Robert Kraft attending the UJA-Federation of New York Sports For Youth 2016 Luncheon (Steve Mack/Getty Images).
Robert Kraft, the Jewish CEO of the New England Patriots, made a point of addressing antisemitism in a Super Bowl ad he funded through his foundation. Let’s talk about Robert Kraft, his foundation, and his ad. Part of covering a heritage month through the lens of the NFL also includes key events in that community, even when they’re uncomfortable.
A Little About Robert Kraft
Kraft was born into a Jewish family in 1941. His mother, Sarah, is actually a Canadian-born native. His father, Harry, was a dress manufacturer and a leader at Congregation Kehillath Israel, a synagogue in Brookline, Massachusetts. Robert’s family was part of the modern Orthodox Jewish movement. Harry wanted Robert to grow up and be a rabbi. Not quite, Harry, not quite.
Robert Kraft has had quite the past, but we’re keeping it focused. I love accountability and transparency as much as the next person. However, we have a goal for this article, and people are multi-dimensional; everyone is a mixture of good and bad.
The New England Patriots CEO and family attended the Emmanuel Temple as a family while his first wife, Myra Hiatt, was alive with their four sons. Robert may still attend this synagogue now.
Faith-Oriented Philanthropy
You can say a lot about Robert Kraft, but he always puts his money where his mouth is. He’s very rich, and he shares it, which is an admirable thing. A lot of his donations over the year have been faith-based, and we’re going to discuss them here considering NFL money probably contributed to quite a bit of it.
Although some of his contributions have been interfaith, many focus on his Jewish heritage. For example, in 1989, the husband-wife team set up a special fund in collaboration with the Center for Jewish Progress of Greater Boston that helped parents pay to send their teenagers to Israel. He also donated $10 million to the CJP so they could renovate their headquarters in downtown Boston.
In Israel, the Kraft’s built a stadium in Israel and created the Kraft Family Israel Football League. The league is still thriving to this day. It’s not quite a stadium, but the Kraft family also built the Jewish place of worship on Columbia’s campus with the same white stone used in Jerusalem in 2000.
Kraft doesn’t limit his impact to just football. He also co-hosted a game with the Chelsea Football Club owner in 2019, called the “final whistle on hate.” The New England Revolution and Chelsea played to raise money to combat antisemitism. They made $4 million in one match, counting Robert Kraft’s $1 million contribution.
In 2019, Robert actually won the Genesis Prize in Israel! At that event, he promised $20 million to establish a foundation that fights antisemitism. He established the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism in 2022. And that foundation created the ad that this article focuses on.
The Ad of the Article
Robert Kraft was not thrilled about recent antisemitic sentiments shared in the media. Between Charlottesville, Ye, and Kyrie Irving, the CEO had had enough. We all saw the 30-second ad that played during the Super Bowl, and if you haven’t, you’ll have the chance to watch it today.
Kraft sent a beautiful message by choosing Dr. Clarence B. Jones to be the focus of the commercial, with him mentioning what he would say to his dear friend Martin about current events. Martin being MLK, of course. The Foundation also included a message against all hate, including people from all different racial backgrounds, with multiple faiths included.
The New England Patriots CEO has always had a big focus on promoting unity between African Americans and Jewish American communities, which is a little shaky at the moment, according to people far smarter than myself. What a beautiful goal and commercial!
Obviously, there is a lot of controversy around a lot of these topics right now, world-wide. We won’t be going in-depth on any of these topics. On that note, let’s all do our part to stop the hate, shall we?
For more Jewish American Heritage Month content, look here. May is also Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and that content can be viewed here. If you didn’t catch all of last month’s Arab American Heritage Month articles, make sure to do that here.
