Madoff Scheme Brings to Light Jewish Artifacts
Since Bernard Madoff’s December arrest, victims of his Ponzi scheme have been selling off not only their real estate and their jewelry, but also their Judaica, according to a New York-based auctioneer.
Jonathan Greenstein, whose eponymous company auctions off “rare antique and artisan Judaica” told The New York Post’s Page Six that Jewish artifacts that “haven’t seen the light of day in generations” are going on the block — courtesy of Madoff’s victims.
Case in point: a diamond-encrusted yad dating back to 18th-century Holland and a Torah crown. Greenstein said that these items, slated to be auctioned off on June 8, are owned by Rhea Schindler, the widow of the late Reform movement leader Rabbi Alexander Schindler.
Schindler was the second president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations — the predecessor of the Union for Reform Judaism.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO