Several years ago I saw Sheldon Adelson at an event honoring then-Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem. The fleeting moment was an opportunity to speak with him, even though I generally avoid small talk with famous people (what can I possibly discuss with them?). I walked next to him as he made his way to the elevator but ultimately chose not to start up a conversation. Why? Because Sheldon Adelson was always a bit of a dubious figure in my eyes, an elderly casino magnate from Las Vegas who was trying to influence Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in order to boost his business dealings.
I am ashamed to concede that this was how I perceived him until very recently. Although over the following decade I became appreciative of his investment in the launching of Israel Hayom – the paper that has made history in Israel by creating a marketplace of ideas in the printed media – I still questioned whether the outlet was nothing more than a means for promoting his own interests.
After his death, articles about his life story began to appear. As I read, I got this niggling feeling that perhaps I had been mistaken. At first I read a few moving tributes in Israel Hayom and told myself, you can't deny it – looks like this Jew has done a few things in his life for the Jews around the world. But from there to comparing him to Montefiore or Rothschild? That was kind of routine posthumous hero-worship to me.
But then something remarkable happened. I read an article in a paper that did not belong to Adelson. The opposite extreme, in fact. And I realized that I had been mistaken about the man – hugely mistaken.
The one who opened my eyes was Rogel Alpher. The title of his article, published in Haaretz the morning after Adelson's demise, was: "Sheldon Adelson has died, but the damage he caused in his life continues." Alpher wrote: "With the death of Sheldon Adelson, it should be noted that the man managed to cause lots of damage in the world during his lifetime. It is not insensitive to claim this a few hours after his passing. Not at all. Although he was not an Israeli citizen, Adelson took advantage of his money to allow himself to have a tremendous influence on the lives of the residents of Israel and the West Bank. ... Although he did not live here, Adelson allowed himself to mold the political tendencies of millions of Israelis, through the Israel Hayom newspaper. … Through Israel Hayom, Adelson has besmirched the noble journalism profession, and contaminated it with foreign interests and harmed Israeli democracy."
I stopped reading for a minute and again read the phrase "noble journalism profession." I laughed (aloud) and continued: "Adelson was very instrumental in helping Netanyahu come into power and stay there, and by doing that he also caused tremendous damage to Israeli democracy. He contributed to the settlement enterprise, and mainly to the Ariel University and, through Israel Hayom and Netanyahu, he did a lot to advance annexation and to create a binational apartheid state. Adelson allowed himself to seal the fate of the Palestinians in the West Bank as if they were flies."
Alpher continued: "He had a lot of influence in Israel's identity and its transformation to a nation of Jews instead of Israelis, even though it is a country he did not live in. He funded the Taglit-Birthright program."
Wow. What a tribute. How did I miss all these wonderful things that Adelson did in his lifetime? How had I not seen the whole picture?
So what did we have here? Investment in connecting Jewish youth in the Diaspora to Israel, and an investment in establishing the first university in Yehuda and Shomron, investment in strengthening the identity of the Jewish state and its connection with its ally America, and of course investment in advancing freedom of the press and of opinion in Israel.
How didn't I understand all this myself? Why did I let others in the media frame the way I view philanthropists? From that moment onwards I have been reading everything on Adelson, trying to catch up on the many years he and his wife Dr. Miriam Adelson have influenced the Jewish world.
I also need to apologize to Dr. Miriam Adelson, having belittled her expertise and doubted whether she actually earned the title of doctor. Only in the past several weeks did I learn about the wonderful things she has been doing for decades, long before she even knew Sheldon. She began to learn microbiology and genetics at the Hebrew University, and from there went on to study medicine in Tel Aviv University. Then she did a residency in internal medicine and directed an emergency room.
In time, she traveled to study at the Rockefeller University in Manhattan, at the age of 46, despite her impressive resume. That was when she met Sheldon. And here, indeed, his money came into the picture. Dr. Miriam and her husband established research and treatment centers for addiction in America and Israel.
As Haaretz well understood, there's a certain line here, a certain agenda. What is it?
Adelson's father, Arthur, emigrated from Lithuania to the United States. He was a taxi driver who did not have money to buy a ticket to visit Israel. This, Adelson told Makor Rishon in an interview several months ago, shaped the couple's decision to help bring young Jews to Israel: "When I earned money and could afford to send my father to Israel, he said that he was too old and sick to travel. … I wanted to make sure that all the people on those Taglit waiting lists should not get to the point where my father got to, that they should not be sad when they are old that they have never visited Israel. If we can do it, why shouldn't we? If we won't, who will?
"When I see American Jews who are not connected to Israel," Dr. Adelson added, "Jews who speak in a not nice way about Israel, who want to boycott Israel as part of BDS movement, I feel pain and wrenching in my heart for my brothers and sisters who do not know the facts. They are filled with anger and hatred. I hurt for them but they are Jews in my eyes. Maybe their children will understand more. … We are one family."
The article finished with a wonderful anecdote. During corona, 87-year old Sheldon began to learn Hebrew. "I'm optimistic about his Hebrew studies," Miriam said, and even shared the first word that he had learned to write in Hebrew: "Shabbat."
On the eve of Shabbat, two weeks after flying Jonathan and Esther Pollard to Israel, the private plane belonging to the Adelsons landed in Ben Gurion Airport again, this time with Sheldon's casket. In the afternoon, he was buried in a small, corona-style funeral in Jerusalem. But the story is not really over, because how did that moving tribute in Haaretz put it? "Sheldon Adelson has died, but the damage he has caused over his lifetime will continue."
Amen.
