Tag Archives: India

Jew of the Week: Waldemar Haffkine

“Saviour of Humanity”Haffkine

Vladimir Mordechai Aaronovich Chavkin (1860-1930) was born to a Jewish-Russian family in what is now Ukraine. As a young man, he was a member of the Jewish League for Self-Defense, a group that protected Jews during pogroms. In one such event, he was injured and arrested. His teacher Elie Metchnikoff, the “father of immunology” (and former Jew of the Week), helped to have him freed from prison. Metchnikoff was soon forced to flee to Paris, and Chavkin joined him there some time later. For a time, the two worked together with Louis Pasteur. Chavkin (by this point going by Waldemar Wolff Haffkine) initially focused on the study of protist species before moving over to bacteria. Following major outbreaks of cholera, he was determined to find a vaccine, and experimented on himself to do so. Although he was succesful, his work was not accepted in Europe, so Haffkine went to India. There, he vaccinated 55,000 people while surviving both malaria and an assassination attempt by Muslim extremists. India then suffered a deadly outbreak of bubonic plague, so the government asked Haffkine for help. He worked tirelessly for three months (during which time all of his assistants quit), again experimenting on himself, and developed a working vaccine. By the end of the century, Haffkine’s vaccines were given to over four million people in India. Europeans finally took notice. When Russia had a cholera outbreak shortly after, Haffkine’s vaccine saved thousands of lives. By this point, he had been knighted by the Queen of England, and described by Lord Joseph Lister as a “saviour of humanity”. Throughout his career, Haffkine had to battle anti-Semitism, and persistent attempts at converting him to Christianity. In the last decades of his life, he became deeply religious and committed to Orthodox Judaism, even writing a treatise called A Plea for Orthodoxy, and establishing the Haffkine Foundation to spread traditional Jewish teachings, especially among so-called “enlightened” Jews. Haffkine was also a staunch Zionist, formulating his own plan to establish a Jewish state in the Holy Land, and negotiating with the Ottoman Empire to do so. Unfortunately, his plans were rejected. Nonetheless, Haffkine is immortalized in history as the inventor of the cholera and bubonic plague vaccines, and a man who saved countless lives around the world.

Words of the Week

Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change.
– Robert F. Kennedy

Jew of the Week: J.F.R. Jacob

Jacob during the 1971 peace treaty signing.

Jacob during the 1971 peace treaty signing

Jacob Farj Rafael Jacob (1923-2016) was born in Calcutta, India to a wealthy, religious Iraqi-Jewish family. Growing up, he had private Hebrew tutors before being sent to study at a prestigious boarding school. In 1941, Jacob heard reports of what was happening to Europe’s Jews, and decided to enlist in the Indian Army (then still under British command) to help the war effort. After graduating from officer’s training he was posted in Iraq to fend off an impending Nazi invasion. When the invasion was averted, Jacob’s unit was posted in North Africa, then transferred to Burma to fight the Japanese. Following the war, Jacob continued his military career and traveled to England to train at an advanced artillery school. In 1947, India achieved its independence, and Jacob returned to serve in its new army. By 1963, he had the rank of Brigadier, and two years later commanded the 12 Infantry Division in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Using his experiences in this war, Jacob produced a training manual on desert warfare for the Indian Army. By the end of the 1960’s, Jacob was a Major General and Chief of Staff. In 1971, the Pakistani army suppressed a Bengali rebellion in its eastern territories, massacring as many as three million people. Jacob devised a military plan to put an end to the conflict, and commanded the invasion that defeated the Pakistanis. He personally flew to Dhaka to meet the Pakistani general Niazi, and bluffed him into surrendering his 93,000 troops, thus saving a bloody battle that would have likely taken countless lives. Jacob became a huge war hero and a household name across India and the newly-formed independent state of Bangladesh. He continued to serve in the Indian Army until 1978, and retired following 37 years of service. Jacob joined a political party and ultimately became governor of Goa and then Punjab. As governor, he focused on taking care of the poor, and saving the beloved forests from mining companies. His work also helped to formalize and improve relations between India and Israel, and paved the way for Indian-Israeli military cooperation. He visited Israel on several occasions, and even contributed family heirlooms to multiple Israeli museums. Sadly, Jacob passed away last week. His funeral at New Delhi’s Jewish cemetery was attended by top military and political figures. Jacob devoted his entire life to India, and died a single man, having never married or built a family. Click here to read more about his incredible life.

Words of the Week

The only place I encountered anti-Semitism was from the British in their army. Among Indians it does not exist.
– Lt. Gen. J.F.R. Jacob

Jews of the Week: Nili Block and Sarah Avraham

Don’t Mess With These Ladies

Nili Block and Sarah Avraham - Photo by Kobi Kalmanowitz

Nili Block and Sarah Avraham – Photo by Kobi Kalmanowitz

Nili Block was born in Baltimore, Maryland and made aliyah to Israel with her family when she was just 2 years old. At age 10, she joined her mother in Thai boxing classes. By 18, she won the KickBox World Cup in Hungary, a gold medal at the world kickboxing championship in Bangkok, and a European championship title, too. Block trains alongside Sarah Avraham, who also won the world championship in her division in Bangkok. Like Block, Avraham made aliyah with her family to Israel, hailing from India. Avraham was born in Mumbai to a Christian mother and a Hindi father who were both drawn to Judaism for many years and eventually converted. (They began the process with Rabbi Gavriel and Rebbetzin Rivka Holtzberg – who were tragically gunned down at their Chabad House in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.) Block and Avraham are the same age, and are both coached by Eddie Yusupov. The former is now a soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces, while the latter is doing her part in Israel’s National Service. They are both Torah-observant Jews, keeping kosher and Shabbat even on their boxing tours. The two world champions hope to compete in the 2016 Olympics Games, if kickboxing will finally be included as an Olympic sport.

Words of the Week

Just as it is incumbent upon every Jew to put on tefillin every day, so is there an unequivocal duty which rests upon every individual, from the greatest scholar to the most simple of folk, to set aside a half-hour each day in which to think about the education of his children.
– Rabbi Sholom DovBer of Lubavitch