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Sheldon Adelson – A Fount of Chesed for Las Vegas’ Jewish Visitors

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Billionaire Sheldon Adelson has earned a reputation as a genuine ba’al chesed, thanks to the special accommodations he provides to observant Jewish guests at his Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. As a billionaire casino magnate, Sheldon Adelson has gained worldwide renown for his accumulation of tremendous wealth – more than $24 billion – his unusually successful daily Israeli newspaper, Israel Hayom, generous support of Jewish and other philanthropic endeavors, and huge financial backing of Republican presidential candidates. But most people are probably unaware of the amazing chesed that Adelson performs on a daily basis on behalf of the many Jewish business entrepreneurs and tourists who flock to Las Vegas throughout the year.

In 2001, many Orthodox and traditional Jewish business people who regularly traveled to Las Vegas for trade shows found themselves in need of a large space that would enable them to gather at specific times for minyanim and related religious activity, as well as for Shabbat meals. According to a prominent member of the Sephardic community who represents the shoe industry, “Many of us were staying at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, which had opened just two years earlier, and when we asked the hotel management for a dedicated conference room for our special purposes, they were not accommodating to us, since we were strictly kosher and would not use their caterer. One of my fellow businessmen decided to take some decisive action, and he wrote a letter directly to Sheldon Adelson, who owns the hotel. We were all very pleasantly surprised when Mr. Adelson responded positively, and arranged a spacious conference room for us to use whenever we needed it.”

That conference room – and the gatherings it hosts – has turned out to be a magnet for guests seeking traditional Jewish experiences while spending some time in a city known more for its secular diversions. With tefilla services taking place both daily and on Shabbat, as well as Shabbat meals, the room has at times attracted well over 600 people, who enjoy basking in its luxurious surroundings while reveling in the achdut of a spiritual encounter with their fellow Jews. “In addition to the great value of this conference room for those who regularly use it for mitzvah purposes,” says Jack Dweck, an officer with the Barkai Yeshiva who frequently visits Las Vegas on business, “it has had the side benefit of promoting kiruv rechokim (religious outreach), as quite often non-affiliated Jews who are gambling in the casino on a Friday night will walk by our room, become intrigued by what they see, and then join us for a minyan.”
The Adelson-supplied conference room at the Venetian Hotel has seen its share of memorable occasions over the past eleven years. A massive crowd – with benefactor Sheldon Adelson taking part as well – packed the space for the joyous dedication of a Sefer Torah, which is housed at the Chabad shul in the city. The special day of Shabbat has been graced by the presence of such luminaries as entertainer Dudu Fisher – who enthralled the guests with his melodious leading of the tefillot and extra rounds of singing spirited niggunim – and Israeli Finance Minister Yaakov Ne’eman. On one particularly exhilarating occasion, it was discovered that a contingent of cadets from the Israeli Air Force were in Las Vegas on a joint training mission with the United States Air Force. “We met the major from the IAF,” recalls the representative of the shoe industry, “and, at our invitation, he brought his entire command – more than 100 pilots – to the hotel for Friday night services and the Shabbat seudah. It was quite moving to spend the Shabbat evening together with these young men who would soon be defending the Jewish state.”
As the shoe industry representative explains, the head maître d’ at the Venetian, Barry Tester, has gone way beyond the call of duty to make the Jewish visitors comfortable – undoubtedly in accordance with the directions of Sheldon Adelson. In addition to guaranteeing the absolute availability of the conference room at all appropriate times, Tester has regularly made sure to provide the hotel’s observant clientele with such conveniences as extra kosher food items – from OU-supervised cans of tuna fish to grape juice – that the group may have run out of from their own supply. Furthermore, the hotel management provides special water stations outside the conference room so that the guests can easily wash for netilat yadayim before meals. The Venetian’s management has even gone so far as to change the system of locks on the doors of its guest’s rooms, thus enabling shomer Shabbat visitors to enter and leave their rooms without fear of violating the holy day.

A hard-working entrepreneur since his youth, Boston-born Sheldon Adelson made his first success with the computer trade show COMDEX, which he and several partners developed for the computer industry back in 1979. Eleven years later, the ambitious businessman purchased the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and subsequently constructed the Sands Expo and Convention Center. In the 1990’s, Adelson had the Sands torn down and replaced it with the Venetian, a Venice-themed resort hotel and casino. The hotel is a widely acclaimed showplace, with over 4,000 suites, and a shopping mall with canals, gondolas and singing gondoliers. Adelson also owns casino resorts in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Macau, China; and Singapore.

In 2007, Adelson upended the media landscape in Israel by launching Israel Hayom, a daily newspaper with a right-wing political orientation that is distributed for free. The paper’s runaway success has had a negative impact on two of Israel’s leading newspapers, Yediot Ahronoth and Ma’ariv. Utilizing his wealth to try and unseat Barack Obama from the White House, Adelson has consistently made headlines with his unprecedented donations to Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and to Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

As a proud Jew, Sheldon Adelson has never hesitated to make sizable contributions to causes that promote the welfare of the Jewish people. In 2006, he gave $25 million to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority. With an eye toward the future of Klal Yisrael, the magnanimous business mogul has – since 2007 – contributed $100 million to Birthright Israel, which provides educational and positively-themed trips to Israel at no charge to Jewish youth.

Adelson’s unique generosity has extended to the greater society as well. In addition to donating over $25 million to the Adelson Educational Campus in Las Vegas for a new high school, he has consistently funded the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation. This foundation initiated the Adelson Program in Neural Repair and Rehabilitation with $7.5 million donated to collaborating researchers at ten universities.

With his vast business holdings, Sheldon Adelson has been ranked as the eighth richest American. But he is unquestionably a man who puts his money where his mouth – and heart – are, passionately assisting Jewish and socially worthy causes, and utilizing his flagship Las Vegas hotel to help provide daily spiritual enrichment to hundreds of Jewish travelers.

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