It’s Motzaei Shabbos and the 500 people crowded into the International Ballroom of the Stamford Plaza Hotel are keyed up. They’ve been regaled in body and soul this Shabbos at the Aish HaTorah conference in New York filled up with lavish food and inspiring speeches. And now it’s time for a little fun an opportunity for would-be entrepreneurs to make their pitches in front of seasoned investors. In other words welcome to “The Jewish Shark Tank.” A brainchild of Aish mainstays Rabbi Nechemia Coopersmith and Mrs. Lori Palatnik Aish based its event on Shark Tank a reality program in which would-be entrepreneurs present their business ideas to a panel of hardened investors or “sharks.” The sharks hear out each person’s pitch and then pose challenging questions. If they’re unimpressed by an idea they withdraw; if they like it they’ll offer to exchange a hefty investment for a percentage of the business. If an idea is compelling enough they’ll even fight among themselves for a share. The original Shark Tank became wildly popular feeding into the everyman’s fantasy of coming up with a great invention or idea and finding a rich angel to fund it. The show provides a mini-education in business as well as the astute well-seasoned sharks ask pointed questions like “Did you secure the patents and licensing?” and “What are your current and projected expenses and income?” in addition to the obvious ones like “Who will want to buy this product?” and “Who is your competition?” Shark Tank’s panelists are paid to keep things exciting. They may increase the tension artificially bidding against each other or dressing down presenters and making them squirm. The ambition of everyone involved from the sharks to the presenters to the producers to the advertisers is to make scads of money. But Aish HaTorah’s Rabbi Coopersmith and Mrs. Palatnik don’t seem particularly interested in becoming billionaires. They are however well aware of the need to fund great Jewish outreach initiatives. Hence the novel idea for a Jewish version of Shark Tank: Bring in contestants with ideas for new Jewish organizations and let them compete for tzedakah dollars from Jewish philanthropists. “Our motivation for doing this wasn’t just to raise money but to inspire young Jewish leaders to take initiative and responsibility ” explains Rabbi Coopersmith. “We wanted to inspire not only the people presenting but other young people in the audience as well.” There’s one more caveat: The Aish sharks can’t embarrass or snap at contestants. Humiliation and nasty exchanges are definitely assur in this setting. Perhaps we should call the philanthropists “dolphins” instead of “sharks”?