Some well-known communal figures weigh in on the Madoff affair…
Mark Charendoff, president of the Jewish Funders Network:
“It’s an atomic bomb in the world of Jewish philanthropy; there’s going to be fallout from this for years.”
Gary Tobin, president of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research:
“The Jewish philanthropic world depends on personal relationships and personal solicitations. Many Jewish philanthropies are dependent on high-end donors in very close social and economic networks, and this guy is right in middle of them.”
Avraham Infeld, president of the Chais Family Foundation:
“I don’t think there will be a single institution of Jewish life that will go unaffected. Nobody can sit by the side and say ‘this will pass.’ It’s not going to pass.”
Jonathan Sarna, Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University:
“The reduction of billions – not millions but billions – in the Jewish economy means that there is just not going to be enough money to sustain all the institutions and initiatives that have been created.”
We know we have reached the lost of ethics & integrity within our community when it comes to the point where one Jewish is abusing other people from his community…It is time for Jewish professionals of finance & banking to appear as role model to the rest of the world. Otherwise we will reopen the darkest hours of our history : people will hate us, point their fingers at us and it will be another Shoah…
I have just started reading about the ramifications of Madoff’s activities and the damage he has inflicted. I had no idea that it was going to be covering so many institutions. Nah is so right when he says that the loss of ethics and integrity within the community comes to the fore – my attitude is that on a much smaller scale we have always had instances of one Jew committing fraud against another, which has been tolerated – none of our religious leaders have really come out openly and voiced their disapproval. What will they do now??? This on the other hand is something quite extra-ordinary and I could write and write expressing my shame and anger.
However, can I make one suggestion, that if and when this ever comes to court, that the entire jury and Court officials, is made up of Jews, or better still, and this certainly will not happen that Mr. Madoff be tried in Israel!