Moshe Lax is in the diamond business. But really, he’s a musician who’s an author who’s a real estate developer who’s a philanthropist who’s in the diamond business. He’s fought hard to broaden his horizons. And he isn’t done exploring yet
(Photos: Amir Levy)
On the lower level of an elegant Manhattan building near Central Park an electrician crouches near an exposed wire the air heavy with the smell of paint and sawdust. In a small office to the side designers sit in glass-enclosed rooms reviewing plans colorful prints spread out before them.
My host walks quickly through the commotion answering instructing joking with a food-delivery boy: It’s not our first meeting or even our second. I’ve been after this interview since the first time I met him in November and at this point I know enough to understand that Moshe Lax is in his zone: To him the opportunity to be creative to make new things happen isn’t just a real estate developer’s tool. It’s what makes him who he is.
Industry analysts describe his plans for this particular building as visionary and innovative but if you look closely you can see that his face is colored not by ambition but by a childlike delight: He’s building something new. That’s what it’s always been about.
The first time I met him months earlier at the Trump victory party he intrigued me. It had been a long long night and I’d passed some time by locating the yarmulkes — and there was no shortage — identifying the various frum attendees at that gathering. I noticed the unfamiliar young man and tried to peg him and his role. He didn’t have the smug self-satisfied air of a donor but rather appeared bashful. He didn’t seem to be a business associate — he wasn’t doing the back-slapping loud-laughter drinks-at-the-bar thing with fast-talking New York real estate types. I’d covered the campaign for long enough to know that he wasn’t part of the political team.
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