Say Little, Do Much   

BY anybody’s standards, Mr. Reichmann was a wealthy man — at the height of his success, he and his brothers were estimated to possess the fourth-largest family fortune in the world.

Yet his wealth, and even the manner in which it was attained, while always maintaining the strictest adherence to every aspect of halachah, is perhaps the least interesting thing about him. What inspires awe is his attitude toward money. He did not doubt for a moment that his wealth was a gift from Hashem to be used for His purposes.

As such, his financial success left him totally untouched in terms of his self-image. He never viewed himself as anything more or less than another Jew making up the minyan in shul. When a young boy once approached him in shul to show off a fancy new shirt, Mr. Reichmann pointed to his own shirt and said, “I bought it for twelve dollars at Simpsons.”

Someone once complimented him, “Mr. Reichmann, you make everybody feel like a somebody.” He quickly corrected the one offering the praise: “Everyone is a somebody.” Therein lies the secret of how he treated his employees with the same respect and dignity that he showed presidents and prime ministers — no more, no less.