Tag Archives: Israel

Jew of the Week: Robert Kraft

Robert Kraft

Robert K. Kraft (b. 1941) was born in Brookline, Massachusetts to an observant Jewish family. His father was a teacher and prayer leader at the local Congregation Kehillath Israel and his mother was a dressmaker. Despite coming from modest means, scholarships allowed him to study and graduate from both Harvard and Columbia University (where he was a member of the Jewish fraternity Zeta Beta Tau, and the school’s football team). In 1967, Kraft entered the world of business when he bought his father-in-law’s packaging company. Five years later, he started his own paper commodity business. Kraft built the two companies into a paper empire, the largest in the US, and one of the country’s top 100 exporters. In 1986, Kraft got into media, investing in TV and radio stations, film, theatre, and entertainment. Around this time, he bought the stadium of the New England Patriots football team, which was going into bankruptcy. By the mid-90’s, the team continued its terrible streak, having never won a Superbowl, and was about to be sold and moved to St. Louis. Kraft stepped in to save his beloved team, paying a record $175 million to purchase it, despite its horrible standing and poor value. Kraft immediately turned the fortunes of the sports franchise around. The following year, the Patriots sold out tickets to every home game for the first time in their history, and have sold out every year since then. They made the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade, and have since won four Superbowls, including one last weekend. Kraft also plays a central role in the NFL at large, and was credited with saving the 2011 season and bringing about a 10-year contract to keep the league running. Meanwhile, he also owns the New England Revolution MLS soccer team. Kraft is a noted philanthropist, having donated over $100 million to various causes including universities, schools, and research centers, victims of terrorism, as well as Israeli causes. Among the latter is helping Israel’s struggling Ethiopian Jewish community, and spreading the game of football in the Holy Land, sponsoring the Israel Football League, and building the Kraft Family Stadium in Jerusalem. For his efforts, Kraft has won a number of prestigious awards and honorary degrees. With a net worth estimated at $4 billion, he continues to rank among the richest Americans.

Words of the Week

God’s words to Adam (Genesis 3:9), “Where are you?” is a perpetual call to every person, at all times. God calls out to each and every one of us every moment of the day: “Where are you in the world? You have been allotted a certain number of days, hours, and minutes in which to fulfill your mission in life. You have lived so many years and so many days – Where are you? What have you accomplished?”
– Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi

Jew of the Week: Anne Heyman

Mother of Rwanda’s Orphans

Anne Heyman with Rwandan President Paul Kagame

Anne Elaine Heyman (1961-2014) was born in South Africa and moved to the US with her family when she was 15. After doing a year of high school in Israel, she studied at the University of Pennsylvania, and then got a law degree from Columbia University. She was soon Manhattan’s assistant district attorney, focusing on fighting white-collar crime. In 1994, she began devoting her time to philanthropic causes, first volunteering with an organization that assists the elderly, as well as Hillel, Young Judea, and the Jewish Community Centers of America. In 2005, she learned that the Rwandan genocide left over a million orphans. Inspired to make a change, she realized she could apply the same model that Israel used in caring for orphans following the Holocaust. Heyman raised $12 million and convinced the Rwandan government to give her 144 acres of land on which she built a village for orphans (called Agahozo-Shalom). To power the village, Heyman built a solar plant – one of the largest in sub-Saharan Africa – which provides electricity for the rest of Rwanda as well. To help her, she brought in Israeli Ethiopian Jews to serve as councilors and teachers. The orphans, some of whom didn’t even know their names, were given a home, an education, a trade, and a new family. They affectionately called Heyman “Mom”, “Grandmother”, and “Angel”. Over 500 teenagers continue to live and prosper in Heyman’s village today. Sadly, Heyman passed away a year ago in a tragic horse-riding accident. Her husband and children are continuing her important work.

Words of the Week

I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world… as a marvelous example of what can be done… how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy.
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Jew of the Week: Naftali Bennett

Software Entrepreneur, Special Forces Commander

Naftali Bennett

Naftali Bennett (b. 1972) was born in Haifa to Modern Orthodox parents who made aliyah to Israel (from San Francisco) following the Six-Day War. He studied at Yavne Yeshiva, where he became a youth leader for Bnei Akiva, the religious Zionist organization. After his studies, Bennett joined the IDF and served in the Sayeret Matkal and Maglan special forces units, rising to the rank of company commander. His primary area of operations was in Lebanon. After completing his service, Bennett studied at the Hebrew University, earning a law degree. In 1999, he moved to New York and co-founded the software company Cyota. As its CEO, Bennett built the start-up into a successful tech firm and sold it in 2005 for $145 million. Bennett then returned to Israel and continued his work as a software entrepreneur. At one point he served as CEO of Soluto, which was recently sold for nearly $130 million. Not long after his return to Israel, the Lebanon War broke out and Bennett returned to the IDF, leading a number of search-and-destroy missions in Hezbollah territory. Following the war, Bennett joined Netanyahu’s Likud party and soon became his Chief of Staff. Between 2010 and 2012, Bennett was the director-general of Yesha, the organization that represents Jewish settlements in Judah and Samaria (commonly known as the “West Bank”). After founding a number of other organizations promoting Israel and the Zionist cause, Bennett left Likud and joined HaBayit HaYehudi (The Jewish Home), a religious Zionist political party. He immediately ran for party leadership and won by a landslide. Just a few months later, Bennett was able to win 12 seats for the party in Israel’s Knesset (compared to just 3 seats for the party in the previous election). Among other roles, he became the Minister of the Economy and Minister of Religious Services, as well as a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He has been praised for his work as Minister of the Economy, opening up new trade agreements with emerging markets around the world, boosting trade with Russia, China, Brazil, and India, as well as dealing with increasing boycotts of Israeli products. Bennett is continuing to lead HaBayit HaYehudi into Israel’s coming elections in March. Some of his platform positions have been controversial, among them opposing a Palestinian state, and fighting Israel’s big unions. At the same time, he is pushing education reform, more investment in underprivileged parts of Israeli society and in small businesses, and providing affordable housing and land provisions for veterans. He is also focused on integrating Israeli-Arabs and Ultra-Orthodox Jews more tightly into Israel’s society and workforce. Bennett remains a reservist in the IDF, holding the rank of Major.

UPDATE: On June 13, 2021, Naftali Bennett became Israel’s 13th prime minister, as the head of the Yamina party. He is the first religious prime minister in the country’s history.

Words of the Week

The fact that the entire world says something does not mean it is correct.
– Naftali Bennett, in an interview for Israel’s Channel Two.