Urban Entrepreneurial Academy

Detroit entrepreneur Dan Gilbert, majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Quicken Loans Arena, recently created an urban entrepreneurial academy called Bizdom U. Set to launch next month, Bizdom U will be a full-time, two-year program designed to produce entrepreneurs who will start up and lead successful Detroit-based businesses.

The goal is to provide graduates of urban high schools who do not plan to pursue a four-year degree with an alternative education in entrepreneurship. Those who graduate from Bizdom U can expect between $25,000 and $500,000 to be invested over time, based on milestones and performance, into their companies. This is a wonderful contribution to Michigan's economy and will greatly benefit many young people in Detroit who could create tomorrow's companies. More information on the project is available at the TechTownWSU site.

Dan Gilbert is a pretty remarkable business man. He founded the Michigan-headquartered Rock Financial in 1985 as a 22-year-old, first-year law student, growing it into one of the largest independent mortgage banks in the country taking it public in 1998. In 1999, Intuit purchased Rock Financial and the national web operation was renamed Quicken Loans Inc. With Dan staying on as CEO, Quicken Loans quickly became the leading provider of home loans on the Internet and about two years later Gilbert bought Quicken Loans Inc. back from Intuit.

Dan is also a partner in the private investment group Camelot Ventures, which recently invested in my cousin's company, ePrize. Camelot also owns and operates FlashSeat, a company which has created technology and processes that replaces physical tickets for large sports and entertainment events with an electronic approach. Dan was Rawlings Sporting Goods' largest shareholder and was instrumental in effecting the sale of Rawlings to K2 in March 2003.

I first met Dan because of his involvement in JARC, a non-profit organization that provides housing and services to the developmentally disabled, where he served as President when my mother was the Secretary of the board. JARC is one of my favorite charities and continuously receives awards for being one of the nation's best non-profits. The photo above was taken at a Cleveland benefit for Friends of the Israel Defense Forces in which Dan Gilbert and his business partner David Katzman were honored.

Bo Schembechler, May he rest in peace

GLENN "BO" SCHEMBECHLER
(1929-2006)

I guess he wanted to watch the big game tomorrow with Woody Hayes.

Great Quote on Christmas

I'm not sure if the holiday season has officially started, but if it has then here is the BEST QUOTE OF THE 2006 HOLIDAY SEASON:

Stephen Colbert on "The Colbert Report"

Christmas is not a time to fight each other. It's a time to band together against the real enemy... Retailers who won't wish you Merry Christmas.

I'm talking to you Eichler's Judaica! Would it kill you?!?

Borat Speaks Hebrew

With Sasha Baron Cohen's new movie "Borat" coming out Friday, he has been all over the news. I saw him on the Today show the other day and heard him on Howard Stern today. I've certainly heard Cohen use Hebrew in the past. His most notable use of Hebrew is his mispronounciation of the Hebrew b'vakasha ("thank you") when in character as "Ali G." His "boo-ya-ka-sha" has become a favorite expression for millions of teenagers

As Borat on "Da Ali G. Show," rather than actually sing the Kazakh national anthem at a Savannah Sand Gnats game, he kept on repeating a famous Israeli folk song: (kum bachur atzel ve'tze la'avoda - "get up lazy guy and go to work."

Never have I heard Sasha Baron Cohen use as much Hebrew as he did on the Howard Stern Show today. His Hebrew is actually pretty good! He must have attended a Jewish day school.

Here's the link to the JTA article about Borat's use of Hebrew.

Progressive Barbie

Looks like Matel, the makers of the Barbie Doll, has embraced Egalitarian Judaism! This Tefillin Barbie was created by Jen Taylor Friedman, a female soferet (Torah scribe).

Maccabi Tel Aviv Elite and the Friends of the IDF

Tuesday evening the Cleveland Cavaliers play the Macabbi Elite basketball team from Tel Aviv at "The Q" (Quicken Arena). Elissa and I will be at the game along with some teens and staff members from Agudas Achim.
On Monday evening, Elissa and I attended a benefit dinner here in Cleveland for the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. Cavaliers owners Dan Gilbert and David Katzman were honored. I had the chance to meet all the players and coaches from the Maccabi Elite team. Danny Ferry, the General Manager of the Cavs and former Duke Blue Devil phenom, was also in attendance. The best part of the evening, however, was standing next to someone who is an entire foot taller than me - Cavs center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who is 7 foot, 3 inches.

My photos from the evening are online.

Here's a funny column in preparation for Tuesday's game against Maccabi Elite from the Cleveland Cavaliers' website.

Ohio has a new Subway!

Yes, Ohio has a new subway and I'm not talking about public transportation! Apparently some Jews in Cleveland have accomplished one of my own personal dreams by establishing a Kosher Subway restaurant in the U.S.

I'll be moving to Columbus on Friday to begin my new position as rabbi of Congregation Agudas Achim, and I'm sure I'll visit Cleveland a few times during the year, if for no other reason than to have a little Kosher subway.

Here is an excerpt from the article that appeared in the Cleveland Jewish News:

'Subway guy' helps open kosher Subway@theJ

By Alan Smason, Staff Reporter

Thanks to a strict diet of health-conscious Subway sandwiches, Jared Fogle may be less than 50% his former size, but he is still 100% Jewish and delighted to be associated with the first North American kosher Subway, recently opened at the JCC.

"I think it's great," says the 28-year-old Fogle, in talking about the Subway's new location and its foray into kosher. "I'm very proud of it, and hopefully, it will be the first of many to come."

Although he doesn't heavily promote his Jewish background, Fogle still feels a connection to Judaism. "I grew up in Indianapolis, and the JCC was a big part of my life," he boasts. "I spent many summers at the JCC, so to have a Subway at the JCC means a lot to me."

Known to millions today as "the Subway guy," Fogle became an overnight celebrity after filming his first TV commercial for Subway in January 2000. In it, he admitted to shedding 245 pounds in one year by adhering to a low-fat diet of no breakfast, two Subway sandwiches a day and diet soda or water. Fogle also added exercise - mostly walking - to round out his regimen.

"It just clicked," Fogle said as he described his dieting experience. "I lived next door to a Subway on campus, and I basically asked 'What if ...?'" [more]

Jewish Summer Camping

A lot of summer camps begin today so I thought it would be nice to blog about Jewish summer camps. There is a great radio program available for download here from the University of Michigan Frankel Center's website. My friend Jonah Geller, executive director of Tamarack Camps and the Fresh Air Society, is featured on this program. Deborah Dash Moore, the director of the Frankel Center, is also interviewed on the program along with Riv-Ellen Prell and Albert Vorspan. I attended a lecture given by Prof. Prell this past winter at University of Michigan with Michael Wolf, director of Camp Ramah in Canada. Prof. Prell explained how Jewish summer camping is such an important way to get Jewish children to think more seriously about their Jewish identity. Well, no surprise there, but it is critical that more people hear that.

The Foundation for Jewish Camping, headed by Jerry Silverman and founded by Elise and Rob Bildner of New Jersey, is really advancing Jewish summer camping and is to be commended for their work. Should the Jewish community put more emphasis on Jewish camping for the sake of our future as a people? I know the answer is Yes!

Here is a sermon I delivered at Congregation Agudath Israel in Caldwell, New Jersey in 2003. I updated the sermon and delivered it at Beth Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor last summer after returning from Camp Ramah in Canada where I served as Rabbi-in-Residence for a session.

John Paintsil and his Israeli Pride

I was thrilled to hear about Ghana's soccer star John Paintsil, who also plays for the Hapoel Tel Aviv team, and how he waved the Israeli flag after scoring a goal during a recent World Cup soccer match. The Forward covered the story in this week's edition, however, according to a Yahoo! News report earlier in the week Paintsil's Israeli pride seemed to irk the Egyptians just a bit. Hapoel Tel Aviv issued a statement expressing pride in its player, and a Jerusalem Post writer declared, "At last we have an ambassador for Israel who doesn't care about politics."

Unfortunately, two days after the flag waving, Ghana's team spokesman apologized, calling Paintsil's act "naive." He insisted that Paintsil didn't "act out of malice for the Arab people or in support of Israel."

Warren Buffett's Rabbi Myer Kripke

Giving tours of the Jewish Theological Seminary campus in New York City to visiting groups was certainly one of the highlights of my six years of rabbinical school. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving during my first year at JTS I attended a training session led by the director of donor relations Rebecca Jacobs. Rebecca shared the story of how the Seminary's library tower caught fire on April 18, 1966 damaging thousands of books and how thirty years later a JTS-ordained pulpit rabbi named Myer Kripke from Omaha donated the funds to renovate that same tower.

Rabbi Myer Kripke

I gave over 200 tours of the Seminary, but I never grew tired of telling the story of how a humble rabbi from the south amassed a fortune big enough to make a $7 million cash donation to name the new Seminary tower. The story is that this rabbi's wife, Dorothy Kripke, wrote a series of children's books entitled "Let's Talk About..." and another Omaha woman loved to read these books to her children. When she found out that the author lived close by she decided she had to meet her. Well, as fate would have it, this woman and her husband became dear friends of Rabbi Myer and Dorothy Kripke. This woman's husband even offered to invest the small inheritance left to Mrs. Kripke. That investment paid off big because it was invested by Warren Buffett, the second wealthiest American according to Forbes magazine.

I'll never forget the time I asked a group of school children if they knew how Rabbi Kripke became a millionaire. One of the little girls offered, "Maybe he gave really good sermons?"

Here's a JTA article about Warren Buffett who recently invested $4 billion in an Israeli company:

Long before Israeli deal, Buffett made his mark on Jewish community
By Chanan Tigay

Warren Buffett is not a Jew, and in fact describes himself as an agnostic. Still, the billionaire investment guru, who earlier this month made big news when his Berkshire Hathaway corporation bought an 80 percent share in Israeli metalworks conglomerate Iscar for $4 billion, for years has been making his mark on the U.S. Jewish community back home — though sometimes in a roundabout way.
“Proportionally, if you look at the number of Jews in this country and in the world, I’m associated with a hugely disproportionate number,” Buffett, the second richest man in the world, told JTA in a telephone interview Monday.
Among the first companies Buffett acquired after launching Berkshire Hathaway, the Omaha-based investment and insurance giant, was The Sun Newspapers of Omaha, then owned by Stan Lipsey, one-time chairman of The Jewish Press, Omaha’s Jewish newspaper.
“At the time, the Omaha Club did not take Jewish members, and the Highland Country Club, a golf club, didn’t have any gentile members,” Lipsey recalls. “Warren volunteered to join the Highland” — rather than the gentile club — “to set an example of non-discrimination.”
Buffett happily recalls the fallout from his application.
“It created this big rhubarb,” he says. “All of the rabbis appeared on my behalf, the ADL guy appeared on my behalf. Finally they voted to let me in.”
But that wasn’t the end of the story, Buffett tells JTA. The Highland had a rule requiring members to donate a certain amount of money to their synagogues. Buffett, of course, wasn’t a synagogue member, so the club changed its policy: Members now would be expected to give to their synagogues, temples or churches.
But that still didn’t quite work, Buffett recalls with a laugh, because of his agnosticism.
In the end, the rule was amended to ask simply that members make some sort of charitable donation, and the path to Buffet’s membership was clear.
“He’s an incredible guy,” says Lipsey, today the publisher of the Buffalo News. In 1973, The Sun won a Pulitzer prize in Local Investigative Specialized Reporting for an expose on financial impropriety at Boys Town, Nebraska.
“Warren came up with the key source for us knowing what was going on out there,” Lipsey says.
Buffett himself researched Boys Town’s stocks to bolster the story, Lipsey adds.
In the 1960s, Omaha Rabbi Myer Kripke decided to invest in his friend Buffett’s new business venture. Their wives had become friendly, he says, and the foursome enjoyed playing the occasional game of bridge together.
“My wife had no card sense and I was certainly no competition to Warren, who is a very good bridge player and a lover of the game,” Kripke, rabbi emeritus of Omaha’s Conservative Beth El Synagogue, told JTA. “He’s very bright and very personable and very decent. He is a rich man who is as clean as can be.”
Kripke, father of the noted philosopher Saul Kripke, bought a few shares in Berkshire Hathaway and quickly sold them, doubling his money, he says.
Recognizing a good thing when he saw it, he bought a bunch more shares in his friend’s company, shares that by the 1990s had made Kripke — who says he never earned more than $30,000 a year as a rabbi — a millionaire.
Kripke met his late wife, the children’s book author Dorothy Kripke, at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, the flagship institution of the Conservative movement, where Kripke was ordained as a rabbi in 1937.
In 1996, flush from their prescient investment with Buffet’s company, the couple decided to make a major gift to JTS — $7 million in cash to restore the building’s damaged tower, and a deferred gift of some $8 million, which the seminary will receive after Kripke passes away.
“Rabbi Kripke had the heart to make a donation to JTS, he had the will to make a donation, he had the desire to make a donation — but if he had not had the means to make a donation, the recreation of our tower would never have happened,” says Rabbi Carol Davidson, the seminary’s vice chancellor for institutional advancement. “It was really only possible because of their prior investment many years ago with Warren Buffett.”
Kripke — who says he’s still got a picture of Buffett’s late wife, Susan, on his bulletin board — concurs. Asked if he credits Buffett with his financial success, he doesn’t hesitate.
“Entirely, yes,” he says. “I never had much of an income.”
The Israeli government stands to reap about $1 billion in taxes on Buffett’s purchase of Iscar. Shortly after announcing the deal, Buffett says he was surprised to learn that a Berkshire subsidiary, CTB International, was purchasing a controlling interest in another Israeli company, AgroLogic.
In Israel — which Buffett plans to visit in the fall — the hope is that the deals will have longer legs: Buffett himself has not ruled out future purchases there and, considering his status as a leading investor, observers say others also may take a look at Israeli companies now that Buffett has done so.
“You won’t find in the world a better-run operation than Iscar,” Buffett says. “I don’t think it’s an accident that it’s run by Israelis.”
The Sun newspaper group was not Buffett’s only early purchase of a Jewish-owned company. In 1983, sealing the deal with a handshake, Buffett bought 90 percent of the Nebraska Furniture Mart from Rose Blumkin, a Russian-born Jew who moved to the United States in 1917.
In 1989, he purchased a majority of the stock in Borsheim’s Fine Jewelry and Gifts, a phenomenally successful jewelry store, from the Friedman family.
“He has many friends in the Jewish community,” says Forrest Krutter, secretary of Berkshire Hathaway and a former president of the Jewish Federation of Omaha.
Buffett’s former son-in-law, Allen Greenberg, is a Jew, and now runs the Buffett Foundation, much of whose work has dealt with reproductive rights and family-planning issues. Buffett’s personal assistant is Ian Jacobs, who goes by his Hebrew name, Shami.
Buffett himself counts the late Nebraska businessman Nick Newman and philanthropist Jack Skirball as among his “very closest friends.”
“He is very much honored in the Jewish community,” Kripke says.

