Dear Mr. Madoff,
Having kissed my daughter goodnight, I sat in the final quietude of the raucous street crowd’s secular New Year’s celebration. I could not help but hear her earlier words as we watched the fireworks in Central Park from the roof of our building.
Standing in the bitter cold, this eleven year old, in all her innocence, hugged me tightly and with sheer glee yelled, “Mama, this is the greatest night! I watched the ball drop, I finished my art project, and the fireworks were the best ever! I love you so much, Mama.”
I thought, oh, if that joy could only follow her through life. I knew, however, that life’s experiences would eventually diminish that sense of simplistic wonderment.
I made the excuse that my wet eyes were due to the cold. But the truth is, Mr. Madoff, my wet eyes were the result of the underlying sadness that only an adult can understand. My daughter will one day be confronted with the devastation your actions have wrought upon her and the world. She will have to face the reality and the effect of our personal monetary losses.
You see, Mr. Madoff, the money I was lucky to have inherited from my late beloved mother was to be for our future. I was not a rich person, Mr. Madoff. The money that was invested with you, however, made me feel privileged. I thought the future would be O.K.
But everything is not O.K., Mr. Madoff, and I will tell you why.
My precious daughter is blessed to attend the Ramaz School. For the past six years Ramaz has educated and nurtured her mind and spirit. Carefully effecting a curriculum that supports the essence of Jewish life – namely, mitzvot, chesed, and tzedakah – Ramaz has upheld Torah learning for the many children who one day will become pillars of the Jewish community here and throughout the world.
What do I tell my daughter, Mr. Madoff, that will help her understand what happened, that will help her to internalize the utter contradiction between your behavior and what she is learning at Ramaz about Jewish ethics? How can I explain to her the magnitude of such horrific dealings and the very real possibility that its negative impact could affect her and her peers for a lifetime?
My daughter will soon be old enough to understand the implications of your actions beyond her own little world, Mr. Madoff. As a mother (rather than your client), my dilemma will be in trying to overcome the embarrassment and heartbreak you have brought upon our people, while attempting to allay my fears of the future and make everything right for my daughter now.
Mr. Madoff, if I were face to face with you now I would, as a member of both Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun and the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, ask you how you could have continued to manipulate my fellow members while maintaining a charade as a traditional if not an observant Jew.
I would ask you how you could relax and spend a day of pleasure at a country club, knowing full well that your smiling friends, most of them leaders in their chosen fields, were being played for fools.
I would ask you how you could sit on the boards of educational and charitable institutions without squirming in your seat with the knowledge that your deeds belied your words.
I am basically an insignificant person in the scope of the world’s movers and shakers. But I am a single mother, blessed at a later stage in life with a child for whom I have dreams and hopes. My life experiences and education have allowed me a unique perspective in raising my daughter, but in this case, Mr. Madoff, I am at loss for the right words.
Perhaps you can explain to my child and all the other children (including your children’s children) what horrors in your life caused you so much internal pain that you were compelled to inflict the same on so many. There must be a deeper reason than just greed to account for your destruction of so much good that could have been accomplished through the generosity of those you let down.