Dear Yeshiva University Community,
I would like to speak with you, members of the Yeshiva University Community, about recent events in the news. As a result of the last week’s revelations regarding Bernard Madoff, much concern and speculation has arisen regarding Yeshiva University. I write to you to make our situation clear.
Before going further let me reassure you:
1. The University is financially strong.
2. Be assured that our levels of scholarships and financial aid will not diminish.
3. Yeshiva University staff pensions are not impacted by this revelation.
4. Our leadership, faculty and students are engaged and advancing.
5. We will learn all appropriate lessons from this experience.
6. We have been engaged over the last two months in reviewing our budgets to seek ways to cut our operating costs due to global economic realities. We will continue to do so and remain committed to advancing our crucial mission of providing an education that ennobles and enables our students
Bernard Madoff is no longer associated with our institution in any way. The University had no investments directly with Madoff. Last Thursday night, we were informed by Ascot Partners, a vehicle in which we had invested a small part of our endowment funds for 15 years, that substantially all its assets are invested with Madoff. The Ascot fund was managed by J. Ezra Merkin who has served as a University trustee and chairman of the investment committee. Mr. Merkin has resigned from all University positions.
In the most recent statement from Ascot, Yeshiva’s investment was valued at about $110 million, which represents about 8% of our endowment. While these facts are disappointing, we need to remain focused on the larger picture. We are but one of many institutions and individuals that have been impacted.
Let me be clear regarding our financial position: the University’s endowment, taking into account the Ascot loss, is currently estimated to be approximately $1.2 billion, down from approximately $1.7 billion on January 1, 2008. That loss of 28%, calendar year-to-date, compares with an S&P loss of 38% and Dow Jones loss of 32%. While certainly this represents a painful decline, we are in the same or better position as many universities. Although this decreased endowment must factor into our long term fiscal plans, it will have minimal impact on day-to-day operations. Total income from endowment last year represented 13% of the University’s operating income. Much more critical to our future health is the continued level of financial support from the YU family, philanthropists, and friends. So, while we are in a healthy and strong position to move forward, we must use the moment to address all concerns that this situation has illuminated.
In light of recent developments, we have decided to examine our existing conflicts policies and procedures, and governance structures to assist us in this process. We have engaged Sullivan & Cromwell and Cambridge Associates, internationally renowned and respected institutions with recognized expertise in corporate and institutional governance, to ensure that our policies and procedures and structure reflect not only best practices, but the gold standard — the standard to which we aspire for all our endeavors. We will be working closely with our advisors over the coming weeks and months and I’m confident that we’ll emerge stronger than ever.
I must add a more personal thought. We all should use these times to reflect on our blessings but also to reflect on our responsibilities. We should constantly be communally introspective and focus on advancing our ideals. The times are appropriate for us to focus on our core values, to practice and refine them and to share them with the world. We can and should always advance. Yeshiva University is committed to engaging in that conversation with other people of good will. I thank you for your interest, commitment and support.
Sincerely,
Richard M. Joel
President, Yeshiva University
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24 Responses
The most important part of this message was Mr. Joel’s “personal thought. We all should use these times to reflect on our blessings but also to reflect on our responsibilities. We should constantly be communally introspective and focus on advancing our ideals.”
These are tough times. Our schools (at least in my neck of the woods) are witnessing steep increases in requests for tuition assistance; the Tomchei Shabbos is working hard; another local mosad has appealed to the community for help; and even the Jewish Federation, which in our town gives money also to the yeshivos as well as the community day schools, is begging for more – requests for hot kosher meals for the elderly have skyrocketed in recent weeks.
So, I submit, respectfully, that before we respond with another criticism on either this or any other string on YWN, we ask ourselves: have we been sufficiently grateful to HaShem for His blessings today? Have we reflected sufficiently and acted to fulfill our responsibilities today? Have we focused on how we can assist our community, whether it be our yeshiva, kollel, shul, Tomchei Shabbos, senior citizens home, today? And maybe, just maybe, in those few seconds, we will either (a) find something to be grateful for, (b) find a way to help someone else, (c) identify a way to give to the k’lal. And, maybe even better, during those seconds, the urge to release unkind words will evaporate, and only kindness and good things will leave our finger-tips.
John Markstein
NOT 1 WORD ABOUT HASHEM
this is a excellent point.
That loss of 28%, calendar year-to-date, compares with an S&P loss of 38% and Dow Jones loss of 32%
very honest, i like it
I think this highlights that we should never dangle temptation in front of someone, for fear that it might be to great for him to overcome it.
The Yeshiva Insider
Just a minor point, perhaps, but what is the reason for spelling Madoff as Made-off in the headline of this post?
Is this an attempt at humor?
If so, it is quite misplaced in relation to a story such as this.
David Pinto
Yitzy you said it all! YWN should put #2 in large bold print!
No mention of strengthening our commitment to Torah learning and mitzvo observance or of davening better and behaving morally better so that Hashem will act with more rachamim with the school and the rest of k’lal Yisroel. It all about “Kochi v’Otzem Yodi”!!
#10, I hope your joking about the whole davening and behaving morally bit. The ideals and goals that president Joel mentioned are just that; without getting all sappy and preachy. It’s not “Kochi votzem yodi” but rather histadlus.
thank you, #1, for your thoughtful comments. i think that some of the posters here would be well served to focus more energy on introspection and being constructive, and less energy attacking all things YU.
it appears to me that some posters here look for any and every opportunity to bash YU whenever it is mentioned in a news item. being that YU is a large and well-known institution in the jewish world, most people (even in the ‘yeshivishe velt’) know the pro’s and con’s of YU, and everyone has their own ‘shitta’ on the matter. therefore, i’m really not sure how it is constructive to continue to bash and attack YU at every opportunity. i suggest that YWN set up a special area (perhaps in the coffee room) where those who have nothing better to do than bash YU can do so on their own, without having to subject the rest of us to their tired rhetoric.
i will be the first to admit that i don’t think YU is perfect (as many people within YU, probably including richard joel himself, would agree), most of us in the ‘yeshivishe velt’ know that many of our yeshivos and mosdos are not perfect either. many of us know of serious problems of all sorts that have involved some of our best yeshivos/mosdos. we need to remember that “b’middah she’adam moded, kach modedim lo” – we are judged by the same standard by which we judge others.
