Ira Riklis Blog

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.

If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you know that Ira Riklis is dedicated to making regular blood donations and strongly encourages others to do so as well. But even if you’ve read this before, it’s worth repeating again (and again). Why? Because by donating blood, you save lives. Because there’s a steady, urgent need for blood donations no matter what the season. Because, while there are some 116 million people in the U.S. who are eligible to donate blood, fewer than 8 million of those ever do so.

On top of those—very valid—reasons, there are others as well. One of the main answers people give when asked why they don’t give blood is that they’re afraid of needles. So Ira Riklis realizes that it’s important for those of us who do to keep spreading the word that there’s no pain involved, and no reason to be afraid. The other excuse people give for not donating is that they don’t think of it. So it makes perfect sense to keep repeating the message to help raise awareness.

How much time do you spend thinking about your bones? If you’re like most of us, the answer is: not much. That’s a good thing. Unless we’ve had an accident that’s resulted in a broken bone, or if we’re of an age (which more and more of us are approaching) where we become concerned about our bones becoming brittle and weak, there’s not much reason to think about our bones. It’s a good bet that we think even less about the marrow inside our bones. But Ira Riklis would like to encourage you to give bone marrow some thought.

Bone marrow produces stem cells which then develop into blood cells. For healthy people, bone marrow is the body’s blood cell “factory.” But for people with diseases such as leukemia and aplastic anemia, the bone marrow stops produce the blood cells that keep us alive. It’s at times like that when people need a bone marrow transplant from a healthy donor to save their lives. There’s no guarantee that a suitable donor can be found, matching bone marrow is much harder than matching blood type. That’s why there’s a national registry of willing donors who send in tissue samples (from a simple cheek swab) that are analyzed and kept on file for the time when someone needs a match. Ira Riklis signed up for the registry many years ago. He knows he will likely never be called, but knows that if he is, he could save someone’s life. You could, too, so why not take a moment to think about becoming a donor. Someone may thank you with all their hear someday.

It seems like everything comes with a catch these days. If you’re like most of us, you’re bombarded by “free” offers that—once you read the fine print—could end up costing you a bundle. Websites, news outlets and stores want you to register and invite your input, all as a guise to sell you something or to get you to subscribe to their point of you. In such an atmosphere, Ira Riklis appreciates the open and welcoming approach taken by Aish HaTorah. This Orthodox Jewish organization offers teachings and guidance about the Torah.

But while they come from an Orthodox perspective, they make no demands that you subscribe to their point of view. Ira Riklis, for example, is somewhere between Conservative and Orthodox in his approach to Judaism. Yet he’s always enjoyed the acceptance and support of the Rabbis at Aish Hatorah at times when he needed support and guidance. In return, he’s happy to help support the group as they’ve blossomed into a worldwide network of educational centers which also has a strong web presence.

If you’re like most of us, if you have a great experience that provides you with great memories, generates life-long friendships and leads to happiness and success in your own life, you want others to be able to enjoy those same benefits. That’s certainly how Ira Riklis and his wife Diana feel about their days in graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his degree from the Wharton School of Business; she earned hers from the Graduate College of Education. Both schools are highly regarded in their fields. Wharton has launched countless students towards rewarding careers. And the GSE is considered one of the nation’s premier research education schools.

Blessed with success they credit in no small measure to their graduate experiences, Ira Riklis and Diana have been more than happy to give back to their schools so that students today can enjoy the same high-quality education they received years ago. Much of their support has gone to the GSE (Wharton, after all, has many highly successful graduates willing and able to give generously to it). Over the years, they’ve funded three scholarships, term professorships, a student lounge and various facilities such as a new Dean’s office.

It’s a sad fact, but spend time walking the streets of any large city and you’ll encounter the homeless. And the present economic downturn has only made things more dire. Spend enough time doing so and even the most caring and concerned among us will at some point, even if only fleetingly, likely wonder: “Why don’t they get a job?” But the unfortunate fact, as Ira Riklis knows from his experiences as a frequent volunteer with the Central Synagogue Caring Committee, many of those we see living on the street or in shelters DO have jobs. In cities with high costs of living, such as New York, 25 percent or more of the homeless have jobs, it’s just that those jobs don’t pay enough to afford them a place to live.

That’s what drives Ira Riklis to volunteer his time on many an early Friday morning serving hot breakfasts and sack lunches with other Caring Committee volunteers. The kitchen keeps early hours on Thursdays and Fridays specifically to help those homeless who are heading off for what are often physically demanding jobs.

Even putting aside personal concerns about money, putting children through school, job insecurity and planning for our retirement, it seems like there’s so much to worry about these days. What can we do about the environment? How can we help those living in poverty? Can we find a resolution to worldwide political conflicts? The list goes on and on. We want to help, but even those of us blessed with financial success and security like Ira Riklis can only do so much.

At those times, it’s easy to get stuck worrying about what we can’t do in the face of problems that can seem insurmountable at times. When Ira Riklis begins to feel that way, he steps back and focused on the things he CAN do, even if they seem small. It’s something he learned long ago from a Rabbi who told him the parable of the starfish. In the tale, a boy is walking a long stretch of beach after a storm. Countless starfish have washed ashore and lay dying on the sands. But as the boy walks along, he’s picking the starfish up—one by one—and throwing them back to the safety of sea. A passerby watches with a bit of bemusement then asks the boy how he can even imagine he’s making a difference. At this point the boy picks up another starfish and tosses it into the ocean before turning to the man with a smile on his face. “I just made a difference to that one,” he replies.

Back in 1993, when Ira Riklis owned and operated SafeGuard Security—headquarter in Charlotte, North Carolina, he was approached by a child safety organization seeking his sponsorship for a program to provide bicycle helmets for local children. They told him of the sobering statistics associated with traumatic head injuries suffered by young riders. Among children ages 14 and under, more than 80 percent of bicycle-related fatalities are associated with the bicyclist’s behavior. When you’re young and having fun, you aren’t always aware of the risks you’re taking.

He also learned that many of those deaths and serious injuries could be avoided by one simple action: wearing a properly fitted bicycle helmet. Once they laid out the facts for Ira Riklis, it was an easy choice. He promptly agreed to provide 5,000 free helmets to be given away—complete with a fitting—one Spring weekend in the parking lot of a local YMCA. Now that you know the facts, it should be an easy choice for you as well. If you have children, or know someone with children, please make sure they get fitted with (and wear) a good bicycle helmet

The Israeli city of Tel Aviv turned 100 last year accompanied by citywide celebrations and events that went on for several months. It was a momentous event well worth celebrating; Tel Aviv was the first Hebrew city establish in the past 3,000 years. Ira Riklis discovered this video clip showing some of celebrations interspersed with images of Tel Aviv’s early days. Besides being beautiful, it holds a deeper family connection for him. It’s hard to be sure since it goes by so fast, but if you look closely at the photo of an early pharmacy that appears midway through the video that may be his great grandfather, Zelig Krinkin, who opened the first pharmacy in Tel Aviv, standing in the background.

But there’s another, less festive side to Tel Aviv. Despite the city being a vibrant center of arts, education, culture, business and sports, as many as 40 percent of its citizens live in poverty in disadvantaged neighborhoods. That’s why Ira Riklis is a strong supporter of the American Friends of the Tel Aviv Foundation. The group works with donors to support neighborhood projects designed to improve the lives of their residents.