Tag Archives: Israelis

Jews of the Week: Marcel and Sylvan Adams

Canadian-Israeli Mega Donors

Marcel Adams and Sylvan Adams

Meir Marcel Abramovici (1920-2020) was born to a traditional Jewish family in Romania and became a leather tanner like his father. After three years in Nazi labour camps, he escaped to Turkey, and then to Israel, where he fought in the War of Independence. A few years later, he moved to Canada and got a job working at a Quebec tannery, where his boss told him to change his last name to “Adams”. Once he saved a little bit of money he began investing in real estate. In 1958, Adams became a full-time real estate investor and founded Iberville Developments. Today, the company has over 100 shopping centres, residential buildings, and industrial properties across Canada and the US. Before he passed away, Adams was the world’s second-oldest billionaire, and a noted philanthropist. He established Tel Aviv University’s Adams Institute for Business Management Information Systems and the Adams Super Center for Brain Research.

His son Sylvan Adams (b. 1958) took over Iberville Developments in 1990, and served as its CEO for the next 25 years, until making aliyah and settling in Tel Aviv. Meanwhile, he took up professional cycling and in 2017 won the World Masters Championship in England. The following year, he opened the first indoor velodrome in Israel (and the entire Middle East). He gave 80 million shekels to bring the 2018 Giro d’Italia, one of cycling’s prestigious Grand Tours, to Israel, marking the first time that the tournament was held outside Europe. Adams has signed the Giving Pledge and is a huge philanthropist. He donated 100 million shekels to Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Medical Center in 2019, and financed a new children’s hospital at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon. Earlier this week, he announced $100 million to Ben-Gurion University in the Negev to “rebuild and strengthen” the south of Israel following the October 7 massacre. His foundation provides doctoral scholarships at the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and funds the Nefesh b’Nefesh “Bonei Zion Prize” for immigrants to Israel who make a profound impact on the country. He also donated $5 million to SpaceIL to develop Israel’s nascent space program and put an Israeli spacecraft on the moon. Adams is still cycling, and earlier this year won the UCI Cycling World Championships in his age category.

Chanukah Begins Tonight – Chag Sameach!

Chanukah & the Light of Creation

Words of the Week

We must support the gentile poor along with the Jewish poor, and visit the gentile sick along with the Jewish sick, and bury the gentile poor along with the Jewish poor, for the sake of peace.
Talmud, Gittin 61a

Jews of the Week: Heroes of Israel

This week we honour a small handful of the many heroes that emerged during the recent catastrophe in Israel:

Michael Shamai, a former IAF pilot, was completing his shift flying a medical rescue helicopter when he got the call about the attack. Together with his Ecuadorian copilot, he immediately headed south to rescue as many victims as possible. Shamai had to fly multiple missions “in the dark” without GPS navigation, maneuvering away from gunfire and rockets, without any protection or even a helmet, saving dozens. Guy Madar was celebrating the holiday with his family in Kiryat Gat when he heard of the attack. He grabbed his firearm, got in his car, and drove down to Re’im where he encountered terrorists. He killed six of them and rescued an injured soldier. He then joined a policeman on the scene and they continued driving further south together before being ambushed by another group of terrorists. Madar and the policeman both got shot, but managed to eliminate all the terrorists. Madar secured a tourniquet to his bleeding leg, and was nearly unconscious when discovered by a team of IDF soldiers, who at first confused him for a terrorist before seeing his tzitzit. In Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, social worker Amichai Shindler was hiding with his family in the safe room when terrorists tried to burst inside. He kept them at bay, so they set off explosives near the door. Shindler absorbed the blow to save his wife and six children, losing his right arm and suffering major injuries to his face, jaw, and left hand. He lay bleeding for another three and a half hours before medics arrived. At Kibbutz Be’eri, paramedic Amit Mann was treating victims and saving lives for hours on end without rest before terrorists appeared. She did whatever she could to protect and hide the wounded in her clinic before being murdered. Aner Elyakim Shapiro was at the music festival and packed into a nearby bomb shelter with a large group of people. Terrorists threw grenades into the shelter, and Shapiro bravely threw them back outside. He deflected seven grenades before the eighth detonated in his hand. Shapiro perished, but saved everyone else inside. Witnesses described him as a “guardian angel”. Matan Abergil was in an armoured personnel carrier with 6 other soldiers when a terrorist threw a grenade inside the vehicle. Abergil quickly jumped on top and absorbed the blow, saving all of his fellow soldiers.

Top: Michael Shamai (left) and his copilot Jorge Ordoñez. Bottom from left: Amit Mann, Matan Abergil, and Amichai Shindler

Those We Have Lost

Hamas in the Torah

An Interview with an IDF Soldier on the Front Lines

Hamas Massacre Smashes Israel’s Faulty Strategy

The Real Reason Biden Came to Israel

Hamas Chief Lives a Life of Luxury in Qatar

The Dizengoff Square Candle Memorial

Words of the Week

The less we fear God, the more we fear the non-Jew and develop in our collective psyche an inferiority complex toward him. The latent power of fear in the soul seeks an outlet, and object to fear. It is either God or others… When it becomes clear in our minds and our hearts that a Jew must fear God alone, the fear of God becomes the motivating power necessary to stand up and fight against our enemies.
Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh

Jew of the Week: Eran Zahavi

Israel’s (and China’s) Greatest Footballer

Eran Zahavi (Photo Credit: Nir Keidar)

Eran Zahavi (b. 1987) was born in Rishon LeZion, Israel, to a French-Jewish father and Israeli mother. He began playing soccer with the Hapoel Tel Aviv club when he was just 6 years old. After completing his IDF service, he started to play for Hapoel Tel Aviv’s senior team. In the 2009-10 season, he helped lead the team to an Israel State Cup, and an Israeli Premier League championship, scoring the winning goal in the 92nd minute of the final. Two years later, he signed a five-year deal with Italian club Palermo, but transferred to Maccabi Tel Aviv half way through the contract. He became the captain during the 2015-16 season, and set an Israeli record scoring 35 goals in 36 games. The following year, he signed with Guangzhou R&F in the Chinese Super League. Zahavi quickly became a top scorer, and was nicknamed “King of Yuexiushan”. Rival team Shandong Luneng Taishan F.C. wanted him badly and offered $20 million for a trade—the most ever for an Israeli football player. In 2017, he was China’s MVP and won a Golden Boot Award. Two years later, he set a new Chinese Super League scoring record. In 2020, Zahavi returned to Europe, signing with Dutch team PSV Eindhoven. He tied the team record for goals that season. At the same time, during the 2020 Euro qualifiers, he was second only to Harry Kane in goals (and tied with Cristiano Ronaldo). In a game against Slovakia, Israel’s team was down 2-0 before Zahavi scored a hat-trick within 20 minutes, giving Israel the 3-2 win. After a couple of unfortunate incidents and attacks on his home in Amsterdam, Zahavi decided to return to Israel. A few weeks ago, he re-signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv for two years. Zahavi was Israeli Footballer of the Year twice, and is the national team’s all-time scoring leader.

Tu b’Av Begins Tonight! Chag Sameach!

The Powerful Link Between Tisha b’Av and Tu b’Av

7 Lovely Activities You Can Do on Tu b’Av

Is Playing Sports a Mitzvah?

Words of the Week

This phase of existence is finite. Some people live 20 years, some people live 100 years – what’s the difference, really, from the perspective of that which transcends the infinite and the eternal? It’s equally insignificant. What is significant is what you actually do with the time that you do have.
Dr. Vladimir Zev Zelenko, ob”m