The statement was candid and classy – a model for other yeshivos.No he did not mention Hashem – this was an accounting of a fraud not a dvar Torah
im surprised that yeshivahworld would cover yu affairs
Zalmy, I know you for a long time, you use the same speech each embarrassing scenario. Please! Who are you fooling no one but yourself! let’s not mix apples and oranges! I won’t get into specifics with you because I don’t believe in dragging out dirt from others especially in a public forum, but please this is about honesty and “core Values” not about making a big cholent!
If many of the posters here define themselves as “heimesh”, then count me out. Aren’t their comments total loshon hora against an entire institution? This from people who well know that the heimishe community has been caught with it’s hands in the cookie jar many times. In fact, it isn’t YU that did anything wrong, it was Madoff. And for many Yidden, YU has provided them with many valuable assets in the education field, such as advanced degrees in law, social work, business, and so many Rabbis from REITS. BTW, did you know that the guys at REITS wear black hats!
So much for the achdus that many were talking about as recently as a week ago.
Zalmy, very well articulated. In fact, it seems like it needs to be served up with a big spoon to mr. proud of KAJ WH TIDE. Somehow his pride blinds him to the ideas such as anava-yirah association and taking a bit too much pleasure in problems that others face.
Well, since Mr. Madoff seems to be possibly the biggest ganof in history, it is indeed fitting to discuss what it means to us as Jews for him to have been sitting on the board of a major Orthodox Jewish institution all the time he was stealing 50 billion dollars from widows and orphans.
I think Richard Joel should surely have said something about how robbery is, maybe, wrong. Instead of just explaining how little fault he had in his university losing $150 million in this scam, which might be true.
There have been quite a few MO wrongdoers decorating the headlines of the NY Times lately, and the Orthodox writers usually just give them a pass. Abramov. Some guy in NJ really going wild. It all gets a pass, while I think you have at least to label bad as bad. It’s not lashon hara once the guy is openly known to have been an unbelievable robber.
I think this letter is refreshingly forthright. Its purpose was to apprise the YU community about the state of affairs, especially in light of rumors that were going around as to how much money was lost, the possible need to raise tuition to make up for the loss etc. This allays those fears. As to #2’s comment, sometimes the word ‘Hashem” does not need to appear in a document for it to be imbued with Hashem. And sometimes a statement (such as yours at #2 above for instance) can mention Hshem and actually be the exact opposite. If you are looking for meanigless lipservice then look somewhere else. If you are looking for an appropriate substantive response to a crisis, which response absolutely does not run counter to Torah values, then this is it. It would be nice if all institutions were as open in the face of this type of loss.
#18 -YU was ripped off by this person to the tune of $110,000,000. I think it is safe to say Mr. Joel, YU, and anyone intended to read this letter knows robbery is wrong. That is not the point of the letter. Mr. Madoff is 70 years old and fooled many many people and institutions including YU for a long time, and his presence on their Board until this point does not reflect poorly on YU anymore than the presence of anyone else who had a chezkas kashrus. Obviously once they found out he was a crook he was immediately removed. A real discussion would be in a situation if there was a “known crook” who sits on a Board, which was never the case here. Finally, I do not really think that the hashkafos of criminals matters to the NY Times, or the rest of the world. Certainly no one is giving Madoff “a pass” because he might be MO, or for any other reason.
Whenever an institution has to shout at the top of their lungs that there is nothing to worry about and everything is fine, it usually means that there is much to worry about and nothing is fine…
Sure the S&P and Dow Jones are down. But, with Hashem’s help, they can go back up. YU’s 28% portion is gone forever.
#19 what kind of nonsense are you perpetuating! Do you honestly mean to say that YU will kick out of their mosdos anyone who violates the Torah and is equal to a “crook”. As if other violations of the Torah that are doing B’ichadrei chadarim is not a chilul Hashem? Who in the world are you fooling but yourself? I wont spell it out on a public forum but stop the big lie!
Oiberchuchum,
Clearly you are not what your name suggests. If YU has lost less than the S&P and Dow Jones, then they can switch all their assets across to equities now, and they will have outperformed. Only 6% of the 28% is gone forever through the Madoff scam ($100m of the $500m lost). The rest was with assets that significantly outperformed the equity markets. With Hashem’s help, the remaining assets can continue to outperform an equity benchmark.
#2: Megilas Ester doesn’t either.
From # 19 “And sometimes a statement (such as yours at #2 above for instance) can mention Hashem and actually be the exact opposite.”
Do you always attack without having a way to substantiate your barbs? Or perhaps just when they are clearly unfounded? What was the opposite in #2’s comment? I would tell you to keep your comments to yourself, but I get the impression that sound advice might be something you wouldn’t care for. Maybe you would like to invest with Madoff when he gets his next fund started?
Sorry YWN for being so blunt, but I am loosing patience for such comments that appear all too often on this site.
I don’t agree with the people who displayed grief about “Hashem” or anything Torah-related being mentioned. This letter was to the wide Yeshiva University community, non-Jews included. He is the president of the university – not the Rosh Yeshiva. The intent of this letter was to discuss the financial situation of the university. The letter is fine the way it is.