Clawbacks, Day School Funding and More

from SunSentinel.com:

Bankruptcy lawyers to Florida charities: Give Rothstein money back

Charities across South Florida got a bitter piece of mail this holiday week: letters demanding the return of money Scott Rothstein gave them.

About 30 charities that were recipients of the fallen lawyer’s largesse received the letters early this week, warning them to return the money in the next 10 days or be sued.

The list of charities wasn’t released, but Rothstein has given to… the Jewish Federation of Broward…

… And at Rothstein’s spiritual home, a new building off Broward Boulevard whose front proclaimed “The Rothstein Family Downtown Jewish Center Chabad,” his name has been stripped away.

from The Jewish Ledger:

Crisis in Jewish Education

There is no question that the furtherance of day school education is vital for Jewish existence in the United States. If Jewish Day Schools go under, it will have an enormous impact on the vibrancy of the Jewish community, and with time, the Jewish High Schools will also be affected with diminishing populations. The day school is the foundation of the Jewish educational system in the United States and must be made a priority in order to thrive.

Support for the Jewish day school is also in question. People with means who have pumped millions into this program, have become disinterested, for they feel that their money is just going into a “Black Hole”. Money is being spent, but there is no direction to insure the future. Day schools are living “hand to mouth” wondering where the next dollar will come from, or whether there will be sufficient monies to pay their teachers. There are numerous schools in the country that are behind in salaries to their teachers, causing a massive burden on them, as well as impacting on the morale of the staff.

from Cleveland Jewish News:

Campus group forges financial link with Israel

Dire Straits once sang about getting their “money for nothing.” That’s not the way it works for University of Michigan junior Brett Siegal, founding board member and vice president of fundraising for Tamid Israel Investment Group.

from Haaretz:

New coalition of youth organizations blasts Jewish Agency for ignoring teens

The Jewish Agency has come under fire this week from officials operating short-term Israel programs for Diaspora teenagers who criticized the agency for “omitting a crucial element from its plan to bolster Israel programs by purposefully ignoring teenagers.”

from The Jerusalem Post:

Gondar health clinic re-opens

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)-run health clinic in Gondar, which has remained closed since last May, officially re-opened its doors Thursday following a quarter-of-a-million dollar donation from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) and an anonymous US donor, The Jerusalem Post was told Thursday.

According to a JDC spokeswoman, IFCJ founder and President Yehiel Eckstein provided a $125,000 grant for the clinic and his donation was matched by a donor from New York.