapiro on this score a few months ago.
Despite his heretical beliefs, Schimmel belongs to an Orthodox synagogue.
On page 13, he writes that his Orthodox beliefs, values, emotions, behavior and community "have weakened as a consequence of my skepticism, and their replacements have not been as intense, vigorous, joyous, and existentially meaningful as was Orthodoxy."
Schimmel wants to convert the Orthodox to his way of thinking, thus robbing them of the same joy and meaning he once had.
Here is a review of Schimmel’s book and a smart response to the review.
Evan Gahr replies to me about his relationship with Paul Weyrich: "This was an interesting exchange. One of the few times he ever reproached me was to say don’t curse because it is "beneath" you and unnecessary since "you have an intellect bordering on genius." From that I came to realize that cursing is usually macho preening. As I told you I heard almost every conversation Eric Breindel had for two years and I don’t recall him cursing a single time."
"Did you catch how I called Hymie (below). My understanding was that when someone is having all kinds of health problems, it’s a Jewish custom or teaching to give him another name. This was right after Weyrich told me he had to have both his legs amputated. I told him about the Jewish tradition and told him I would call Hymie, which of course is redolent of Jesse Jackson. I’m sure he understood the perverse humor in it. He said Hymie is fine although he would have preferred an Old Testament name.”
Evan emails Weyrich: "Hymie, your find synergy with God’s plan is very satisfying, emotionally and intellectually. And a good adage to keep in mind. That’s why I thought single women in their 20s and 30s have so many psychological problems. It’s not natural for them to be unmarried. Notice that Hatch cursed at Schumer right after Schumer boxed his man into a corner, and the only one who looks like a "dumb a–" in this exchange is Hatch for using the expression. Have you ever cursed at anyone?"
Paul Weyrich replies: "The postponement of marriage in the latter part of the 20th Century has caused all sorts of problems. Good observation. I completely agree with you on Hatch. Sean Hannity has said Hatch is a hero for this. I’m with you. Yes, I regret that I have on occasion cursed at someone. I regret it to this day. I came crashing down in the eyes of those who witnessed what I did. Worst of all, I felt so very bad and still do. I know God has forgiven me. Yet I still feel bad because I was so stupid."
Here is the article in question from the New York Times:
WASHINGTON, July 27 – The last time Senator Charles E. Schumer tried prying answers out of John G. Roberts about his legal views was in 2003, when the Judiciary Committee held hearings on Mr. Roberts’s nomination to the federal appeals court. Mr. Schumer did not get far. No sooner did he start pressing Mr. Roberts for answers than the Republican chairman of the committee, Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, came to the nominee’s defense and chastised Mr. Schumer for his line of questioning. "I hate to say it," Mr. Hatch said. "I feel badly saying it, between you and me, but I do know dumb-ass questions when I see dumb-ass questions."
Evan Gahr emails me: "I guess it was a like a younger brother to an older brother. He had implored me, begged me, to stop fixating on the past. He warned me in 2002 that even though injustices were done as he called them if you use your considerable talent and energies to go after these people you’ll only hurt yourself. I did. And I did. But he also impressed on me the importance of forgiveness, for spiritual and practical reason. And God’s Grace. He told me God’s Grace is always available. You can always take it but if you reject it you can be sucked into "Satan and death." I was oblivious to these concepts. He was a devout Christian but he always explained them in non-sectarian terms. Even though he was painfully ill the entire time I knew him, I didn’t reallly imagine him dying anytime soon. I thought he would always be there to faithfully reply to my emails with love and guidance and wisdom. Hey, can you post this picture of us? If you want a link, this explains the context."
There is no way to reconcile Orthodox Judaism with modern disinterested scholarship. You can be Orthodoxprax (practice Orthodox Judaism while keeping your heretical views to yourself) but then you are not honest to the religion you practice.
Orthodox academics making visits to left-wing Orthodox communities got very upset with me when I blogged their comments. They want to live two irreconcilable lives — one in Orthodox Judaism and one in the academy.
Here’s a report on Bible scholar James Kugel’s visit to Stern College:
The Boston Globe reported Dec. 17:
The Maimonides School, the oldest and largest Jewish day school in Greater Boston, is warning parents that it has lost a steady source of income because a bequest that benefited the school lost 60 percent of its value in the fraud-driven collapse of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities.
The school’s board chairman, Timberland Co. president Jeffrey Swartz, on Monday night e-mailed the school’s parents to tell them of the loss. The school did not have money directly invested with Madoff, but a trust whose sole beneficiary is the school did. Swartz said in the e-mail that the Saval Trust had lost about $3 million with Madoff, which he said was about 60 percent of the trust’s value, and he said trust officials had thus far been unable to recover the balance of its funds, so the loss could be greater. He said income from the trust had in the past generated $8 million for the school, "funds that have helped pay our faculty and keep our school solvent."
"The consequence of this fraud is deeply felt," Swartz wrote. "As I reported to you, we have depended upon the annual earnings from the Saval Trust, as well as from the restricted and unrestricted funds we manage, to help the school operate its ‘business.’ I acknowledge with sadness that the sharp diminution of Saval Trust funds poses a real financial challenge for the school."
Swartz was traveling on business in Europe yesterday and said by BlackBerry he was not available for comment. School officials did not return calls and e-mails seeking comment.
Maimonides is the second local Jewish institution to report significant problems caused by the case of alleged fraud; last week, the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation, which funded Jewish programs on the North Shore, closed its doors because its money had been invested through Madoff.
The school was founded in 1937 in Dorchester by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, a revered figure in the Jewish community and a pioneer of modern orthodoxy. Located in Brookline since 1962, the school now has about 600 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
The school has had a variety of financial and management challenges in recent years, and its investments have been hurt along with the broader stock market. Swartz’s letter warns of several potential future challenges – an increased number of families requiring scholarship aid, lower enrollment, reduced giving, and diminished endowments.
Here’s the email that went out Dec. 16:
Dear Maimonides School alumni,
I thought you would be interested in the following letter from Jeffrey Swartz, e-mailed late yesterday to parents, teachers and directors:
—– Original Message —–
I am writing to inform you that the chillul Hashem that is unfolding in New York, pertaining to investments handled by allegedly unscrupulous money managers, has had an impact of consequence upon our School.
In order to make the circumstances clear to you, I need to briefly explain to you the composition of our School’s endowment.
Maimonides has been blessed over the 70 years of its existence by incredibly generous support from families and individuals committed to perpetuating the School’s mesorah. From the largest investor to the smallest, my sense is that every single soul who has brought his or her terumah to Maimonides School has done so with a heart full of kindness, and with a determination to ensure that the School be adequately funded and capitalized in order to fulfill its precious mission. For all who have invested, it can be said that they fulfilled the pasuk in parashat Vayakhel, where Moshe relates to Bnei Yisrael the obligation to participate in the holy work of constructing the Mishkan:
K’chu me’itchem trumah l’Hashem, kol n’div libo y’vi’ehu et trumat Hashem, zahav, v’kesef, u’nchoshet. Take from yourselves a portion for Hashem, everyone whose heart motivates him shall bring it, as the terumah for Hashem — gold, silver, copper. (Shmot 35: 5)
What those who invested annual or endowed funds in our School demanded of us was a strict accounting, both in managing the funds they entrusted to us and in how those funds are used to further the School’s mission. We read at the beginning of parashat Pekudei,
Eleh pikudei ha’mishkan, mishkan ha’edut, asher p’kad al pi Moshe… These are the reckonings (or accountings) of the Mishkan, the Mishkan of Testimony, which were reckoned at Moshe’s bidding. (Shmot 38:1)
Even though the resources deposited for the construction of the Mishkan were under the control of Moshe Rabbeinu, the Torah recounts that Moshe undertook a strict accounting of the kahal’s donations, in order to be accountable to it and to be transparently responsible to it. There is a magnificent Midrash relating that upon the first "accounting," Moshe could not account for a certain amount of the silver that had been deposited for him. Only a second count revealed the scrupulous honesty that characterized Moshe’s stewardship of communal assets.
All this Torah underscores how explicitly the question of scrupulous behavior with communal funds must be answered.
Our School has benefited from two kinds of endowment funds. One is made up of funds donated for specific, restricted purposes. A second kind is general, unrestricted funds donated for supporting the School’s mission. In both cases, the School is responsible for investing those endowed funds carefully, and managing those funds in a fashion that is consistent with best fiduciary practice, and best halachic practice.
For many years, the School has stewarded the endowed assets, restricted and unrestricted, invested in us. We have relied on talented and purposeful volunteers from our community to oversee investment practices. We have had "good" years and "less good" years, but those who have watched our endowment have had eyes like eagles and hearts of wisdom.
Just recently, we consolidated the management and oversight of restricted and unrestricted endowment under the aegis of a talented and professional Investment Committee. Co-chairs Lee Weiss and Scott Tobin are both professional investment managers. Other committee members include Sam Wald ’92, also a professional investment manager; Heshy Marcus, an insurance and investment professional; and former co-treasurers Lisa Rosenbaum and Harvey Gertel. All of these dedicated volunteers are also current or former Maimonides parents.
