Ira Riklis Blog

At some point in our lives, most of us have given of our time, money or both to help others in some way. Many of us try to do so regularly, as our situation allows. Ira Riklis will be the first to tell you these are worthy actions. Blessed with material success, he supports some fifty groups and causes on a regular basis. But he also notes that it’s important not only to give, but to consider the spirit in which you give.

Acts of giving are often labeled as “charity,” as if we are being magnanimous in deigning to give something to those in need. But as Ira Riklis knows, Jewish spiritual beliefs would say that the fact that others are in need is a form of injustice. From that perspective, each person has the right to the basic necessities of living and of having the means to obtain those necessities for themselves. Viewed in that light, our “charitable” gifts are actually acts of restoring unto others what was rightfully theirs in the first place.

At some point in our lives, most of us have given of our time, money or both to help others in some way. Many of us try to do so regularly, as our situation allows. Ira Riklis will be the first to tell you these are worthy actions. Blessed with material success, he supports some fifty groups and causes on a regular basis. But he also notes that it’s important not only to give, but to consider the spirit in which you give.

Acts of giving are often labeled as “charity,” as if we are being magnanimous in deigning to give something to those in need. But as Ira Riklis knows, Jewish spiritual beliefs would say that the fact that others are in need is a form of injustice. From that perspective, each person has the right to the basic necessities of living and of having the means to obtain those necessities for themselves. Viewed in that light, our “charitable” gifts are actually acts of restoring unto others what was rightfully theirs in the first place.

Though it’s the end of August and schools around the country are getting ready to start up (or have already done so) and most of us have already taken our vacations, summer is not over yet. There are still weeks of warm, lazy weather ahead, time for barbecues and fishing (for those so inclined). In the words of the old song, “livin’ is easy.” But Ira Riklis knows that living is not necessarily so easy for those in dire need of a blood transfusion at this time of year.

For one thing, the demand for blood transfusions is growing faster than the numbers of us willing to step up and donate. For another, summer and winter holidays are marked by shortages of blood of all types. To be fair, less than 38% of us here in the U.S. are eligible to donate blood. But if you’re one those who are able to donate, now’s a good time to step up and do so. And mark your calendar to do so again during the winter, if not sooner. Knowing how critical the need for blood is year round, Ira Riklis, like many others, makes it a point to donate several times throughout the year.

As the end of August draws near, students of all ages, from first grade to graduate school are getting ready to head back to classes. Some have already started. Many will be riding their bikes to classes, and many will also be distracted by the new routine, the getting up and getting out early again after a long, lazy summer where it was easy to sleep in. So Ira Riklis would like to remind both them and their parents that it’s always a good idea—often a life-saving idea—to wear a properly fitted bicycle helmet.

Like many of us, Ira Riklis never put that much thought into helmets in his younger years. Those of us who are old enough can trace the beginnings of our bicycling back to days when helmets were virtually unheard of. But being approached in the early 1990’s by a child safety group seeking his support in providing free, fitted helmets to children in the local community was an eye opener. After hearing the distressing statistics of how many serious head injuries happen to younger riders (as well as older ones), he quickly agreed to provide 5,000 free helmets. And since that day he’s become both a helmet-wearer and a strong helmet advocate.

Ira Riklis and his wife Diana are both fiercely loyal to the University of Pennsylvania,  their Alma Mater. Both received their graduate degrees there, he in business (of course) and she in Education. And in the years since they graduated, they’ve been happy to be able to offer their support to both the Graduate College of Education and the Wharton School of Business. It’s their way of showing appreciation for the educational experiences they enjoyed there and which have contributed greatly to their successes in life.

They’re pleased that the support they give helps not only the university and new generations of students, but that, on occasion, directly benefits the surrounding communities. As one example, Ira Riklis and Diana can cite a recent Research as Public Work seminar at the Graduate School of Education. In that program, college students, working with local high school kids, converted a vacant lot into a community garden and gathering spot. The result was that students in Penn’s Urban Studies Program were able to apply classroom knowledge to real-world challenges, local kids gained advocates and got a glimpse of opportunities for their future and the community gained a garden and gathering place.