Tommy Hearns beats his son in TKO

I certainly didn't think that my (almost) 2-year-old son was in any danger when I let him sit on the lap of seven-time world champion boxer Tommy "The Hitman" Hearns last week at the Detroit Pistons basketball game at the Palace of Auburn Hills. But I was certainly shocked and upset to read today that Tommy Hearns was arraigned on assualt and battery charges after allegedly assaulting his own 13-year-old son.

Had "The Hitman" so much as looked at my kid wrong, no doubt I would have KO'd him -- I have a deceivingly strong right hook for a rabbi... don't be fooled!

From the Detroit Free Press

Boxer Hearns charged with assault

Former boxing champ told to stay away from son
By FRANK WITSIL

Thomas Hearns, a a seven-time world boxing champion, is expected to go before a judge Friday in a preliminary exam on charges he assaulted his 13-year old son Monday.

Hearns, 47, was arraigned Monday before 46th District Magistrate Eugene Friedman in Southfield and charged with misdemeanor assault and battery. He was released on $10,000 personal bond Monday and ordered to have no contact with his son.

Police arrived at Hearns’ house in the 20500-block of Norwood in Southfield at about 6:45 p.m. Sunday, after receiving a call from Hearns’ wife, who said there had been a domestic dispute. The teenage boy had a swollen eye and a small cut on his chin, Southfield Police Detective John Harris said.

Harris said Hearns apparently told the boy to go to another room; the teen refused and there was a scuffle. But, Harris said, Hearns and his wife gave slightly different accounts of how the boy was injured. Police arrested Hearns and took him into custody until he was released on bond.

Hearns could not be reached Tuesday for comment. He is to face district Judge Sheila Johnson on Friday.

A court clerk said Tuesday that Hearns attorney had not been identified yet in the file.

Hearns made a boxing comeback in July, after five-years without a fight, beating younger boxer John Long with an eighth-round TKO in the cruiserweight bout at Cobo Arena. At the time, Hearns, who boxed out of Detroit’s Kronk Gym, said he planned “to keep fighting for a long time.”