Tag Archives: Russian Jews

Jews of the Week: Nathan & Jeffrey Swartz

Jeffrey Swartz

Hailing from a town near Chernobyl, Nathan Swartz was one of many Russian immigrants to the US in the early 20th century. In 1918 he started working as a shoemaker in Boston. After more than 30 years of hard work, Swartz saved enough to invest in a small shoe company (initially purchasing just half a share!) By 1955 he bought the company outright, and turned it into a family business with his sons. In 1960, the Swartz family released a new shoe made with their patented injection-molding technology that bound leather without using stitches, creating a perfectly waterproof and durable shoe. One shoe model was called Timberland, and became so incredibly popular worldwide, that the company changed its name to the Timberland Shoe Company. Timberland soon became a household name and expanded to clothing, backpacks, and other products. Today, it is a multi-billion dollar company which was run, until recently, by Jeffrey Swartz, grandson of founder Nathan Swartz. Jeffrey has become renowned for pushing corporate responsibility, green initiatives and worker’s rights. His employees receive 40 hours of pay every year to do charity work, and $3000 stipends to buy hybrid cars. Timberland has planted over one million trees worldwide, is carbon-neutral, and recycles rubber from tires. It has been listed on CNN’s “100 best companies to work for”. Meanwhile, Swartz has become a noted philanthropist and ‘social investor’. He is also a proud Orthodox Jew, waking up at 4 am each morning to study Torah. Timberland continues to be a shoe adored by construction workers and rappers alike. It has even lent its name to hit music producer Timbaland, who was nicknamed after the iconic shoe.

Words of the Week

…A shy person cannot learn, a short-tempered person cannot teach; nor does anyone who does much business grow wise.
– Hillel (Avot 2:5)

Jew of the Week: Jonas Salk

Jonas Salk

Jonas Edward Salk (1914-1995) was born in New York to poor Russian-Jewish immigrants. His own dream was to be a lawyer, but his mother pushed him to enter the field of medicine. Salk decided to do research instead of becoming a physician, driven by a vision to help all of mankind rather than just a few patients. However, because he was a Jew, Salk was barred from working at many institutions. Nonetheless, during this time he developed an influenza vaccine that was widely used by the US army. Eventually he found his way to work in cramped quarters in the basement of Pittsburgh’s Municipal Hospital. A grant from the Mellon family allowed him to build a proper virology lab. It was there that Salk developed the polio vaccine in the post-war epidemic that plagued the world. Before the vaccine was introduced in 1955, polio killed over 3,000 people and left over 20,000 paralyzed every year in the US alone! One of the most famous victims was President Roosevelt, confined to a wheelchair for much of his term in office. It was said that “Apart from the atomic bomb, America’s greatest fear was polio.” Salk worked tirelessly to create the polio vaccine, labouring sixteen hours a day, 7 days a week. When asked who owned the patent he replied “There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?” Salk received the first-ever Congressional Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service, as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom. More significantly, his achievement inspired a dramatic increase in government funding of medical research. In 1960 he founded the Salk Institute, a world-reknowned centre of medical research. Salk also published several books, and is considered the father of the field of “biophilosophy”. He spent the last years of his life trying to find a cure for HIV/AIDS.

Words of the Week

A denigrating attitude toward others while inflating one’s own importance makes one lose all his spiritual gains, God forbid.
– Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, The Lubavitcher Rebbe (Hayom Yom, Iyar 20)

Jew of the Week: Menachem Mendel Schneerson

The Lubavitcher Rebbe

Menachem Mendel Schneerson – The Lubavitcher Rebbe

Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994) was the 7th and final Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch. From an early age he was focused on the well-being of others, diving into the Black Sea to save a drowning boy when he was just 9 years old. After marrying, he settled in Germany, where he studied math, physics, and philosophy at the University of Berlin. Simultaneously, he began writing commentaries on the Torah. With the rise of the Nazis, Rabbi Schneerson moved to France in 1933, and studied mechanics and engineering at ESTP, then enrolled at the world-famous Sarbonne and studied math until the outbreak of World War II. In 1941, the Rebbe finally made it to America. Immediately, he went to work at the Brooklyn Navy Yard to help the war effort, and was on the team that supplied the U.S.S. Missouri battleship. By 1942, Rabbi Schneerson began taking charge of Chabad. He reluctantly accepted the title of Rebbe in 1951. Over the years, he launched many campaigns to reignite Judaism globally. He sent thousands of emissaries, called shluchim, around the world, setting up Chabad houses on every continent (except Antarctica, for now), thereby putting kosher food, warm hospitality and prayer services always within reach for Jews anywhere in the world. He was a noted kabbalist, and gave countless penetrating discourses. He touched the lives of thousands of people, and inspired countless more. In 1983, the US Congress established the Rebbe’s birthday as “Education Day”. Posthumously, he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

Words of the Week

You must approach a fellow Jew as though you are the King’s servant sent with a message to His most precious child.

– Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe