Author Archives: Jew of the Week

Jews of the Week: Sara Braverman and Hanna Szenes

First Ladies of the IDF

Sara “Surika” Braverman (1918-2013) was born in Romania. She joined Hashomer Hatzair, the Zionist youth movement, when she was just 9 years old. She made aliyah at 20 and co-founded Kibbutz Shamir in the Galilee. She served with the pre-IDF Haganah, and then joined its elite special forces unit, the Palmach. During World War II, she agreed to join a group of soldiers to form a “Jewish commando” unit that would parachute into Nazi-occupied Europe with the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). The mission was to go undercover and assist in underground operations while rescuing Allied pilots and helping Jews escape. Out of 240 that volunteered, 110 were taken for training in Egypt, and 33 were ultimately selected, including Braverman.

Another inductee was Hanna Szenes (1921-1944), originally from Hungary. Her parents noted her bright mind early on, and put her in a prestigious private school. However, Jewish students had to pay triple the tuition, and Szenes nearly dropped out because she couldn’t afford it. (The school later reduced her tuition as she was a gifted student.) Such discrimination led her to become a passionate Zionist. Upon graduation, she made aliyah and studied at the Nahalal Girls’ Agricultural School. Szenes soon joined a kibbutz, as well as the Haganah. In 1943, she joined the British Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and became a paratrooper. She was then recruited by the SOE and met Sara Braverman. In March of 1944, they were air-dropped in Yugoslavia. Their mission to go into Hungary was called off, but Szenes went anyway with part of the group. They were captured and tortured. Szenes refused to give up any information, and was ultimately executed by firing squad. Her remains were returned to Israel in 1950, and her diary and inspiring poems (in both Hebrew and Hungarian) were posthumously published and became hugely popular. Meanwhile, Braverman had stayed behind and joined Josip Tito’s underground partisans. When her mission ended, she was smuggled out through Italy and returned home. At the start of Israel’s War of Independence, Braverman founded the IDF Women’s Corps at the request of Chief of Staff Yaakov Dori. She recruited 32 other women and the group trained together in Tel Aviv. She went on to promote IDF service among Israeli women for decades to come, and is today known as the “IDF’s First Lady”.

Words of the Week

The gravest sin for a Jew is to forget what he represents.
– Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Jew of the Week: Robert L. May

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Robert Lewis May (1905-1976) was born in Long Island, New York to a Jewish family, devoted members of the “Ethical Culture Society” which grew out of Reform Judaism. He studied psychology in Dartmouth College and was particularly drawn to the work of Alfred Adler, who suggested that the main drive of all human beings is to overcome inferiority and attain some sort of perfection. May went on to work as a copywriter and marketer for a number of department stores. The family lost everything during the Great Depression, and May’s wife was also battling cancer at the same time. In 1939, May’s boss at Montgomery Ward asked him to write some new promotional material for Christmas shoppers featuring a loveable animal character. May went to the zoo with his four-year-old daughter to get ideas, and eventually came up with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, combining elements of the Ugly Duckling with his own difficult childhood as a Jewish kid, and the psychology of Alfred Adler. Although his wife tragically died as he was working on the book, he continued the project in her memory. The book became an instant classic and over 5 million copies were distributed over the next several years. In 1948, May reached out to his composer brother-in-law (former Jew of the Week) Johnny Marks to write music for a song adaptation. ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ was a hit, and is now the second most popular Christmas song of all time (after ‘White Christmas’). May went on to start a full-time Rudolph business, which he ran until 1958, before returning to work as a copywriter for Montgomery Ward. May wrote other children’s books, too, featuring characters like Benny the Bunny and Winking Willie. Meanwhile, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer went off to spawn numerous sequels, film adaptations, toys, and over 100 other products, and remains one of the most beloved Christmas characters today.

Will Mashiach Come This Year?

Words of the Week

In the 1930s, antisemites declared, ‘Jews to Palestine’. Today they shout, ‘Jews out of Palestine’… They don’t want us to be there; they don’t want us to be here; they don’t want us to be.
– Amos Oz

Jew of the Week: Rabbi Meir

The Miracle Worker

Tomb of Rabbi Meir in Tiberias, Israel

Rabbi Meir (2nd century CE) was born in what is today Turkey to a family of Roman converts to Judaism. He was descended from the Roman Emperor Nero. Rabbi Meir was one of the 24,000 students of the illustrious Rabbi Akiva. While nearly all of the students tragically perished during the Bar Kochva Revolt (132-136 CE), Rabbi Meir was one of five who survived, and the Talmud credits them with going on to revive Jewish life in the Holy Land and save Judaism from extinction. Rabbi Meir played a key role in the later production of the Mishnah, the earliest compilation of Jewish oral laws. In addition to being one of the most oft-cited voices in the Mishnah, every anonymous Mishnaic teaching is attributed to Rabbi Meir, too. During the war with the Romans, Rabbi Meir’s father-in-law, Rabbi Chananiah ben Teradion was killed, and his sister-in-law was taken captive. The Talmud relates that Rabbi Meir dressed up as a Roman officer and went past enemy lines to save her, managing to extricate her from a Roman brothel. After the war, he helped to re-establish the Sanhedrin, and was widely recognized as the greatest sage of his generation. He was also known to work miracles, and is often called Rabbi Meir Ba’al haNes, “the miracle-worker”, probably originating from the fact he was miraculously saved from numerous dangerous incidents. In fact, there is an old Jewish custom to invoke his name when in danger, saying Elokah d’Meir ‘aneni! (אֱלָקָא דְמֵאִיר עֲנֵנִי), “May the God of Meir answer me!” (Or “May God answer me like He answered Meir!”) The same phrase is recited when a person can’t find a lost object and needs help from Above. Some say “Meir” was only his nickname—because he was an “illuminator”—and his real name may have been Nehorai or Elazar. According to some sources, Rabbi Meir’s yahrzeit is today, the first of Tevet.

The New Antisemitism

Government Leaders Around the World Light Menorahs

Words of the Week

An Israeli soldier bears not only a duty to enlist in compulsory military service, but is granted the zechut, privilege, to fulfill a holy commandment, a mitzva, of guarding his fellow Jews.
– Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo