A Divine Partnership page 2
“Why don’t you make a deal with the rabbi to donate a certain percentage if you receive the money?”
The first man sat quietly for a minute, and the said, “OK. If I get paid by November first of this year, $10,000 to the Kollel.”
Rabbi Spetner asked him for his Hebrew name. As soon as they finished learning, Rabbi Spetner got on the phone to call and send text messages to all of the members of his Kollel, who were away for bein hazemanim. He asked them to daven and learn in the merit of Shmuel Akiva ben Rivka.* November first was just one month away, so they had to work quickly.
Exactly one week later, on the afternoon of Hoshanah Rabbah, Rabbi Spetner received a call from the worried real estate developer.
“Rabbi Spetner, you got your $10,000.”
A Work In Progress
In Colorado, the Denver Community Kollel got into the game after seeing the success of the other organizations. Over the last year, the Kollel had several donors who could not make contributions at previous years’ levels due to the economic downturn, but were embarking on new business projects. So the Kollel approached them and proposed establishing Yissachar-Zevulun partnerships. Several agreed, though the Kollel is still waiting for the partnerships to come to fruition.
“The main thing is to spread Torah. They want to get on G-d’s good side,” said Rabbi Aron Yehuda Schwab, one of the two Roshei Kollel.
Ray Millers has been a student of the Denver Community Kollel for several years. He recently started a residential real estate investment company, and immediately made the Kollel a partner in his business, stipulating that it would receive 10% of the revenue. Millers hopes that he will eventually be able to support at least one rabbi’s monthly salary through the partnership.
“The best partner we have in the world is Hashem. We feel that if we did this up front, im yirtzeh Hashem He’ll bless our business,” Millers said.
Millers’ decision to dedicate a portion of his business to the Kollel was partly due to an invitation he received from a non-Jewish business partner. One day the man invited Millers to accompany him to his church, the nearby non-denominational Mile High Church. Millers politely declined, explaining that he was Jewish and that he attended a synagogue in town.
The man replied to him, “I don’t understand why. We have 750 Jews who go to our church.”
Millers was shocked by the number.
“I told the Kollel, there are 750 Jews there going in a totally different direction! They don’t know the basics. This is what the Kollel’s work is all about,” Millers said. “The reason to me that supporting the Kollel is so important is that it’s only through the Kollel that we can we ever stand a chance of reclaiming some of those 750 Jews.”
Rabbi Schwab says the Kollel created another unique partnership. A local businessman was launching a new pharmaceutical company and approached the Kollel for help. He had already retained an attorney and an accountant, paying them ongoing fees for their work. Now he needed someone to help him navigate many of the industry’s ethical and halachic issues. He approached the Kollel and asked if they could give him an “ethical consultant” on retainer. Rosh Kollel Rabbi Schachne Sommers now learns one-on-one with him every week, concentrating on answers to his ethical challenges. The retainer fee is a percentage of shares in the company, in exchange for the learning and the Kollel members’ davening for the success of the business.
Elevating the Mundane
In addition to helping their local worthwhile Torah organizations, many participants report that the partnerships help them to elevate their careers to a more lofty level. It is sometimes difficult to remember Hashem and His role in their daily work lives, but the partnerships keep Him front and center.
“We see that the person who is making the partnership creates a tremendous connection with the Borei Olam. Every dollar in a transaction strengthens the quality of his partnership with the Ribino Shel Olam,” Klein said. “You’re not just working on a deal, but you also sense that the deal is tied to building Torah. It changes your environment in whatever situation you’re in. There’s much greater kedushah. What a phenomenal concept—to take what you do at work and infuse it with the type of kedushah you would normally find in only a ruchnius setting.”
Many participants also credit the tefilos of the Kollels with helping their businesses to survive and even grow in difficult economic times.
“We want to use the bad economy as a positive thing. The bad economy means that people are much more concerned about their particular deals going through, not just one deal, but five that are iffy but could be profitable,” Klein said. “People are more willing to make a deal because they see the need for more yeshuah now.”
Klein said the partnerships are also an effective tool to help solve a common fundraising challenge – what to tell people who turn down your request for donations.
“You always have your major supporters. In any case they will give to you, because they’re tied to your mossad. But you want to reach people who aren’t that charitable or are tied into other organizations. People tell me, ‘I would love to help you but here are all the reasons I can’t – I’m tied to another place, I don’t see any current funds, etc.’” Klein said. “In the past you would just have to accept that it’s a no. Now I will stop a person and say, ‘We all have tough deals in our business. Why not make the Kollel a partner in those deals?’”
Another benefit of the partnerships is that they help a person to achieve an overall deeper connection to Hashem and spirituality. When a person brings Hashem more into his professional life through these partnerships, it helps him build a stronger relationship with Hashem which spills over into other areas as well.
“When someone makes a business partnership with the Kollel, two things are happening,” said Rabbi Menachem Kirshner, executive director of the St. Louis Kollel. “First, they are strengthening their connection to Hashem by stating very clearly that they are His partner in building Torah in their community. Second, they are strengthening their connection to the Kollel which in turn motivates them to become more involved and personally accomplish more.”
After several years and thousands of dollars raised in St. Louis and throughout the United States, Klein says some of the greatest happiness he receives from the partnerships is seeing the appreciation of the partners.
“Every single deal has resulted in the warmest and the most sweetest type of thanks that you can imagine,” Klein said. “The person who made the deal understands and believes that the shutfus made the deal. While giving the check to the Kollel, he knows that they were the source. He is so grateful that he received the other 90%. I’ve literally had people say thank you for allowing me to partner with the Kollel and letting me feel the extra presence of the Ribono Shel Olam.”
Those words sum up the success of the partnerships – they’re not just raising funds for the organizations, but they’re infusing extra kedushah and brachos into the lives of the partners.
* (not their real names)