Family Wealth Report publishes this heartfelt opinion from one of the most respected and long-standing figures in the North American wealth management sector, Charles Lowenhaupt, (pictured).

Wealthy American Jews are facing challenges they have never before faced. These go beyond the demands of building functionality in their families, dealing with substantial amounts of wealth as members of the Billionaire Clubs, finding good investments, and leading lives of productivity. 

Suddenly their Judaism is challenged in ways it has not been for many years, if ever. There is a war in Israel which can divide Jews in this country. There are politicians – mayors and others – expressing the ancient tropes of antisemites and pitting Islam against Judaism. College campuses seem infused with antisemitism. Any tourist in Europe or New York can find him/herself in the midst of a pro-Palestinian demonstration. The often only occasional trip to Temple or Synagogue, whether in Brooklyn or St Louis, is surrounded by guards and focused on security.

The Jewish family of wealth cannot easily escape its Jewish identity no matter how assimilated. Like the Jews of Germany in the thirties, even the most established wealthy Jew is in fact considered Jewish by neighbors and friends. There is no escaping birth regardless of the amount of wealth. Indeed, the wealthier you are the more likely you are to be seen as part of a religion whose members are trying to dominate the world economy.

How can Jewish wealth holders help themselves and their families live in respect and functionality with their Judaism? Denying it is not likely to work as learned by Jews throughout the Diaspora whether in Germany, the Arab World, or the USSR. Nor is trying to escape antisemitism by moving to those places we always considered secure – the US, Canada, Australia or England. And moving a family to Israel today is hardly seen as secure by most American Jews.

To meet these challenges, wealthy families need to address some of the issues as families of wealth – regardless of religion. How to instill values shared by the family, how to build functionality and harmony even in disagreement, how to tie wealth to community (without which wealth is just about spending money), and how to define family legacy.

Looking to Judaism itself helps meet those challenges. No intense education in Torah, no Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah, no capacity to speak Hebrew is required, and the opportunities are available to Orthodox Jews, Reform Jews, Secular Jews and Jews of mixed marriages. All it takes is the ability to say “I am Jewish” and many of the difficulties of having great wealth can be mastered without distinction by generation or amounts of wealth.

The legacy of thousands of years of being written in the book of life is enshrined in Judaism. The ethics and standards that have given Jews resilience over their existence through centuries are there ready to accept with the simple statement “I am Jewish.” Building harmony is required if we are to have the disagreements we have as Jews and yet continue to recognize that we are one people. What family can design its own legacy for as long as we can define our legacy as Jews over thousands of years.

Finally, and importantly, we as Jews are a community. The Diaspora itself has placed us around the world in countries as distant as Israel, Russia, Ukraine, all of the former Soviet Union, Turkey, Morrocco, France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Switzerland, Iran, India, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, and many outposts too legion to name. As one community it is always and always has been our responsibility to each other which underlies who we are. “I am Jewish” is and can be said in every language. Helping others who say “I am Jewish” has been what we have done for centuries.

There are wonderful opportunities to meet that responsibility for a wealthy family. Engagement in Israel is one. Another is recognizing ways to help Diaspora Jews. Most impactful is engagement with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee which for 111 years has been helping not only vulnerable Jews in the land of Israel through social services but also Jews in Diaspora communities large and small and near and far. An earthquake in Myanmar, a flood in Argentina, displaced persons after the Holocaust, Jews living in the Ottoman Empire, Holocaust survivors in Ukraine. Anyone who can say “I am a Jew” and in any language has available the services of the “Joint.”

We are one community regardless of the language we speak, regardless of our social status, regardless of whether we are observant or never enter a synagogue. And we all share legacy, values and community.

So with all the talk of vision and mission statements, of family values, of family harmony, and of family legacy, perhaps all the wealthy Jewish family needs are three simple words from which all else can follow: “We are Jewish.”

About the author
Charles Lowenhaupt is chairman and partner of Lowenhaupt & Chasnoff, LLC, a St Louis law firm. Lowenhaupt has written a number of books about wealth management, including The Chase Continues: Freedom From Wealth As You Age; The Wise Inheritor’s Guide to Freedom From Wealth; Freedom From Wealth: The Experience and Strategies to Help Protect and Grow Private Wealth.