By COLlive reporter
American Jewish billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has the means to throw himself a grand Bar Mitzvah, but he chose a modest way to make it happen at the age of 58.
Ackman, co-founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, whose net worth was estimated at $9.3 billion by Forbes, stood to pray in his office on Wednesday.
He had Tefillin wrapped on his left arm and head as he recited the Shema Yisroel, the declaration of Jewish faith.
Standing alongside him was Yossi Farro, a Chabad bochur who is relentless about putting on Tefillin with fellow Jewish men—especially notable ones.
“Mazel tov @BillAckman on your BAR Mitzvah today!” Farro tweeted. “Just wrapped tefillin with Bill Ackman for the first time in his life, one of the world’s most powerful and influential hedge fund managers and a proud Jew.”
Ackman has become one of the leading voices in America against antisemitism and in defense of Israel since the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war with terrorists from Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iran.
Ackman said that his father, Larry Ackman, who passed away in 2022, often encouraged him to do more, repeatedly saying, “You’re not doing enough about antisemitism.”
“One of Larry’s final letters urged Bill to take the threat of antisemitism seriously, which has become increasingly prevalent since October 7th,” Farro wrote.
Reflecting on that day, Bill Ackman remarked, “Good comes from bad. October 7th has united the global Jewish community like never before.”
“Today, we wrapped tefillin as Proud Jews in memory of the 1,200 innocent souls who were taken just because they were Jewish,” Farro wrote.
Ackman later retweeted the photos and commented: “I am not a particularly religious person, but I have always believed it makes sense to hedge.”
Apparently, even a skeptic likes a little divine insurance…
I am not a particularly religious person, but I have always believed it makes sense to hedge. https://t.co/awWMMPZQ3e
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) October 9, 2024
THANK U AND MOSHIACH NOW!
Wow, where was this done? Looks like at his office?
I am tempted to say in half jest, that he is the most improved Jew of 5784. Of course that would be unfair. There are many Jews, most of them unknown, who have done wonderful things this year and Hashem knows most.
Still Mr. Ackman is seriously to be praised for the good things he has done publicly, as a Jew, this past year. And it keeps on getting better into 5785.
Thank you Mr Ackman for being such a great role model in supporting Jewish ideals. May you continue to go from strength to strength.
Yossi Farro
Your incredible!
Continued Hatzlacha
Your fans down under
Nice job Billy, they should bring him to the Kinnus.
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump organized a private meeting in New York last Wednesday with Qatar’s prime minister and a bipartisan group mostly of Jewish businessmen and billionaires, three sources with direct knowledge of the meeting tell Axios.
Kushner organized Wednesday’s lunch at Coco’s, a members-only restaurant in the General Motors Building in Manhattan. Among the participants: Bill Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management hedge fund Mark Rowan, founder of Apollo Global Management Robert Kraft, owner of the NFL’s New England Patriots Marc Lasry, CEO of Avenue Capital Group and former co-owner of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks Daniel Och, founder of Och-Ziff Capital Management hedge fund Barry Sternlicht, chairperson of Starwood Capital Group Dan Senor, author and former adviser to Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential campaign Josh Kopelman, founder of First Round Capital Gary Ginsberg, lawyer,… Read more »