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Jewish Philanthropist Treats 400 U.S. Soldiers to a Quality Meal

Shlomo Rechnitz was on his way to Israel when he saw the opportunity to give tzedakah

by
Hannah Vaitsblit
November 20, 2015
Zoom Dosso/AFP/Getty Images
U.S. soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) salute during the ceremonial folding and stowing of the flag at the Barclay Training Camp (BTC) in Monrovia, Liberia, February 26, 2015.Zoom Dosso/AFP/Getty Images
Zoom Dosso/AFP/Getty Images
U.S. soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) salute during the ceremonial folding and stowing of the flag at the Barclay Training Camp (BTC) in Monrovia, Liberia, February 26, 2015.Zoom Dosso/AFP/Getty Images

In the true spirit of tzedakah, and the Jewish propensity to feed everything that moves, Los Angeles-based entrepreneur and philanthropist (and Mir Yeshiva grad) Shlomo Rechnitz jumped at the opportunity to buy hearty meals for an army of 400 on Wednesday. During a stopover in Shannon, Ireland, on his way to visit Israel, Rechnitz, a healthcare businessman and serial do-gooder in the Jewish community, noticed hundreds of U.S. soldiers noshing, on, well, pretty shvach provisions. Rechnitz wanted to provide them with an upgrade, and after negotiating with their commander, he gifted up to $50 for each solider to use at a restaurant of their choosing.

Beaming with gratitude, Rechnitz thanked the soldiers for protecting him, his family, and Israel. “I just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart,” he told the troops, to a standing ovation.

“I’ll take it off my taxes, don’t worry,” Rechnitz added, jokingly. Seems pretty kosher to me.

Hannah Vaitsblit is an intern at Tablet.