Ira Riklis and Important Charities

Emunah Bet Elazraki Children’s Home takes to heart Rabbi Karlibach’s observation that: “Every child needs one person who believes in him” For forty years, they’ve believed wholeheartedly in every girl and boy they’ve cared. These children come from families unable to provide for even their basic needs. At the home, they find the care, guidance and support they need to grow into healthy, loving adults. Each child is welcomed into an extended family that they remain close to even after they leave the home. Ira Riklis saw this firsthand when he attended the Bar Mitzvah of the son of some good friends some years back.

The home’s director, Yehudah Kohn, his wife, Riki, and a dedicated and professional team of staff members pay attention to every detail of the children’s development, providing support, educational and social assistance and therapeutic and academic aid. A small detail Ira Riklis noticed during his visit spoke volumes to him and convinced him to become a donor. Just as parents do, the staff takes pictures of each child as they grow, learn and play with other children who’ve become like brothers and sisters to them. When they finally leave, they take those pictures with them as a reminder of their enduring connection with the home and with their extended family.

Giving can mean more than just donating money. Ira Riklis knows that volunteering your time connects you directly with your community and with those in need. That’s why most Friday mornings from 5:00 to 8:15 you’ll find him serving nutritious hot breakfasts and sack lunches to the hungry and homeless for New York City’s Central Synagogue Caring Committee. He’s been doing so for nearly twelve years now.

The group began serving meals in 1983 in response to an appeal from the mayor. The need was thought to be temporary, but instead has grown larger and more urgent over time. Staffed almost entirely by volunteers, the group serves meals on Thursday and Friday mornings including holidays. One-quarter of the city’s homeless are employed. Others are looking for employment or are trying to rebuild their lives to once again become functioning members of the society. The Central Synagogue Caring Committee is the only food kitchen in the area that operates at those morning hours to give these people a healthy start to the day.

Giving of your time to others is also a way of giving to yourself. Ira Riklis feels grateful for the opportunity to participate in the good works and deeds of groups like this. And he encourages others, wherever they live, to do the same.

Ira Riklis has long been a supporter of Aish HaTorah. The name translates as “Fire of Torah,” that is, the passion of teaching and learning about the Torah, the holy book from which Jewish values spring. With its world headquarters near the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the organization operates an international network of Jewish educational centers. They offer programs in more than one hundred cities on five continents, where Jews from all backgrounds can explore their heritage in an open, non-judgmental atmosphere. They also reach out through their website, which offers versions in five different languages. Each year, hundreds of thousands of Jews visit these sites for news teachings and guidance.

While more strictly Orthodox Jewish than Ira Riklis, Aish HaTorah’s educational philosophy is that Judaism is not all or nothing; it is a journey where every step counts, to be pursued according to one’s own pace and interest. They view Mitzvot (commandments) not as rituals, but as opportunities for personal growth, to be studied and understood.

This year, as every year in our country, more than 4.5 million people will need a blood transfusion. The very lives of trauma victims, cancer patients, those with leukemia, sickle cell anemia and other diseases depend on those transfusions. But what surprises Ira Riklis is that in spite of the tremendous need, just one in twenty of us ever get around to donating our blood so that others may live.

To be fair, not everyone is eligible to give. Health and safety requirements mean that only 37 percent of us can make donations. But that means it’s even more important that those of us who are eligible make it a point to become regular donors. So what’s stopping us? What’s stopping you? For many, it may simply be the fear of needles, pain and the possible risks that may be associated with the process. Having made nearly forty blood donations over the years, Ira Riklis can testify that those fears are unfounded. All supplies used are sterile and disposable, meaning there’s no health risk. And the process of actually taking the blood is completely painless. The only moment of discomfort you might feel is when they prick your fingertip to get a small sample of blood to test your hemoglobin. But that passes in an instant, leaving behind the warm feeling of knowing that you’ve made a positive difference to others.

Most people know about making blood donations, but far fewer are aware of the need for bone marrow donors. Bone marrow transplants are a relatively new medical procedure, yet over the past few decades they’ve been used to treat diseases once thought incurable. Ira Riklis knows that while bone marrow transplants now save thousands of live each year, 70 percent of those who need them never receive one because a suitable donor can’t be found. That’s why he’s registered in a national registry as a potential bone marrow transplant volunteer.

He, like most who volunteer donors, may never be called upon to make a donation. It’s much harder to find a suitable donor for a patient who needs a bone marrow transplant than it is to match blood types for those who need blood. When they register, potential donors send in a tissue sample taken from a simple cheek swab. For a transplant to succeed, doctors must look through a database of tissue types to find the closest possible match. If no match can be found, the patient can’t be treated. The more potential donors on register, the more likely it is that matches can be found, which is why Ira Riklis encourages others to join the list of volunteers who stand ready to save the lives of others.

We need only to look around to see that there are so many worthy causes, so many things that could be done to make our world a better place. Ira Riklis sees those needs and those opportunities to make a difference. And in seeing, he takes action. Blessed with wealth, he gives generously of his money and his self to more than fifty organizations each year. But even the wealthiest among us can do only so much, and sometimes regret that we can’t do more.

At those times Ira Riklis takes comfort in a parable told to him by his Rabbi. In the story a man standing on a beach sees someone walking along the shoreline towards him. Now and then, the person reaches down to pick up something then throws it into the ocean. As the person approaches, he can see that it’s a young boy who is picking up starfish and throwing them back into the sea. When the boy grows near, the man asks him: “What are you doing?” “Saving the starfish,” the boy replies, “If they remain on the shore, they will die.” “Yes,” the man says, “But there are many starfish and you are just one boy. You’re not making any difference.” At that, the boy reaches down, picks up another starfish and tosses it to safety in the water. He then turns to the man and says, “I made a difference to that starfish.”

For nearly fifteen years, Ira Riklis has been donating blood to local blood centers. Each December he takes part in the annual blood drive sponsored by his synagogue. He also makes two or three additional donations throughout the year at either the New York University Hospital Blood Center. While he could give more often—individuals are allowed to donate blood once every eight weeks—the fact that he donates at all sets him apart. Just 5 percent of us ever get around to making that life-giving gift even once a year. People do respond during disasters; within 24 hours after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a half-million people had flocked to donation centers. But under normal circumstances, few people come to donate, even though every day 43,000 pints of blood—that’s one pint every two seconds—are needed to treat patients with injuries, surgeries and illnesses ranging from cancer, to anemia to leukemia.

Like most of us, Ira Riklis doesn’t know just how he’d respond in the face of a life-or-death situation requiring immediate action. But he encourages everyone to join with him in safe, painless, life-saving act of becoming a regular blood donor.