The Investment Committee reports to the Board of Directors. It has a written charter, and it manages its responsibilities ably within that charter. The committee recommended to the Board last year that Maimonides consolidate its restricted and unrestricted funds in the Jewish Community Endowment Pool (JCEP). This 10-year-old pro bono effort, operated in conjunction with Combined Jewish Philanthropies, provides a vehicle accessible to all non-profits and family foundations that are part of the Boston Jewish philanthropic scene. Today, the pool embraces some 40 Jewish agencies, day schools and congregations, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The pool’s board of managers has oversight responsibility for approximately $400 million, and its five-year annualized return as of Oct. 31 was 6.8 percent.
As world economic circumstances have been in "meltdown" mode for the last several months, JCEP funds have continued to perform better than the "market." Still, Maimonides endowment funds invested at JCEP have eroded in value. The Investment Committee has kept the Board very much up to date, and we have been developing a thoughtful response to the difficult financial circumstances that are all around us.
Besides the restricted and unrestricted funds, Maimonides has been blessed by the generosity of Mr. Maurice Saval, z"l, an early and incredibly devoted supporter of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, zt"l. Mr. Saval was neither a student nor a parent at the School. He was simply a Jew who believed in the vision that the Rav lived and depicted. Mr. Saval’s generosity during his lifetime was profound, and his generosity continued even after his passing in 1988. Much of his estate was consolidated into a charitable trust, the sole beneficiary of which is Maimonides School. This fund is managed not by the School but by independent trustees, first appointed under the terms of Mr. Saval’s will and then perpetuated by an independent governance structure.
Over time, thanks largely to the good management by the independent trustees, the principal grew even as the Saval Trust was dispensing large sums of its income to the School every single year to help grow the School and maintain our financial footing. We estimate that the Saval Trust has through the years contributed eight million dollars of annual operating funds to the School — funds that have helped pay our faculty and keep our School solvent.
On Thursday night last week, I learned with horror that a large sum of Saval Trust money had been entrusted to a New York-based money manager, who had in turn invested those funds with a second investment manager, who had just been arrested and charged with a large-scale, heinous fraud.
I immediately contacted the independent trustees of the Saval Trust to verify what I had learned, and to my profound sadness, just before Shabbat, I received confirmation that the massive fraud that has been perpetrated on a whole range of investors has touched the Saval Trust, and thus Maimonides School. I am pained to report to you that we estimate at this moment that approximately $3 million of the Saval Trust principal – approximately 60 percent — have been stolen through this fraud.
I say "estimate" and "approximately" only because the fraud investigation is just beginning; the various authorities that are involved are doing whatever such authorities do under circumstances as this. I know that the trustees of the Saval Trust are pursuing the redemption of their remaining investments held by the money manager that were not invested with the alleged perpetrator of the fraud. I also know that they have not yet been able to redeem the funds that they believe are still held by that money manager, and so we cannot say with certainty if the loss is limited to $3 million. Worst case, there could be an additional $2 million invested in New York. At this point, we simply cannot predict whether the Saval Trust will recover the funds still invested or any of the funds that had been entrusted to the alleged thief. As we know more, we will share the details with you.
Three further points; I ask for your patience in this long letter:
First, although the trustees of the Saval Trust are independent of the School’s governance, not answerable to the Board in any fashion, and so quite apart from scrutiny by us, I hasten to say that it is my perception that the men who have managed the funds always have acted in a fashion that reflects the trust invested in them by Mr. Saval. Every one of the trustees that I know is a man of rectitude and deep commitment to the School; all of us must know that they are heartbroken at the fraud which has been perpetrated. Obviously these trustees are counted in a large kahal of heartbroken investors, as the scale and volume of this fraud has caught sophisticated and caring investors all over the world in its evil net.
Second, the consequence of this fraud is deeply felt. As I reported to you, we have depended upon the annual earnings from the Saval Trust, as well as from the restricted and unrestricted funds we manage, to help the School operate its "business." I acknowledge with sadness that the sharp diminution of Saval Trust funds poses a real financial challenge for the School.
