By Jessica Davis, JTNews Correspondent
Seattle Hebrew Academy was one of three organizations recognized on Sept. 16 at former President Bill Clinton’s address, “Embracing Our Humanity: Global Security in the 21st Century,” in which a crowd of about 2,800 filled the seats of Seattle’s Marion Oliver McCaw Hall.
People who came to the talk were made aware of Seattle Hebrew Academy’s Earthquake Rebuilding Fund before Clinton took the stage. The Orthodox Jewish day school needs money to repair severe damage done to its facilities by the 2001 Nisqually earthquake. Many students still attend classes in portable classrooms located on two different campuses.
One-third of the net proceeds earned from the evening with Clinton were intended to go to Seattle Hebrew Academy. Also planned to benefit from the event were non-profit arts groups, American Voices: Foolproof Performing Arts Forum and the Seattle Center Academy.
By press time, however, no net proceeds from the event had been calculated, and event officials believed none would be forthcoming.
According to Marilyn Raichle, the executive director of Foolproof Performing Arts, the organization that hosted the Clinton talk, SHA would receive $30,000 as a part of a donation from a foundation that helped to host the Clinton engagement, but that would be the sum total.
“We were happy to be a beneficiary, but there’s nothing coming through,” said Maislen. He said SHA was still waiting to confirm the $30,000 gift.
The school has earned $7.1 million to date, but still has about $1.5 million — about 20 percent — left to raise. Last year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $100,000.
“This is the hard part now,” said Melissa Rivkin, a volunteer in SHA’s development department.
Construction on the school began in July, and they are now nearing the end of their campaign. On Nov. 2, a rededication will take place on the school grounds thanking those who have donated to the Earthquake Rebuilding Fund. The school is expected to be completely finished by summer 2004.
“It’s going to be a big event,” said Rivkin. “Now we will have a state-of-the-art building.”
“It’s an exciting time,” agreed Marc Maislen, development director of Seattle Hebrew Academy.
Maislen was in the building at the time of the earthquake. Although the structure itself suffered extensive damage, no one was injured. “We made it through,” he said.
It was because of SHA that so many of its supporters went to see Clinton speak.
“Most people I know who went were not big fans of Clinton, but big fans of the Seattle Hebrew Academy,” said Rivkin.
At the event, attendees paid anywhere from $35 at the low end to $2,500 — which included the opportunity to meet the former president and sit at the head table at a post-speech dinner. In his address, Clinton called for an integrated global community in which the nations of the world would share the burdens and benefits that come with increased cooperation. There was no talk about Israel.
“It didn’t embarrass anyone from the Orthodox community,” said Maislen.
Over 20 middle school students from Seattle Hebrew Academy attended the lecture.
Hubert G. Locke, Professor Emeritus, Evans School of Public Affairs welcomed Clinton to Seattle. As Clinton walked on stage, members of the audience cheered out, “We love you, Bill.”
He replied, “You need to calm down, you’ll have me thinking I’m President.”
Clinton started out expressing his gratitude to Washington State for being good to him in the 1992 and 1996 elections. He has found receptive audiences in the state, and has visited twice since moving out of the White House.
“I was always fascinated by the diversity of this place,” said Clinton of Seattle, acknowledging musicians Quincy Jones and Ray Charles who started their careers here as children, and actor Kevin Spacey who got his start in a local theater.
Clinton said he viewed Seattle as a window to the 21st century with its port and technology.
He went on discuss global problems such as world poverty, the AIDS epidemic and the need for an integrated world.
“This is a world of hope and fear,” said Clinton. “The world we live in is highly interdependent.”
The U.S. needs to become partners with countries like North Korea, whose only cash crop is nuclear bombs and missiles, Clinton advised.
“If you live in an interdependent environment, you cannot kill, occupy or jail all of your adversaries, you have to make a deal,” he said. “There’s something to be said about building a world with more friends and fewer terrorists.”
“Probably the worst day of my presidency was when Itzhak Rabin was murdered,” Clinton added.
Clinton does not hold current president George Bush responsible for the collapse of the dot-com market or telecom market. “Those weren’t his fault, neither was the fact that we had 9/11,” he said.
However, Clinton did not hesitate to express his disagreement with the way Bush has given a tax break to people with the highest incomes.
The lecture ended with a question and answer session moderated by Foolproof’s Raichle.
For more information about the Seattle Hebrew Academy, please visit www.seattlehebrewacademy.org