Lubavitch.com reports:
[...] Funding for the seders comes from several philanthropists including Mr. George Rohr, a long time supporter of Chabad activities, and a gift of $500,000 from energy magnate, Guma Aguiar. This is the second consecutive year that Aguiar, 31, has been a major sponsor of Chabad’s global Passover campaign.
Aguiar became excited about this project last year and contributed towards what is now the world’s largest collective Pesach seder in the world. As a result, he said, "Chabad leaders and I have realized what a truly sacred honor it is to partner together with each other on this project." [...]
[...] Funding for the seders comes from several philanthropists including Mr. George Rohr, a long time supporter of Chabad activities, and a gift of $500,000 from energy magnate, Guma Aguiar. This is the second consecutive year that Aguiar, 31, has been a major sponsor of Chabad’s global Passover campaign.
Aguiar became excited about this project last year and contributed towards what is now the world’s largest collective Pesach seder in the world. As a result, he said, "Chabad leaders and I have realized what a truly sacred honor it is to partner together with each other on this project." [...]
I liked it more when Guma and Tropper paid for my boyfriend and me to go to a California retreat, The scenery was great, the food very delicious (Jersey Girl, Do you still have the menu ?), Great wines, I finished a full bottle of White Zif (mevushal).
ReplyDeleteGuma and Tropper also provided us with a guest room with great view and one big king bed and we had a lot of fun...
Thank you Tropper and Guma for the memories….
Dear Rabbis Bomzer, Lipshits, Lubavitch.Com and Rabbi Kotlarsky!
ReplyDeleteI thank you from the bottom of my heart to give me the title of a jew even if i do not need to keep any shabbat! That R. tropper was such a pain in the neck. Even if I gave him so much money, he did not want to convert me. He gave me this song and dance about "keeping shabbat, not driving on the sabbath", going to the ritual bath once a month and so many more hardships. Guma is so grateful to you guys. I'll get you more people who are interested in this deal. They''ll give you buildings, projects in change for your certificate of a "jew" for all mu shikshikssah pals! You are great!
Tropper,
ReplyDeleteI guess times are hard for you too, Guma and Jammie left you for a Chabbad rabbi, your partner in crime in the Slifkin ban is going to jail for 8 years.
The Silver lining is that rav Bomzer is still around so you can blame him for all your problems.
From the following article we can glean that it is Guma and probabaly with wife Jamie Aguiar who are in FULL control of the Lillian Jean Kaplan Foundation, which is why that organization no longer supports Tropper and EJF and its name is no longer mentioned in association with Tropper/Kol Yaakov yeshiva/Horizons/EJF.
ReplyDeleteThe loss of Guma and his e$$nan zonah money for Tropper, is one of the biggest blows and humiliations that Tropper has ever suffered, with questions still not answered about how Guma could have been allowed to run and control EJF while Guma's wife Jamie was not converted EJF-style?
Two $64,000 questions are: What is going on with uncle Tom Kaplan, Guma's uncle, is he still involved with Troppper and EJF as he used to be, or has seen the light that Tropper spells trouble? And, what is the religious status and self-identity of Ellen Kaplan, the sister of uncle Tom and Guma's mom who, with Guma can be classed as apostates since they preached and practiced Chritian Evanglicalism and Ellen married Otto, Guma's father who is a gentile but supposedly later converted, so that the question is if Ellen and Otto are still praticing Juda`ism or have they slipped back into Christianity?
Full report from JTA.org as it was published, see words in bold for important leads:
"Aguiar gives $500,000 for free Chabad seder program
By Jacob Berkman · April 2, 2009
Leor Energy CEO Guma Aguiar, who has emerged in recent months as a major player in the Jewish philanthropy world, has given $500,000 over the past year to Chabad-Lubavitch for its rabbis to run free Passover Seders all over the world.
In recent months, Aguiar has also made contributions to Nefesh B'Nefesh ($8 million), The March of the Living ($500,000), and Chabad in South Florida ($500,000).
Here’s the release.
CHABAD LUBAVITCH
March 31, 2009
Thousands To Accept Classic Passover Invite: "Whoever is hungry, let him come and eat"
Free Passover 'Seder' for Tens of Thousands Worldwide Through Major Gift of Guma Aguiar
(JERUSALEM)- Young backpackers, Jews in isolated communities, the poor and the elderly will have a meaningful Passover 'Seder' on April 8, through the efforts of Chabad. The Jewish outreach organization is dispatching nearly 600 rabbis around the globe to 285 destinations such as Cambodia, Peru, Vietnam and Equatorial Guinea to conduct the festive holiday meal in which the story of the Jews' exodus from ancient Egypt is retold. A special Seder will be held in Mumbai, the site of terrorist attacks in November 2008 in which two Chabad emissaries to India were murdered.
The massive operation is made possible by a $500,000 gift from Guma and Jamie Aguiar. The Aguiars donated the same amount in 2008 for this purpose, although anonymously.
"Although I have contributed to many vital causes for years through the Lillian Jean Kaplan Foundation which I chair," the young energy entrepreneur explained, "The time has come to make these gifts public as a way of encouraging so many other caring Jews to step up to the plate during these extremely challenging economic times."
In addition to $1 million for the Passover campaign in the past 12 months, Aguiar also made contributions to: Nefesh B'Nefesh ($8 million) which assists North American Jews who move to Israel; The March of the Living ($500,000), a 10,000-strong gathering at former Nazi concentration camps in Poland which will this year protest the anti-Semitism occurring simultaneously in Geneva at the so-called Durban II conference; and Chabad in South Florida ($500,000) to a local Center in honor of the birth of the Aguiars' third child.
"We are committed to fulfilling our leader's call to enable every Jew in the world to participate at a Seder, and Chabad is the only organization in the world with an infrastructure capable of reaching so many far-flung people," said Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice-chair of Chabad's educational division, "It is mind-boggling to see 2,000 young Jews attending one of our heart-warming events in a place like Nepal."
Aguiar, founder of Leor Energy in 2003, was lauded worldwide for his stunning success in identifying one of the largest North American natural gas deposits discovered in decades. He was proclaimed by Oil and Gas Investor Magazine in 2008 as the “top executive in the world.” Since that time, he has devoted his resources to Jewish causes across the world."