arens@UCBKIM (04/03/83)
From: arens@UCBKIM (Yigal Arens)
Received: from UCBKIM.ARPA by UCBVAX.ARPA (3.332/3.20)
id AA10503; 2 Apr 83 16:20:56 PST (Sat)
To: net-religion@BERKELEY
>From the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, March 18, 1983.
Last week "Chabad" [Lubavitcher Hassidic Jews] held in a
Tel Aviv hotel an evening that was described in the media
as "unusual": a public auction ("in a Jewish atmosphere"),
whose purpose was to raise money for the construction of a
building for a Yeshiva. What did they sell? One item that
received a lot of special attention was a $100 bill that
had received the blessing of the Lubavitcher Rabbi [who
resides permanently in Brooklyn]. The bill was put in a
golden frame, and the potential highest paying buyer was
officially and authoritatively promised by the Rabbi
"Blessing and success, health and a good life".
The lucky buyer of this blessed item was a dear Jew by the
name of Eliezer Glass, the manager of a chemical factory in
Beit-Dagon. He paid for the gift 170,000 Shekels -- 45
times its nominal worth! That is what economists would
call: the Rabbi's added value.
Yigal Arens
UC Berkeley