Dr. Miriam & Sheldon Adelson © Levi Welton
Rabbi Levi Welton – Sheldon Adelson, mega-donor to Israel, announces favorite charity
As dozens of cameras flashed in Cipriani’s 42nd Street, billionaire Sheldon Adelson slowly made his way up to the stage. Wearing a crisply tailored royal blue suit, lavender tie and matching pocket square, the 85 year old casino mogul waved his hand and his bodyguard slunk back into the shadows. With people willing to pay $50,000 just to have lunch with him, it isn’t every day you get to see one of the world’s richest men up close and personal and the New York City socialites who had gathered all leaned forward and held their breath.
His critics call him everything from the “evil dark lord” for using his money and power to influence the political landscape but Adelson told Forbes magazine that he is “against very wealthy people attempting to or influencing elections. But as long as it’s doable, I’m going to do it. I gave the money because there is no other legal way to do it. I don’t want to go through ten different corporations to hide my name. I’m proud of what I do and I’m not looking to escape recognition.” Because of this, he has the ears of kings and presidents and his endorsement is aggressively sought after by Republican politicians (he gave appx $100 million to GOP causes this election cycle alone!).
But tonight wasn’t about politics.
Tonight was about charity.
Particularly, tonight the Adelson’s were being honored at the annual gala dinner for the Gift of Life Marrow Registry which facilitates life-saving genetic matches for blood-cancer patients. Approximately every three minutes, someone in the United States is diagnosed with blood cancer and, 27 years ago, Gift of Life founder Jay Feinberg became one of them after his doctor told him he had Leukemia. He was promptly told to go home and “make his bucket list”. Refusing to accept his death sentence, he rallied his family and friends and they tested 60,000 potential donors (over the course 250 drives!) but to no avail. No one was a match. He tried one more time and Becky Faibisoff became the one to give him the gift of life.
Gift of Life Marrow Registry CEO Jay Feinberg (left) with Gift of Life Marrow Registry Partners for Life Award honorees Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson. ©David Nicholas Photography.
Today, Gift of Life has recruited 310,833 people as registered donors; 15,409 matches have been made; and 3,321 cancer patients have had their own death sentence averted. This is particularly significant for the Jewish community because the best chances of a bone marrow or stem cell match are people with similar genetic backgrounds. As Feinberg proudly says “we went from less than a 5 percent chance of a match to a 75 percent chance of a match for Jewish patients.” To celebrate this achievement, attendees of the gala wined & dined on luxurious Kosher cuisine as Feinberg announced plans to expand the registry to other underrepresented populations and the grand opening of a new office in Jerusalem.
The ballroom was meticulously decorated with elegant orange drapes and bouquets consistent with Gift of Life’s brand color. Even the Empire State Building was glowing orange that night to mark the occasion. Stephen Siegel, chairman of global brokerage at CBRE Inc., emceed the event followed by a host of speakers including philanthropist Dr. Nily Falic, co-chairwoman of the gala and chairwoman emeritus of the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF). As they spoke, giant video screens positioned around the room displayed the incredible stories of donors and recipients whose lives had been changed forever.
Gift of Life Gala 2018 ©Levi Welton
But perhaps the most moving moment of the evening was when a six year old boy, Idan Zablocki, who had battled the potentially fatal immune deficiency Hyper IgM Syndrome (Hyper IgM), got to meet his stem-cell donor, 22-year-old Alex Weiss, for the very first time. As the music swelled and everyone rose from their seats, Weiss sauntered through the crowd towards the boy whose life he had saved. Though he wore a suit instead of a red cape, I recognized the look in the eyes of Idan’s mother and father as they met their son’s savior. It was the same look I have seen so many time in movies when the superhero swoops in to save the day.
How did Alex Weiss find out about Idan?
Through the Adelson family.
Or, more accurately, when he was on a Adelson-funded Birthright Israel trip where everyone is given the opportunity to do a cheek swab. A few weeks later, someone from Gift of Life reached out to him and the rest is history. Turns out even the transplant process is not as difficult as I had expected (Click here to have a swab kit sent directly to your home). 80% of the time, the procedure to donating stem-cells is pretty much like donating blood. The only difference is that your blood donation is guaranteed to save a life. In an era where social activism is on the rise, this is an easy way to make a huge impact on the world. As Dr. Miriam Adelson said during her remarks that evening ”Whoever saves a life is as if they have saved the entire world” (Talmud Sanhedrin 37a).
Idan Zablocki ,6, of New York City, waits to meet his stem-cell donor. ©Levi Welton
As Dr. Miriam Adelson spoke, I couldn’t help but think that this must have been a special moment for them. After all, combining Gift of Life with Birthright Israel is a marriage of their two greatest passions.
Keep in mind that Sheldon’s love for Israel began when he was a little boy living in a one-room tenement in Boston where his father was a taxicab driver and his mother ran a small knitting store. His parents loved Israel but could never save up enough money to make the trip to their homeland. Although Sheldon started working at a very young age (at 12, he owned his first business selling toiletries), by the time he had enough money to pay for his family to visit Israel, his father had already passed away. On Sheldon’s first visit to Israel, he wore his father’s shoes so that his father could join him in his first steps upon the Holy Land. After that visit, he made up his mind that no Jew should be held back from visiting their homeland due to lack of funds and so he began funding free Birthright Israel trips.
Their second greatest passion is in medical research and healthcare. After all, Adelson’s wife is not a billionaire’s “trophy wife” but an accomplished medical doctor who has spent years saving lives in the emergency room and doing research into chemical dependency and drug addiction. The Israeli daughter of Polish Holocaust survivors, Dr. Miriam Adelson has become her husband’s equal partner in a range of political, business and philanthropic projects. (She’s often the one to sign the multi-million dollar checks to charity). Yet that money is down on the list of her priorities.As she told Forbes magazine “That is why I have no problem to change my expensive suit for the white ‘lab coat.’ Ask me which one I prefer, and I will tell you that with no doubt, it is the white one.”
Perhaps this is why it came as no surprise to those who know her well that she showed up to the “Gift of Life” gala even though it was her birthday. As Dr. Nily Falic, a close friend of the Adelson’s, led the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday”, she flashed a flashed a graceful smile and looked down at the papers in her hand. She was eager to deliver her speech extolling the virtues of saving lives. As she finished her remarks to a thunderous applause, Sheldon gently tugged on his wife’s hand and smiled at her. Even after decades of being married, he still refers to her as his “angel” and to himself as the “wind beneath her wings”.
And then the mega-donor whose name is synonymous with Jewish philanthropy leaned over and said something that caught me by surprise. The timbre in his voice was strong as he announced that this was actually his favorite charity. Glancing at his wife, he said,“Many organizations ask us to support them and we deeply care about all our philanthropic gifts….although I care seriously about Birthright Israel, I can think of no better charity than this one. Nothing is as profound as Gift of Life because nothing is as profound as saving lives.”
Turning to the Gift of Life founder, he didn’t bat an eyelid as he said, “Jay, you’re not just saving lives. You’re saving a generation”.
To find out more about Gift of Life, please visit GiftOfLife.org