Yehudah Kohn, his wife, Riki, love and believe wholeheartedly in every one of the children in their family. That’s to be hoped for in every family. The remarkable thing is that their “family” includes more than 200 children at any one time. Mr. Kohn is director of the Emunah Bet Elazraki Children’s Home in Israel. Ira Riklis first met him and saw for himself the care and love the home and its dedicated staff give to every child in their care some years back.

That first visit so moved him that Ira Riklis soon became a strong and ongoing supporter of the home. It’s been a gratifying experience watching the home grow and expand its services over the years. The home offers the best chance for children dysfunctional  families unable to care for them properly to escape their troubled pasts and become loving, emotionally whole and physically healthy young adults able to make their own way in the world. But even when they leave the home, they remain a part of the extended family.

In Hebrew the word Chai means “life” and is spelled with two letters. Now, you may well ask: What does that relate to a blog about Ira Riklis’ charitable giving? And the answer is: 18. You may now be really scratching your head, but it’s all a matter of the ancient Hebrew mystical tradition of Gematrea, a scholarly and spiritual practice of calculating the numerical equivalencies of letters and phrases. In those calculations, the two letters in Chai equal 18. And the reverse is also true: 18 equals Chai, equals Life.

So how does all this relate to the topic at hand on this blog? It has to do with the amounts given to each of the many groups and organizations Ira Riklis and his family support each year. Typically, each receives a different amount depending on need and the limits of the ability to give that restrain even the most well off among us. But generally, each receives gifts in some multiple of 18 as a symbolic celebration of and wish for abundant life.

What if you had a life-threatening disease that was readily treatable through a transplant procedure, yet you can’t be treated because no suitable donor could be found? What if a loved one were in that position? Ira Riklis can tell you that, sadly, that’s the situation faced by many with diseases like leukemia and aplastic anemia. Though treatable by bone marrow transplants, donors can only be found for 30 percent of those people.

By registering as a potential donor, as Ira Riklis has done, you can help even those odds. Really there’s not much to it. You contact a national registry to sign up and send in a simple cheek swab so they can test and match your tissue type. From there, it’s a matter of waiting for a call that will likely never come. It’s much harder to match tissue for this type of transplant than it is to match blood types. The odds of a match are small, which makes it all that much more important that as many people as possible sign up.

Giving sometimes means giving of time, rather than money. In many ways, volunteering your time to help others is a more direct and personal act, one which helps connect you with those who you seek to help. That’s one reason you can often find Ira Riklis early on Friday mornings helping serve hot breakfasts and sack lunches to the homeless at the Central Synagogue Caring Committee food kitchen. He’s been doing so for more than twelve years now.

The group itself has been operating much longer than that. It began its efforts in 1983 in response to an appeal from the mayor to help fill what was hoped to be a temporary need. Unfortunately, the need has only grown larger over time, and the organization has expanded its efforts in response. The group is staffed almost entirely by volunteers like Ira Riklis and all the donations they take in go to providing food for those in need.

Those words summarize the service the Jewish educational group Aish HaTorah provides to Jews around the world. Through their apolitical network of thirty-five educational centers spanning five continents as well as through their extensive website, Aish.com, they’re a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of people each year who come to them seeking answers to the perplexing issues that face us all in this modern age. Remarkably, as a nonprofit organization, they accomplish this solely through the support of private donors such as Ira Riklis.

On their website alone, they’ve have more than 10,000 articles, spanning topics that include advice on careers, dating, parenting, spirituality, events in Israel. In short, they offer “wisdom for living” in the modern world. In addition to the high quality of their outreach efforts, one of the things that inspired Ira Riklis to become such a strong supporter is the fact that their goal is to give every Jew the opportunity to discover their heritage in an atmosphere of open inquiry and mutual respect. In doing so, they provide a refreshing oasis of openess in an increasingly polarized world.