Tag Archives: Bar Mitzvah

Jew of the Week: Uriah P. Levy

America’s Commodore

Happy 4th of July!

Uriah Phillips Levy (1792-1862) was born in Philadelphia to parents descended from German and Portuguese Jews. At age 10, he left home to work as a cabin boy on a merchant ship. At 13, he returned home for his Bar Mitzvah (having already traveled the world!) He continued on the nautical path and became a sailor. Levy enlisted in the navy during the War of 1812, where he was captured and imprisoned for 16 months. After the war, he returned to the navy and rose through the ranks, participating in many conflicts (including the Barbary Wars) and eventually becoming commodore of the Mediterranean Fleet. This made him the first ever Jewish commodore – the highest naval rank at the time. Facing extreme anti-Semitism throughout his military career, he would defend his honour in some violent fights, for which he was court-martialed no less than 6 times! He became a champion of the lowly soldier, refusing to participate in flogging or any form of corporal punishment. For this he was dismissed from his post, but by 1850 was able to convince Congress to pass an anti-flogging bill, thus abolishing the practice. He then wrote a new manual for humane military discipline. Away from the army, Levy found success in real estate, and became a noted philanthropist. In 1834 he purchased Thomas Jefferson’s estate (Monticello) and paid for its restoration. For this he is considered by many to be the first (modern) person to restore a historical site. He donated Monticello to the U.S. government in 1862. He also commissioned a statue of Jefferson for the Capitol building, which remains to this day the only piece of artwork in the Capitol to be privately commissioned. Levy financed the Bnai Yeshurun Jewish seminary of New York and served as the first president of the Washington Hebrew Congregation. The destroyer ship USS Levy is named after him.

Words of the Week

Do not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your destitute brother.
– Deuteronomy 15:7.
It is forbidden to withhold charity and relief for the needy if we are aware of their desperate situation and have the means to assist them. This is one of the 613 commandments of the Torah.

Jews of the Week: Rosenbergs, Baskin and Robbins

Dunkin Donuts & Baskin Robbins

Will Rosenberg – Mr. Dunkin’ Donuts

William Rosenberg (1916-2002) was born to a Jewish family in Boston. Because of the Great Depression, Rosenberg dropped out of school in eighth grade to work. After World War II, he invented the now-famous stainless steel “canteen trucks” seen on construction sites, and started a food delivery business with just $2500. Realizing that most of his sales were in coffee and donuts, Rosenberg opened Dunkin’ Donuts in 1950. At the time, only four flavours of donuts were available. Rosenberg created 52! He became one of the pioneers of franchising, founding the International Franchise Association in 1960. Today, Dunkin’ Donuts has over 9,700 franchises in 37 countries.

Baskin & Robbins

In the 1960s, his son Robert Rosenberg acquired Baskin Robbins. This company was originally started by Canadian Jew Irvine Robbins (1917-2008), who used his bar mitzvah money after coming back from World War II. It was a merger of his ice cream shop with his brother-in-law’s Burt Baskin (1913-1967), a member of Zeta Beta Tau, America’s first Jewish fraternity. Some consider Baskin Robbins the first-ever food franchise. Today, it has nearly 6,000 locations worldwide.

 

Words of the Week

Money is the cause of good things to a good man, of evil things to a bad man.
– Philo Judaeus

Jew of the Week: Isaac Asimov

Master of Science Fiction

Isaac Asimov: “I am Jewish.”

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Born in Belorussia as Itzhak Yudovich Ozimov, his family immigrated to New York when he was only three, starting a chain of candy stores where he worked. After serving in the US Army, Asimov became a biochemistry professor at Boston University. He wrote his first book in 1950, and would go on to write and edit over 500 titles. His short story Nightfall is considered the greatest science-fiction piece of all time. Fluent in Yiddish, he would continue to speak the language throughout his adult life. Interestingly, he writes critically of his father for not having taught him the Orthodox Jewish way. In the opening of Wandering Stars, he writes: “I attend no services and follow no ritual and have never undergone that curious puberty rite, the bar mitzvah. It doesn’t matter. I am Jewish.”


Words of the Week

The wicked in their lifetimes are called “dead”; the righteous in death are called “living”.
– Talmud, Berachot 18