Ira Riklis Blog

Ira Riklis can tell you that there are many ways to measure success in business. First, of course, you have to define your goals. Once you’ve done that, it’s a matter of taking the proper steps towards achieving them. From there, you establish metrics and concrete benchmarks that tell you how you’re doing and where you need to boost your efforts or rethink your strategy. But how do you measure success when it comes to caring for children who come to you from broken homes?

That’s the question the directors and staff at EMUNAH Bet Elazraki Children’s Home in Israel ask themselves whenever a new child comes into their care. Each child is different, but there’s one constant: each is welcomed as a beloved part of their extended family. From that point of view, success is easily defined. It’s a who becomes an honor student and is the first to raise his hand and give the right answer in class. It’s a girl smiling happily at her Bat Mitzvah party, surrounded by friends, presents and love. It’s the home’s alumni who, freed of the vicious cycle of distress that they came from, cross from the receiving side to the giving side of our society, serve in the military, study in university, work and support themselves, build families and raise their children in good homes. And it’s those, and many, many more successes that have made Ira Riklis such a loyal, long-time supporter of the home.

In Hebrew tradition numbers, words and phrases all have symbolic meaning and all are interrelated. In the Sefer Yitzirah (“The Book of Creation”)—an ancient mystical text—the letters of the Alphabet are described as the stones used to build a house. Ira Riklis leaves the study of those interrelationships up to others since they can become quite complex and esoteric. But some iconic and meaningful examples are well known to him and other Jews.

One of these relates to the Hebrew word “Chai” which means “Life.” The numerical value for this is 18. This makes 18 a sort of “lucky number” among Jews. And for many, it’s become traditional to give gifts in some multiple of 18. In doing so, the gift becomes something more: a celebration of and a wish for abundant life for those on the receiving end. Ira Riklis is one of those who follows this time-honored tradition. Many of the more than fifty groups he supports each year receive amounts in multiples of 18.

There’s no doubt that these are tough economic times for many. The population of homeless people—too large even in the best of times—is on the rise in cities across our nation. And it’s perhaps even more distressing to learn that many of the people who find themselves living on the streets, doorways and alleys of some of our most prosperous cities have jobs. Ira Riklis knows that as many as one-quarter of the homeless in New York are employed. The sad fact for these working poor is that their work doesn’t pay nearly enough to pay for a home or for regular, nourishing meals.

It’s people like these, along with those out there working hard just trying to find a job that the Central Synagogue Caring Committee kitchen tries to help by serving a good hot breakfast and sack lunches on Thursday and Friday mornings. They would like to do more, but with the growing need, it’s hard for them even to keep up at times. That they achieve what they do is a testament to their determination and to the fact that they rely almost entirely on the help of volunteers such as Ira Riklis, who rise early on those mornings and come out to help serve meals.

Like other Jews around the world, Ira Riklis is participating in the observance of the Jewish High Holy Days. They began on last Thursday with Rosh Hashanah, a time of family gatherings, special meals and sweet-tasting foods. They will continue through next Saturday with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement: a day of fasting, reflection and prayers. These, the most important of all Jewish Holidays, are also the only purely religious holidays, unrelated to any historical or natural events.

During this special time, Jews reflect on their religion and in doing so, many have questions about their faith, how to practice it in this modern world and how it can guide their lives. At those times (whether during the High Holiday or at anytime during the year) many turn to Aish HaTorah. The organization, which is devoted to teachings about the Torah and Judaism, maintains an extensive website and a series of educational centers around the world. Ira Riklis—who has long been a supporter of the organization—has turned to them in moments where he’s needed support and has enjoyed the warmth of their welcome.

While you may not be aware of it, the marrow deep inside your bones is hard at work creating new blood cells that will soon be circulating through your bloodstream carrying oxygen to every cell in your body. Well, that’s true for most of us. But Ira Riklis knows that for an unfortunate few, their bone marrow isn’t working quite right, placing their lives in peril. The cause can be a variety of diseases. Some have familiar names like Leukemia and Cancer. Others have long, unfamiliar names, but the results are the same.

It wasn’t that long ago that nothing could done to treat these people. But in recent years, bone marrow transplant techniques have been developed that offer them a great chance at survival. But that’s only if suitable donors can be found. That’s not as easy as it sounds: it’s much, much hard to find a compatible bone marrow donor that to find a blood donor. There has to be a close tissue match. Fortunately, there’s a national registry of people who’ve agree to be bone marrow donors and who have sent it a simple cheek swab for tissue typing. The more people on the list, the better the chance of someone, sometime, finding a match that could save their life. Ira Riklis is on that list, and he urges you to consider signing up as well.

