“Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.” - Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5; Babylonian Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 37a

“Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.” - Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5; Babylonian Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 37a

For Goodness Sake - What does that have to do with Mayor Michael Bloomberg?
Poor Michael Bloomberg – well, not literally ‘poor’ – the man is worth $25 billion. Perhaps just misunderstood.  Say his name out loud and you may hear cries of “Nanny State.”
Michael Bloomberg, the philanthropist, is in the news this week for having donated $350 million to Johns Hopkins University. Comedian Jay Leno speculated the funds would build the “Michael Bloomberg Center to Eradicate 16 Ounce Sodas”… and that the structure would look like a “Big Gulp.” In reality, the money will go to fund 40 professors who will work across disciplines to solve some of the worlds most pressing problems. The rest of the money will fund over 2,500 financial aid scholarships.
With this latest donation, Bloomberg becomes the single largest financial donor to any American university in our history.  His total giving to that institution is now over 1 BILLION dollars. His first donation to the university, one year after his graduation, was five dollars. His greatest giving has been in the areas of Public Health, and Nursing, as well as a children’s hospital wing named after his mother.
So nu? Who is this man who tries to tell everyone in New York what to do? We (well, the media) think of him as the ‘Politician from New York who banned large sugary drinks; who took the trans-fats out of food in the Big Apple; who forced restaurants to list the calories in their foods; who is actively trying to reduce the sodium in NYC food; who deprives new mothers of baby formula to convince them that breast feeding is healthier; who made it impossible to smoke in public places as well as restaurants and anywhere else inhalation takes place; and who wants taxi’s to have lower emissions.’
Well this is America, and as we all know, we are free to do what we please, even if it kills us!
Michael, if I may call him by his first name, is a mensch. He is the kind of mensch who puts his money where his mouth is, where it does the most good, and he allocates that money GLOBALLY.  His Bloomberg Foundation has launched a $375 million initiative to combat tobacco use in low- and middle-income countries, where more than two-thirds of the world's smokers live. He’s pledged $125 million for five years to fund road safety interventions in 10 countries working to reduce traffic accident deaths and injuries through the Association for Safe International Road Travel. His foundation has also created a pilot program in Tanzania to reduce maternal deaths by providing training for emergency obstetric care in rural communities. It is hoped that this program will be transferable to other countries with high infant mortality and maternal deaths.
As I stated previously, Michael is a Mensch. He learned to give and to serve from his parents. He gives large and he gives without fanfare. He is modest in his acts of Tzedahkah. But most importantly he truly models the Talmudic passage “whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.”
Along with Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates, Bloomberg has vowed to give away half of his total wealth for philanthropic use before his death, or upon his death.
Michael Bloomberg may not be able to save New Yorkers from themselves, but almost every initiative he has undertaken to improve health in NYC has been adopted by other US cities. Over time, what seem to be outrageous laws and limits have become commonplace all over America.
In observing a lifetime of Michael Bloomberg’s initiatives in both the public and private spheres, I am reminded of a lesson from Pirke Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers. Hillel said it best "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And when I am only for myself, what am 'I'? And if not now, when?”



Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rose