JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

Hillel at GWU lost $6,000 in Madoff scheme

By Jacob Berkman · January 12, 2009

The Hillel outpost at George Washington University lost about $6,000 of its small endowment that it had invested with Bernard Madoff, according to the GW Hatchet.

The amount is about 8 percent of the chapter's endowment. But the outpost has also seen its fund raising drop by about 22 percent overall, leaving it with around a  $36,000 shortfall, according to the student newspaper.

The Hillel outpost at other D.C.-area universities also have been hit by Madoff and the economy.

The largest donor to the Hillel chapter at American University told its executive director that he will have to cut back his donation because of losses he took with Madoff:

Rabbi Kenneth Cohen, director of Hillel at American University, said that while his chapter of Hillel did not have any funds invested with Madoff, several of its donors suffered losses, and its single biggest donor has signaled that he will have to cut back on contributions to Hillel as a result of the situation.

"That has been a philanthropic Pearl Harbor," Cohen said.

Ari Israel, the executive director of Hillel at the University of Maryland, said it is difficult to predict exactly how Maryland's Hillel will be affected, but the group has taken several steps to protect against economic volatility, including cutting costs.