By: Sandy Eller
Brooklyn, NY - A prominent Chilean businessman known for his generosity was the talk of the town this past Monday night in Williamsburg, after he treated dozens of local residents to dinner at a neighborhood eatery.
Leonardo Julio Farkas Klein was doing business in Manhattan on Monday and concluded his day with a trip to Brooklyn in search of a minyan.
“He had yarhtzeit so he went to the Satmar Shul on Rodney Street,” Ari Berkowits, owner of Grill on Lee, told VIN News. “He told a few people after davening that he wanted people to come and eat l’iluy nishmas. He asked where he could go to eat and they sent him to my place, just a few blocks away.”
According to Berkowits, the 46 year old philanthropist walked into his Lee Avenue restaurant at about 9 PM and announced that he was treating everyone to dinner.
“There were people inside, people standing outside and he said that anyone should take whatever they like, it is on his cheshbon,” said Berkowits. “People were eating grilled chicken, steaks, rib steaks, whatever they wanted. He paid for a lot of food for a lot of people and everyone had a great time. People were waiting to pay and he said to them, ‘no, I will pay for you. You just eat and make a bracha.’”
One diner at Grill on Lee informed Farkas about a large Hatzolah event that was taking place nearby and asked him if he might be interested in feeding the Hatzolah members who were working there as well.
“He said ‘Sure,’ and asked us how many people there were and we told him it was about thirty to forty people,” said Berkowits. “He had us pack up sandwiches for everyone.”
Farkas, who is known for his habit of distributing 5,000 peso bills to strangers on the street, as well as tipping extremely generously in restaurants, gave each of the store’s workers $400 in cash.
“They were all so impressed,” recalled Berkowits. “They may occasionally get a $5 tip, a $10 tip…but $400?”
Berkowits estimated that Farkas stayed at Grill on Lee for approximately an hour, talking with diners and enjoying his meal which included both cowboy steak and baby chicken.
“He tasted a little bit of everything,” reported Berkowits. “He said he loved the food and never tasted baby chicken like this in his entire life.”
Farkas, who contemplated a run for Chile’s presidency in 2008, is a colorful figure in his home country and is well known for his philanthropy. The son of Hungarian Jews who emigrated to South America in 1939, Farkas previously made a living as a piano player and currently owns four mines that export three million tons of iron ore annually to China, according to reports in the New York Times. Farkas is said to be the first mine owner in northern Chile to pay his employees a fair wage, supports sixteen girls’ orphanages and drew national attention in 2008 when he donated an unprecedented amount of $2 million in a telethon to benefit handicapped children. Farkas made headlines again in 2010 when he gave five million pesos, over $10,000, to each of the thirty three miners who were trapped in the San Jose mine collapse in Chile.
