Ira Riklis and Important Charities

It was a telling moment that convinced Ira Riklis to become a donor to Emunah Bet Elazraki Children’s Home. While attending a bar mitzvah at the home, he noticed that staff took pictures of the children as they celebrated. It turns out that the staff take and keep pictures of the children all throughout the time they live at the home, just like parents do in intact families. When the children leave, they take those pictures with them to remind them of their extended family and the continuing bond they share.

At Bet Elazraki more 200 children, who come from families unable to provide for them their basic needs, find care and guidance in a supportive family environment. Since beginning his relationship with the school five years ago, Ira Riklis has seen children grow up, graduate and head out into the world with the skills they need to succeed and the peace of knowing they are loved.

Sixteen years ago, when Ira Riklis lived in Charlotte, North Carolina, he was approached by a child safety organization. Concerned about head injuries to young bicycle riders, they were seeking a sponsor who would provide child safety helmets. Children, ages five through fourteen, ride more often than older riders and suffer nearly 50 percent more bicycle-related injuries. The worst of these injuries are traumatic head injuries, which account for more than half of all deaths from bicycle accidents.

The good news was that we can protect children (and adults) simply by providing them with properly fitted helmets. The bad news? Less than one in four children wear helmets. The problem may be due in part to lack of awareness and in part to the cost of proper helmets. Concerned by these facts, Ira Riklis agreed to provide 5,000 helmets to be given away free to any parent that brought their child in to be fitted. They gave away every helmet on a beautiful spring weekend. He encourages everyone to visit this website to learn more bicycle safety.

A central tenet of Judaism is that people in need have a right to food, clothing and shelter that more fortunate people must honor. And like other Jews, Ira Riklis believes he has a mandate to improve the world in which he lives. The Talmud holds that the world rests on three things: Torah, service to God and deeds of kindness. In this view of the world, giving to others is a way of restoring justice (Tzedakah), not simply a magnanimous act the wealthy deign to give the poor.

As mentioned in an earlier post, there are varying degrees of giving. Giving directly to the poor without being asked, or forms of giving where either the identity of the donor or the recipient is known to the other are desirable. Even higher in virtue in is when both donor and recipient are unknown to each other. And the highest form of giving is to help sustain a person before they become impoverished by offering substantial gifts or support that help make them self supporting. Ira Riklis feels grateful that he has been given the means to help others. Giving to others is a way for him to recognize the good that God has given to him.

The Book of Deuteronomy, 16:20, refers to the concept of Tzedakah. The verse reads “Tzedek, tzedek you shall pursue”—meaning justice, justice you shall pursue. Ira Riklis knows that this refers not to Charity, which is often seen as going beyond the call of duty to help another. Instead, it’s a way of restoring Justice through righteous acts—doing the right thing for others by the giving of your time and money. The practice of Tzedakah is a way of saying “I will do whatever I can to help.”

Maimonides, a 12th-century Jewish scholar and physician, recognized different levels of Tzedakah from the least to the most honorable. Among the least honorable forms are when donations are given grudgingly; when one gives less than they should, but does so cheerfully; and when one gives directly to the poor only upon being asked. Accordingly, Ira Riklis strives for a more honorable approach. He is proactive and thoughtful in his giving and gives as much as he can. And he gives with a glad heart and gratitude that he has been blessed with the ability to give back to others.

For many children, learning to ride a bicycle provides a new found sense of freedom and joy. But when the training wheels come off, the risk of injuries rises dramatically. Ira Riklis (kneeling in the first row of the photograph above) knows that children ages five through fourteen ride bicycles fare more often than the rest of the population and account for nearly half of all bicycle-related injuries each year.

The most dangerous of these are traumatic head injuries which often lead to concussions or death. Many of these injuries can be prevented simply by wearing properly fitted helmets. So when a child safety organization approached Ira Riklis for help in providing helmets for children in Charlotte, North Carolina, he was more than happy to help. A giveaway event was planned to be held in the parking lot of a local YMCA. Families gathered there on a beautiful Spring day that saw 5,000 children fitted for free, custom-fitted helmets.

