‘I want $18 million’: Park Avenue Synagogue raises huge sum for support of Israel
Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove inspired his flock to dig deep — and use their smartphones
Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue on the bimah, Friday, Oct. 13. Courtesy of Park Avenue Synagogue
By PJ Grisar October 15, 2023
During Friday night services, Elliot Cosgrove of the Park Avenue Synagogue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan did something unusual for a Conservative rabbi: He asked his congregants to take out their phones. From there, he directed them to scan a QR code on their Shabbat pamphlets.
“I have two goals for this moment: both audacious, both doable,” Rabbi Cosgrove said from the bimah. “First, I want 100%. Second: I want $18 million.”
The QR codes and the fundraising, Cosgrove admitted in a phone interview Sunday, were unconventional. The Conservative movement usually prohibits raising money and using smartphones on Shabbat. But Cosgrove applied the concept to the rabbinic principle of pikuach nefesh, in which saving a life trumps strict observance of the Sabbath. As for the $18 million ask, Cosgrove spent the days before “working the phones,” appealing to dozens of groups that went on trips to Israel through the shul and having them coordinate within their cohorts. His initial request for donations appeared in an Oct. 7 email — the first one he ever sent on Shabbat in his time in the rabbinate.
By the time Cosgrove asked his flock to pull out their phones on Shabbat, the congregation had already raised $16 million for the UJA-Federation of New York’s Israel Emergency Fund, responding to a Hamas-instigated war that has now claimed 1,300 Israeli lives. The overall campaign has raised over $75 million for supporting residents in Southern Israel as well as hospitals, soldiers and their families and humanitarian services for Bedouins and Arab Israelis and more. Rabbi Cosgrove invited those in the pews, and those watching the livestream at home, to add to the pot to reach the symbolic number of $18 million. (The Hebrew word for life – chai – is made of the 8th and 10th letter of the alphabet.)
“We’re traumatized, but we’re not paralyzed,” Cosgrove said. “This is a moment that we, and I personally, and the community, decided to channel all of our anxious energy into action. And the community mobilized in ways that I haven’t seen it before, from an $18 gift from a child in the community to seven-figure pledges, all of it going to the Israel emergency campaign.”
Cosgrove said not one person he approached said “no.”
On Friday night, when the synagogue hosted New York Mayor Eric Adams, Cosgrove explained the long tradition of tzedakah, or charity, recalling how in 1967, his father attended a rally at the Royal Albert Hall in London, where Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovitz requested volunteers to go to Israel during the Six-Day War, to look after volunteers and, if they couldn’t go or support those going, to donate money.
“Every person is obligated, commanded by God, by history, by the bonds of Jewish peoplehood to do whatever they can do to stem the suffering in the darkest of hours,” Cosgrove said.
Cosgrove’s family donated $36,000. More followed — though they had to get the WiFi password to connect to the QR code. Cosgrove ended the evening by leading the congregation in Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem.
By Sunday, the synagogue had raised $17,778,160, but with several pledges putting them toward the $18 million goal.
Alex Sloane, 36 and a member of Park Avenue Synagogue for three decades, said Friday’s service was deeply moving, with standing room-only attendance.
“Sitting here in New York it’s hard to be idle and watch what’s going on over there,” Sloane said.
Of the QR code flourish, and the millions raised, he said it was a testament to Rabbi Cosgrove’s leadership. “The congregation answered the call as they always do,” said Sloane, who donated with his wife.
Park Avenue Synagogue was not alone in supporting Israel. In Charlotte, North Carolina, Temple Israel raised tens of thousands of dollars for Israel’s ambulance and first-responder service. Central Synagogue in Manhattan set up a webpage and emergency relief fund.
“Never before has Jewish community support for Israel been more visible,” Mark Medin, head of fundraising for UJA-Federation of New York, said in a statement, also naming New York’s Central Synagogue and Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun and “dozens of other synagogue congregations and private companies” for rallying support.
“It’s not about recognition. Nobody is getting their name on a plaque,” Cosgrove said. “My fervent hope is that my community continues to give, and that other synagogue communities are inspired to come together and to give to those in need of relief at this moment of crisis.”
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