Tag Archives: Sephardic Jews

Jew of the Week: Rita Levi-Montalcini

The Secret to Living 100 Years

Rita Levi-Montalcini: Knight, Senator, Neurologist, Centenarian

Rita Levi-Montalcini was born in Italy in 1909, and still goes to work every day at the European Brain Institute. If you didn’t catch that: she is 103 years old. That makes her the only Nobel Prize winner in history to live 100 years. She won the prize together with fellow Jew Stanley Cohen for discovering Nerve Growth Factor, the main protein involved in neurological development. Levi-Montalcini went to medical school in the 1930s, but was barred from being a physician by Mussolini’s race laws that prevented Jews from holding academic professions. So she set up a laboratory in her home and studied the nerves of chickens. This was the basis for many of her future discoveries. Wherever her family fled during the war, Levi-Montalcini set up mobile labs; at one point even running a genetics lab from her bedroom! After the war she continued her research and taught at Washington University for 30 years. She has won the National Medal of Science, and was knighted, too. In 2001, Levi-Montalcini was appointed a senator for life and is the eldest member of Italy’s Upper House. Her advice for living a long and healthy life: “minimal sleep, limited food intake, and always keeping the brain active and interested.”

UPDATE: Sadly, Rita Levi-Montalcini passed away in December of 2012, seven months after this post was originally published.

Words of the Week

Walking is man’s best medicine.
– Hippocrates 

Jew of the Week: Mordechai Emmanuel Noah

Israel in Buffalo?

Noah had the rank of Major

Mordecai Manuel Noah (1785-1851) is considered by many to be America’s first famous Jew. Coming from a blended family of Sephardic-Portuguese and German-Ashkenazi Jews, Noah’s father was one of the main financiers of the American Revolution. Mordecai began his career in trade, then moved into law while living in South Carolina. He made a name for himself as a journalist, writing passionately to drive the American cause and boosting the nation’s morale in the face of war with the British Empire. For his wisdom and eloquence, President Madison appointed him consul to Imperial Russia in 1811, then consul to Tunis in 1813. There he worked to fight against marauding pirates and saved countless Americans captured and enslaved in Morocco. However, in 1815 the anti-Semitic President Monroe repealed Noah’s position. This stirred a massive controversy. Former presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison all joined Noah’s side, championing equality for all. Nonetheless, Noah left politics, returning to New York where he founded a variety of newspapers (including the Enquirer). He wrote several popular plays (including the famous She Would be a Soldier), as well as three books. He is a founder of New York University and Mt. Sinai Hospital, and also served as a judge and sheriff of New York. But most intriguing of all is that in 1825 Mordechai Noah bought a massive piece of land near Buffalo to be established as a Jewish state called “Ararat”. Surprisingly, thousands of Christians came out in support to lay the first cornerstone, along with Masons, the New York militia and St. Paul’s Church! Unfortunately, the project failed, and Noah realized a Jewish state could only be established in the Holy Land. To this he dedicated the last years of his life, spearheading the return to Israel long before Herzl and the Zionists.

 

Words of the Week

The progeny of Abraham are likened to the dust of the earth (Genesis 13:16), and to the stars of the heavens (Genesis 15:5). For when they fall, they fall as low as dust; when they rise, they rise as high as the stars.
– Midrash

The original marker for the refuge of Ararat

Jew of the Week: Eli Cohen

The Impossible Spy

Eli Cohen: Possibly the greatest spy of all time

Eliyahu Cohen (1924-1965) was born in Egypt to an immigrant family of Syrian Jews. In the 1950s, he became involved in Israeli espionage activities, including Operation Goshen, which smuggled over 10,000 Jews out of Egypt, saving them from violence and persecution. Shortly after arriving in Israel he was recruited by the Mossad to be an Israeli intelligence agent in Syria. A new identity was created for him: Kamel Amin Thaabet, a wealthy Syrian returning from Argentina. To create a convincing spy, Cohen actually lived in Argentina before being deployed to Syria In 1962. He quickly gained the trust of powerful people, making friends with generals and rising through the ranks of the ruling Baath party. Cohen toured Syria’s most sensitive military sites, secretly sending the information to Israel (which many believe was absolutely critical in Israel’s 1967 victory). Amazingly, Eli Cohen was nearly appointed Syria’s Deputy Minister of Defence, and at one point, was third in the line of succession to Syria’s presidency! Soviet agents uncovered Cohen’s identity in 1965. Without proper trial, he was publicly hanged to death, and the Syrians reburied him at least three times, fearing an Israeli operation to recover his body. To this day, the Syrians refuse to return his remains. Eli Cohen is considered one of the greatest intelligence agents of all time. His incredible story was captured in the film The Impossible Spy, and more recently in the hit Netflix mini-series The Spy.

Words of the Week

When God desired to create man, Truth said: “He should not be created, for he is full of lies.” Kindness said: “He should be created, for he is full of kindness.”
– Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit 8:5