Tag Archives: New York Times

Jew of the Week: Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Amy Renee Krouse Rosenthal (1965-2017) was born in Chicago and studied at Tufts University. A naturally creative and spiritual person, she described herself simply as “a person who likes to make things”. After working in advertising for nine years, Rosenthal decided to pursue her passion and becoming a writer. She published her first book in 1998 and went on to write 30 more, most of them children’s books. Many were New York Times Bestsellers, and Rosenthal is the only author to have three children’s books on the list of Best Children’s Books for Family Literacy in the same year. Her book Duck! Rabbit! was read publicly at the White House in 2010, and her adult book Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life was named one of the top ten memoirs of the decade. She also published 10 journals and created many short films, several of which went viral. Rosenthal was often seen at TED talks, designing three conferences and speaking at another three. She wrote for a number of newspapers and magazines as well, including Parenting, The Oprah Magazine, and The New York Times. It was in the latter publication that she wrote an essay earlier this month revealing that she had terminal cancer. The essay was written in the style of a dating profile for her husband – with whom she fell in love on the first (blind) date – for him to find a new love once she would inevitably pass away. Sadly, this would be her last creation to go viral. Rosenthal tragically succumbed to her cancer last week.

Words of the Week

Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?
– Thornton Wilder (This was Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s favourite quote.)

Jew of the Week: Henry Heimlich

The Heimlich Maneuver

Henry Heimlich (Courtesy: tytekmedical.com)

Henry Judah Heimlich (b. 1920) was born in Delaware and studied at Cornell University. In 1943, he earned his M.D. and was soon shipped off to the Pacific as a US Navy surgeon at the height of World War II. In China, he found a quick and effective way to treat trachoma. In the early 50s, he developed a method for replacing the esophagus, which is recognized by some as history’s first complete organ transplant. His experiences in treating injured soldiers helped him invent the flutter valve (also known as the Heimlich valve) which quickly drains blood and air out of a punctured chest cavity. Over 150,000 of these life-savers are used each year in critical situations. Heimlich also invented an efficient oxygen delivery system for injured patients, called the Micro Trach. He is most famous, however, for developing the technique of abdominal thrusts to save people who are choking. Following an eye-opening 1972 New York Times report that showed 3,000 Americans died yearly in choking accidents, Heimlich researched the ideal way to open an obstruction in the throat. He experimented with dogs and large chunks of meat, finding that an upward thrust into the diaphragm successfully opened a blocked airway. Heimlich published his findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association. At the same time, he knew that this information was far too important to be practiced only by health professionals, and described the technique in the more common Emergency Medicine. From there, the procedure’s success and fame spread quickly, and was soon known as the “Heimlich maneuver”. Heimlich also developed a technique to help stroke victims re-learn how to swallow, researched maneuvers for asthma and cystic fibrosis, and suggested a controversial treatment for AIDS (since debunked and rejected). He has made a number of other controversial suggestions, leading some to label him a charlatan of sorts. Nonetheless, it is estimated that the Heimlich maneuver has saved at least 50,000 people (including former President Ronald Reagan). Many credit Heimlich with “saving more lives than any other living American”, and he has been awarded the prestigious Lasker Award for Public Service. Last year, Heimlich published an autobiography, and a film about his life is currently in the works.

UPDATE: Sadly, Henry Heimlich passed away in December of 2016.

Words of the Week

Do not pass up a single day without doing a mitzvah.
– Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov

Jews of the Week: Ted & Shari Arison

Ted Arison

Theodore Arisohn (1924-1999) was born in Tel-Aviv, a third-generation Israeli of Jewish-Romanian heritage. During World War II, Arisohn fought with the Jewish Brigade of the British Army, and then as an IDF Lieutenant Colonel during Israel’s War of Independence. In 1952, Arisohn moved to the US (becoming “Arison”) in the hopes of better financial opportunities. In 1966, now living in Miami, Arison teamed up with Knut Kloster to create Norwegian Cruise Lines. The company started with one small cruise ship offering cheap Caribbean tours, and grew very quickly. By 1972, Arison left Norwegian and started a new company: Carnival Cruise Lines. It was here that Arison made his fortune, and transformed the company into a multi-billion dollar enterprise. The Carnival Corporation now owns 9 other cruise lines, including Costa, Holland America, and Princess Cruises. Arison was a noted philanthropist, too, creating the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, as well as his own Arison Foundation. In 1988, Arison brought professional basketball to Florida by forming the Miami Heat NBA team. His final big move came in 1996, when he led a group that purchased Israel’s largest bank – Bank Hapoalim – for a record sum of over $1 billion.

Shari Arison

Today, Bank Hapoalim is led by Ted’s daughter, Shari Arison (b. 1957). Born in New York, Shari spent half of her youth in Israel and the other half in the US, before returning to serve in the IDF. She further expanded her father’s businesses after his death, and is now the richest woman in the Middle East (and the only woman listed among the Middle East’s Top 20 richest people). Shari heads The Ted Arison Family Foundation, with its many philanthropic branches. One of these is dedicated to helping people find “inner peace”, while another is for promoting global unity, and a third for inspiring volunteerism in youth and creating International Good Deeds Day. Shari published her first book in 2009 and it became an Israeli bestseller. Her second, Activate Your Goodness: Transforming the World through Doing Good, was a New York Times bestseller, too. She has been selected “Woman of the Year”, has been ranked among Forbes list of the World’s Most Powerful Women, and the World’s Greenest Billionaires, as well as Jerusalem Post’s 50 Most Influential Jews.

Words of the Week

Such is the way of creation: first comes darkness, then light.
– Talmud, Shabbat 77b