Third, and as a direct consequence, I write to inform you that the Board is involved in an urgent effort to understand the financial implications of all the "bad news" that is swirling about — a sharply depressed economy, which could mean for us:
1. Greater need for tuition assistance for our parent body;
2. Lower enrollments;
3. Reduced annual giving;
4. Less endowment income, as a consequence of battered financial markets, and now by massive fraud.The need to act with real financial caution with respect to our budget is self-evident. I have been engaged with the principals and the Board for nearly six weeks now, examining what can be done to minimize our expenses and maximize donations to the School. We were motivated by the meltdown in the financial markets and the economy. The incremental horror of the fraud has forced the work we have been doing to become even more urgent.
I appeal to you simply and humbly: The need for financial support for the School is real. For everyone who believes in our School, who benefits from our School, who shares a passion for what our School does, the need is immediate for each soul to bring forward terumah, as your heart motivates you.
Our development team of volunteers is about to launch the Annual Campaign, and our budget for next School year absolutely will be influenced by how much money we can raise from each other. I ask you to please make whatever investment in our School you can. Every single dollar matters deeply right now.
I will report back to you, both on further developments regarding the Saval Trust, and in more detail about the financial challenges that the School faces and our plans to overcome those challenges.
Permit me to conclude not with optimism but with determination and conviction. If you look at this week’s haftarah, from the sefer of Amos, we see fury — the fury of Hashem in the prophecy of Amos. The poor have been defrauded and punishment must ensue. All those great and powerful who have abused the people’s trust and violated the principles of Torah are called to account, and a purging punishment is prophesied. The haftarah is sharp and hard and a source of fear for those who sin.
But I took up the sefer of Amos this morning, because I knew that this fearsome prophecy in the haftarah is but a part of the sefer. And I knew that the navi would conclude differently — that no matter how fearful the moments are in which we find ourselves, the navi’s navua would promise a different tomorrow, if we would open our hearts and take on the incredibly hard work of building a more just and more perfect tomorrow. Sure enough, in the ninth perek, Amos reveals to us Hashem’s promise that night becomes day.
Behold, days are coming, declares Hashem, and the plowman shall meet the reaper and the treader of grapes him who carries the seed, and the mountains shall drip wine and all the hills shall melt… (Amos 9:13).
Those of us who will not flinch in these difficult times to plow the ground and sow the seeds for the continued success and the vibrant future of Maimonides can look forward together to the vision Amos conveys. Mr. Saval planted for us; countless other individuals invested of themselves for this future and for the future that lies in front of us. I assure you that every member of the Board is dedicated to this vision; we will plow, we will tread, we will do what it takes to ensure the future of our School.
Unquestionably, this news creates new challenges for us, but we will use this opportunity to rededicate ourselves to strengthening the school’s financial foundation and ensuring that we deliver on our mission for our children and future generations.
Sincerely,
Jeff Swartz
Chair, Board of Directors
Maimonides School
I’m Lighting My Hanukkah Candle
Live on my cam.
I needed help with the songs so I brought in the Miami Boys Choir:
Khunrum emails: “They say that most accidents happen in the Hovel…..I mean Home. Be careful that your Hanukkah Candle doesn’t set fire to that box of Quaker Oats next to it. btw What are Quaker Oats doing on your Yiddisha Shrine? Are you making an offering to the Food God?”
Here’s the live commentary from my chat room:
WELSHDRAGON: here he goes
guest30: lol he’s good
guest36: no one holds a candle to you
guest30: it may help you
guest36: come on baby light my fire
guest30: lol
guest31: His accent sucks
guest31: However, he is giving it all his best
guest36: your hebrew is better than your english
guest31: My asseur hurts
guest36: this is so sad i am going to cry
guest36: or laugh
WELSHDRAGON: suck that belly in luke lol
ihateireland: its good
guest36: shukel away baby
guest31: He is so lonely
laundry: he is bobbing so he is praying?
guest31: Wish I could be there to sing with him.
guest36: and slather some olive oil over him
guest31: or over me
laundry: oh how he swings his talit
guest31: Oh my, a pre-pubescent singing
laundry: we joy in the Maccabees
guest31: Isn’t that before the circumcision?
guest36: the miracle of the levis
guest31: Ouch
laundry: for they only had enough oil for 1 day yet….SURPRISE! 9 DAYS
guest31: Our boy is isnging harmony
guest36: don’t try out this year for american idol
guest36: maybe try the shul choir
guest36: and give a big donation
laundry: notice how he is turing the pages. He is not reading hebrew….
guest31: Oh my, I will have to come back when the music dies down.
guest36: dahhh
guest36: but you have to give him an a for effort
guest36: moshiach must be on his way
laundry: he means well, let’s match him up with a nice girl…
guest36: or not such a nice girl