I cannot even imagine what so much money looks like nor would feel like having it sit in my bank account. A 30-year old young man who is an amazing baseball player just won the golden ring. Good for you, Aaron Judge. In our circles one who publicly has such wealth would be besieged by many charities and tzedakah funds instantly. I myself receive approximately six calls a day from a chassidic group screaming into my phone in Yiddish. Unfortunately there are some area codes for which I no longer pick up my phone, as I have pinpointed where they come from. I wonder every once in a while if there is anyone calling from those areas that I am totally snubbing. I do apologize.
So what will Aaron do with all of his money? I am sure that he will take good care of his family. Interestingly he was adopted when he was one day old. Both his mother and father are teachers. He has begun the All Rise Foundation geared to help youth get as high as they can on their life’s dreams.
In my very own little world I do think about what would I do if I accrued considerably less than that amount. First is that the word mortgage would no longer exist in our family. Next, student loans, car loans, all bills and credit cards would have a zero balance. My daughter’s group home would never have to worry about fundraising ever again.
The Bayit Association would pay off all bills and buy a third home and I might even buy myself a new car whose trunk does not open suddenly while I am driving (thanks Honda Civic). I would never have to say no to a tzedakah which I would love to support but am not able to. The biggie for me would be taking my entire family to Israel. Other than having more opportunities at my fingertips than I have now I would do very little differently. I do not even think that I would look at an item in a store without first checking out the price!
Certainly things will never change. Imagine if the Jewish world would decide to award amazing financial benefits to the gedolim who we all turn to whenever we have a question or an agonizing decision to make. Granted I am not sure how many of them know how to swing a bat, although we might be surprised. Is there not a Most Valuable Rav of the year award that could be instituted (with I hope no bickering)? Should we not be paying our rebbeim more money when many of the students that they teach have families who are well able to afford many personal amenities but do not consider what the salary of their child’s rebbe is. We in the Jewish world have our own stars. They are leading our schools, teaching our children, paskening and leading our congregations, opening their homes to myriads of people and I think that they should all be recognized with an MVP award as well as proper monetary remuneration for all that they do. Bravo to Aaron Judge for being such an amazing ball player and winning this incredible nine year contract. Let’s hope that our children know who our real heroes are.
Nina Glick can be reached at [email protected].