Both Ira Riklis and his wife Diana attended the University of Pennsylvania and received their graduate degrees there. And over the years since, they’ve been happy to be able to support their alma mater in a variety of ways. Most recently, they’ve done so by funding the Dr. William Zucker Entrepreneurial Intern Fellowship. The fellowship, named in honor of a beloved professor at the Wharton School of Business, pays for internships for exceptional students seeking to not only to become entrepreneurs to become ambassadors of entrepreneurship to other students.

The establishment of the fund has special meaning for Ira Riklis. Not only is it a way to provide the current generation of students with the same high quality of education he enjoyed, it’s a memorial to a dear friend and mentor. Their relationship began as one between teacher and student, but Dr. Zucker—who passed away four years ago—soon became a mentor and eventually a life-long friend. The fellowship helps ensure that while he will be missed by those who knew him, he will not be forgotten.

The current state of the economy is affecting us all, both in this country and around the world. Many are having to really tighten their belts just to get by. But Ira Riklis knows that the problem is most acute for senior citizens. Most live on fixed incomes, mostly the meager amount they receive from Social Security. Some are frail and unable to leave their homes. Some are alone. Many have little to eat and try to survive on what amounts to a starvation diet of just one-third the daily nutritional recommendation for an older person.

Its to serve people like these that New York City’s Citymeals-on-Wheels program was founded almost 30 years ago. Over the years the program has grown in response to the growing needs. It now provides lifeline of food and companionship for 17,000 of the city’s homebound elderly. But as times get eve harder, even this well-established program has to struggle to keep up, even in light of the fact that they have a strong base of kind and generous supporters including Ira Riklis. It really takes all of us to pitch in to make a difference. Please consider making a donation ($39 delivers six weekend meals). The need is all around us, not just in New York, so look for similar programs near you that could use some help.

It’s awfully easy to become discouraged about the world around us these days. It’s seems like every time you turn around there’s some new, large and complex problem that defies solution. At the same time, a mountain of old problems remain unresolved. Many of us try to take action. We give of our time or money in an effort to help others. But before long, we despair that our small efforts can even begin to change things. Even Ira Riklis, blessed with financial success and able to support multiple organizations, feels this way at times.

At moments like those, he stops to take a deep breath and recall a parable told to him years ago by his Rabbi. In it, a boy is walking along a beach after a fierce storm. Beach wrack is piled up in windrows along the shore. Among it are countless starfish, still alive, but doomed to die out of the water. As the boy makes his way, he stops to pick up the starfish in his path and tosses each back into the ocean where it has a chance of survival. His task seems overwhelming—a boy against the vastness of that long beach—yet starfish by starfish he is making a difference. Just as he reminds himself of the boy’s courage and determination, Ira Riklis wants to remind other that they, too, can make a difference, however slight it may seem at times.

We all welcome opportunities to hear first hand from leaders who are willing to pass on their thoughts, advice and insights into the principles and practices that have helped them achieve success. Such guidance can help us in our quest to succeed or to find creative new ways of working. Unfortunately, such opportunities are hard to come by and we usually end up paying a pretty penny for them. But if you’re lucky enough to be in the area around King of Prussia, PA and can pick up WFYL 1180 AM on your radio, you’ll be able to hear Ira Riklis tomorrow morning (September 7th) at 11 a.m. as the featured guest on the Executive Leaders Radio Program.

The program invites selected CEO’s, Presidents and Chairmen of successful companies to talk about their executive leadership experiences. Audiences able to tune in will gain much from hearing Ira Riklis’ inspiring stories. Don’t worry if you’re one of the many people not able to tune into WFYL from where you live. Within a few weeks, you’ll be able to hear the show online at www.executiveleadersradio.com and will also be able to access it via iTunes as well. We’ll keep you posted!

Anyone who has seen the original Star Trek TV series knows about Mr. Spock, the logical Vulcan. If we were all like him, the world might make better sense. Good reasoning and logical arguments would prevail. But, of course, we’re not Vulcans and even in situations where one would think logic should win the day, it often doesn’t. Like the rest of us, Ira Riklis has seen his fair share of such situations.

One he remembers well occurred when he went to donate blood, something he tries to do several times throughout each year. On this occasion, he found that the medical center had adopted new donation forms which Ira Riklis felt went a little overboard on the legal jargon and language he felt was needlessly invasive. When he questioned the receptionist about it, she rather curtly told him that if he didn’t fill in the paperwork, well… they just wouldn’t take his blood donation. Never mind that his donation would be helping to save someone’s life! Seeing that any attempt at logic would prove futile, he shrugged it off and went ahead and did what he knew was the right thing.