Everywhere I go, every conversation I hear, every newspaper I open deals with one hot topic: the financial crisis and the economic crisis.
Signs of trouble were visible for a while already, but the event that precipitated it all was the bankruptcy of the prestigious Lehman Brothers Investment Firm, the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Their shares are not worth anything anymore, are they? Actually there is a branch of the Lehman Brothers investment that you still want in your portfolio:
First, a little bit of history:
The firm was founded by a German-Jewish immigrant, Mayer Lehman (Note: nowadays, it was not connected to the family anymore). Every Sunday without fail, he would take his three youngest children (he had seven) – Arthur, Irving and Herbert – through the wards of Mount Sinai Hospital to see for themselves both the fruits and the challenges of Jewish philanthropy and to develop the rich tradition of Tzedaka.
As adults, Arthur became the family banker, Irving, a judge, and Herbert, governor of the State of New York and US Senator. All three of those boys also became major philanthropists – Arthur as a co-founder of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies and the Museum of the City of New York, Herbert a supporter of Lillian Wald’s Henry Street Settlement House and a founder of the Joint Distribution Committee, and Irving, a longtime president of the 92nd Street Y. The eldest son Sigmund was a founder of Montefiore Hospital.
Well, this part of the Lehman Brothers Portfolio is still reaping huge dividends.
So you want good investment advice? – Don’t ask your financial advisor, ask your Rabbi and invest in a Mitzvah. Even in the darkest recession you'll be a winner for all eternity.
(Thanks to Rabbi Simcha Backman for the idea and research)
