Tag Archives: Polish Jews

Jews of the Week: Joe and Ben Weider

Godfathers of Bodybuilding

Weider Brothers with Arnold Schwarznegger (Credit: ibffpro.com)

Joseph (1920-2013) and Benjamin (1923-2008) Weider were born to a Polish-Jewish immigrant family in Montreal. Constantly bullied while growing up, they began exercising and lifting weights in their teenage years, making their own equipment out of old car wheels and axles. As their muscles grew, their adversaries disappeared, and the boys’ self-esteem shot up. They decided to share their new passion with others. At 18, Joe started a bodybuilding magazine called Your Physique. By 1943, the magazine had become popular across Canada. A few years later (following Ben’s return from World War II service) the brothers organized the first “Mr. Canada” contest. Ben then went on a mission around the world to spread the art of bodybuilding, after which the brothers established the International Federation of Bodybuilders. By 1952, their magazine had 25 million readers around the globe. Unfortunately, the sport slowly lost popularity, and by the 1960s, the Weiders were looking for a fresh start. They created a new competition, Mr. Olympia, but it initially didn’t bring the success they hoped for. The brothers moved to California, now with a new magazine, Muscle Builder. While in Europe, they met a young bodybuilder, and decided that he would be the image of their new brand. The brothers brought him to California, settled him in, trained him, taught him about business and media, and eventually turned him into one of Hollywood’s greatest: Arnold Schwarzenegger. (In 2006, then-Governor Schwarznegger presented the brothers with a Lifetime Achievement award, and in his speech thanked them for inspiring him, bringing him to America, and skyrocketing his career.) Ultimately, the Weiders would run several more magazines – including Men’s Fitness and a women’s health magazine called Shape – as well as produce their own health products, vitamins, and supplements (Weider Nutrition is considered the first sports nutrition company). From the start, they warned millions of their readers about the dangers of tobacco and alcohol, and refused to publish ads for these products in their magazines. Not surprisingly, the Weiders are credited with bringing greater awareness of healthy living and exercise to the masses. The brothers were also praised for breaking down barriers and allowing blacks, Hispanics, and women into their competitions at a time when it was still considered taboo. Surprisingly, Ben is also a noted historian, specializing in Napoleonic times, and co-writing several books on the subject. He has been awarded the Order of Canada, the French Legion of Honour, and was even nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Meanwhile, Joe wrote a couple of books on bodybuilding, and was voted Publisher of the Year in 1983. Along the way, the brothers never abandoned their connection to Judaism, often corresponding with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and donating generously to Chabad organizations, among many others.

Words of the Week

It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?
– Henry David Thoreau

Jews of the Week: Rav Uziel and the Chofetz Chaim

The Chofetz Chaim

Israel Meir Kagan (1839-1933) was born in what is today Belarus to an Orthodox Polish-Jewish family. After his father’s passing when he was just ten years old, the family moved to Vilnius where Kagan continued his Jewish studies. Quickly noted as a great scholar, at the age of 17 he was married and appointed rabbi of the town of Radin. Soon after, he founded the Radin Yeshiva, which would go on to become one of the greatest yeshivas in the Ashkenazi world. Meanwhile, Rabbi Kagan wrote many popular books of wisdom, most notably Chofetz Chaim, a book about the laws of proper speech, the title of which became Rabbi Kagan’s nickname. His Mishna Berura became a standard text of Jewish law, and still used extensively today. He wrote nearly two dozen other books on a wide array of topics. At the same time, the Chofetz Chaim traveled across Europe to inspire Jews to observe the Torah, and to counter the growing secular movement. He was also an important member of Agudath Israel. Click here to see rare footage of the Chofetz Chaim at the First Congress of Agudath Israel in 1923.

Rav Uziel

Ben-Zion Meir Chai Uziel (1880-1953) was born in Jerusalem, the son of the president of the city’s Sephardic community. Like the Chofetz Chaim, Uziel was also quickly noted as a great scholar, and by age 20 founded his own yeshiva. By 31, he was the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Jaffa, where he worked alongside his Ashkenazi counterpart, Rabbi Kook, bridging the two communities together. During World War I, he worked tirelessly to stop the persecution of Jews, which earned him a sentence of exile in Damascus. In 1923 he returned to Israel as the Chief Rabbi of Tel-Aviv, and in 1939 became the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, a post he held until his passing in 1953. Rabbi Uziel was a founding member of the Jewish Agency, and played a key role in the founding of the State of Israel. Of course, he wrote a great deal of widely-read Torah thought and commentary as well. Rav Uziel and the Chofetz Chaim passed away on the same day, twenty years apart: the 24th of Elul.

Shana Tova! Rosh Hashanah Begins This Sunday

Words of the Week

In Jewish history there are no coincidences.
– Elie Wiesel

Jew of the Week: Janet Yellen

Janet Yellen

Janet Louise Yellen (b. 1946) was born to a Jewish family of Polish descent in Brooklyn. Though initially interested in studying math, science, and philosophy, she ended up majoring in economics, and eventually earned a Ph.D in economics from Yale. She went on to teach economics at Harvard, The London School of Economics and Political Science, and UC Berkeley. In 1997, Yellen chaired President Clinton’s Council of Economics Advisers. Between 2004 and 2010 she was president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and following that, the vice-chair of the US Federal Reserve. Last year, she became the Fed’s chairwoman, the first woman in history to hold that position. Yellen has been described as a “dove” in economics, focusing on relieving unemployment and keeping inflation in check. She has been hailed for redefining the Federal Reserve, and has stated her objective as helping “Main Street, not Wall Street”. In 2014, Forbes ranked her the second most powerful woman in the world, and more recently the 6th most powerful person on the planet.

Words of the Week

In this world there is no beauty without ugliness, no joy without sorrow, no pleasure without pain. You cannot invent a thing that will provide benefit without threat of harm. Neither is there a human on this earth who does only good without fault… Therefore, do not reject any thing for the harm it may render, nor despise any man for the ugliness you find within him. Rather, use each thing towards the purpose for which God conceived it, and learn from each person all the good they have to offer.
– Tzvi Freeman, based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe