Dear Friends,
Sammy Rohr zt”l was a precious person, a rare type of philanthropist, a real “Ba’al Tzedaka,” (literally, a “possessor of charity”), according to the purest and truest definition.
On Thursday, the 16th of Kislev 5770, December 3rd, 2009, at 4:00 pm, I was attending a meeting in the Rohr household in Miami, together with my dear friend Daniel Rothschild z”l.
The financial crisis was at its height, and we hadn’t exactly come to make things easier for Mr. Rohr…
Among the things this special person said to us that day was: “Starting from the first dollar I earned, I have been very particular to give Ma’aser Kesafim. I give ten percent of my earnings to Tzedaka and I am, Thank G-d, getting much Nachas from the fact that my children, too, make sure to do that. Lately, since the financial crisis began, I have been giving a ‘Chomesh’ (a fifth) – twenty percent of the earnings. And that is not because I give more, but because I earn less… But, in spite of the crisis it never crossed my mind to cut back on Tzedaka, because how can I take the risk of causing the activities we support throughout the world to suffer a cutback as well?”
He was talking, I must add, about hundreds of thousands of dollars that he and his son donated (and still donate) every month!
I remembered these words of his recently, because from the verse in Parashat Bechukotai (read this week outside of the Land of Israel) “that which a person will segregate for Hashem from anything that is his,” the Rambam learns in the Halachas of Arachin and Charamin that there is a limit to giving as well, and says, “Anyone who spends money on Mitzvahs shouldn’t spend more than a fifth.”
I have met many philanthropists in my life, but I have never met another Ba’al Tzedaka like Sammy Rohr, who felt such a personal responsibility towards his People. May his pure memory be blessed.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Zalmen Wishedski