Rabbi Yehuda Albin says he often tells donors to give a bigger gift elsewhere than the one he receives.
1. Jewish Philanthropy Podcast profiles Rabbi Yehuda Albin and his work at the intersection of Torah learning, counseling, and fundraising.
2. Host David M. Cohen introduces Rabbi Yehuda Albin as a rabbi, lawyer, fundraiser, therapist, and author, and Albin matters because he runs Torah Hub and the Ember Foundation.
3. The episode asks how a rabbi from Scarsdale and Jerusalem became a "concierge rabbi" for business people in Chicago.
4. Albin says he grew up in Scarsdale, New York, went to Scarsdale Public High School, and studied chemistry and economics at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.
5. He says Bowdoin had only about 1,200 students, around 100 Jewish students, and maybe four who admitted it publicly.
6. He describes going to Israel and spending about 10 years there after finding himself at Yeshiva Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem.
7. Albin names teachers and mentors including Rabbi Uziel Malevsky, Rabbi Ephraim Greenbaum, Rabbi David Gottlieb, Rabbi Mendel Weinbach, Rabbi Natan Schiller, and Rav Nachman Blumen.
8. He says Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach told him to learn three to four hours a day if he left Jerusalem to do kiruv outside Eretz Yisrael.
9. He explains that he returned to the United States, worked for Ohr Somayach from 1994 until the end of 2006, and learned with people while fundraising from them.
10. He says his model is called "executive learning," but he prefers to let students decide what to give and not make the sessions fundraising intensive.
11. Albin says he looks for "the hook where I can help them" by listening to each person's interests before money is discussed.
12. He says many high-net-worth people are used to rabbis coming for money, so he tells them directly that the relationship is "really about the learning."
13. He says many sessions are pre-prepared materials, while some students want him to study something new with them each week.
14. He says some people mostly want conversation like psychotherapy, and he still tries to offer at least one Torah comment so they feel they received something from him.
15. Albin says his work is a success when people wear tefillin regularly, attend Orthodox synagogues, or recognize that their beliefs are already Torah-concordant.
16. He says the Ember Foundation supports seven organizations, including NCSY, JSU, a Jewish education team, and Torah Hub.
17. He explains that the foundation's profits are split among an emergency reserve, outreach expansion, and gifts to other organizations.
18. The conversation stays informal and reflective, with Cohen interrupting often to clarify terms and Albin answering with practical examples and personal detail.
19. People interested in Jewish outreach, charitable strategy, and Orthodox communal work will get the most from this episode.
20. People looking for celebrity stories or light entertainment will probably skip it.