Have you ever been hungry but didn’t know where your next meal was coming from? Have you ever tried to tried looking for a job or a way to better your life without the extra boost a good breakfast or lunch can give you? Ira Riklis has been fortunate to never have faced those hardships, and he hopes you never have, or ever have to, either.
But many in New York face the harsh reality of hunger and malnutrition on a daily basis. That’s why on most Friday mornings—including holidays—between 5:00 and 8:15, you’ll find Ira Riklis serving hot breakfasts and bag lunches to the homeless for the city’s Central Synagogue Caring Committee. He’s been volunteering there for twelve years now as a way to help the disadvantaged get back on their feet. The Caring Committee is the only food kitchen in the area that operates at those hours. The goal of serving food at that time is to give the working poor, and those looking for work, a head start on their day. The group operates almost entirely on the efforts of volunteers. Even if you can’t get down there yourself, you can help them through donations of food or clothing. Or you look for similar groups operating in your area and lend them a helping hand.

Alone in their homes, the elderly poor are nearly invisible to most of us. Yet you’ll be shocked, just as Ira Riklis was, once you hear of their numbers and their plight. New York City is home to nearly 1.3 million senior citizens—that’s 12 percent of the city’s population—sixty years and older. And the fastest growing segment of this group is those people 85 and older. More than 60 percent of them are minorities, and nearly 20 percent of them have a household income of less than $10,000.
As if that weren’t enough, many have limited mobility, which makes it difficult or nearly impossible for them to leave their homes. In 1981, statistics like these prompted James Beard and Gael Greene to form Citymeals-on-Wheels, an outreach effort to deliver food and human contact to these disadvantaged senior citizens. With the help of friends like Ira Riklis, the program has grown steadily over the years, and now serves 18,000 homebound elderly New Yorkers with nutritious meals and human contact every day.

“Your Life. Your Judaism,” is the guiding principle behind Aish HaTorah, an organization that offers Jews from all backgrounds to connect with their spiritual heritage. And it’s this ideal and the simplicity of their outreach efforts that have inspired Ira Riklis to support them. They offer not just information, but inspiration and serve as a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of people across the globe, seeking Jewish answers to the complex and perplexing issues we all face.

While the group springs from very Orthodox beliefs and practices, they do not try to impose those views on others. Rather, they seek to share the Torah’s wisdom with all humanity in order to help others find their own way. Ira Riklis—who considers himself somewhere between Conservative and strictly Orthodox—has studied with David Clyman, one of the group’s Rabbis. And while their levels of observance differ, he has always been able to turn to the Rabbi for warmth and support during low periods in life.

Have you ever wondered how you’d react in an emergency situation that called for heroic action? Would you put your own life at risk to save the life of a stranger? Fortunately, few of us are ever tested in that way. But as Ira Riklis knows, there are less dramatic—but no less important—ways to help save lives. One such way is by becoming a regular blood donor. It’s painless, relatively easy and, with someone needing blood every two seconds in this country, it can make an immediate difference.

Giving blood is something not everyone can do. Stringent health regulations means that less than forty percent of adults are eligible to donate their blood. But what surprises Ira Riklis is that fewer than one in seven of those who are eligible, ever get around to making a donation. He urges all who read this blog entry to join him in stepping forward to donate. You’ll not only be saving the life of someone in need, you’ll also enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that you did the right thing.

In keeping with his faith, Ira Riklis believes deeply that performing philanthropic acts is an important part of living a spiritual life. Many refer to such giving as charity. But the Hebrew word for this is tzedakah, which means instead justice or fairness. In Jewish teachings, the gifts you give as part of tzedakah where never truly yours to begin with, they have always belonged to the recipients.

There are various forms and levels of giving. Gifts that provide another person with independence so that they do not have to continue to rely on tzedakah is considered the most just and fair form. Also highly valued are gifts to unknown recipients via organizations which are trustworthy, wise and can perform acts of tzedakah in a most impeccable fashion. As such, Ira Riklis knows that it is not sufficient to just give to anyone or any organization. Rather than giving randomly, he is careful to review the credentials of the organizations to which he gives to ensure that his gifts will be used wisely, efficiently and effectively.