Tag Archives: Romanian Jews

Jew of the Week: Irene Rosenfeld

Irene Rosenfeld

Irene Blecker Rosenfeld (b. 1953) was born in New York to a Jewish family of Romanian and German descent. She studied psychology at Cornell, then earned a Master’s in business, followed by a Ph.D. in marketing. Soon after, she got a job with an ad agency in New York, then worked in consumer research for General Foods, the company famous for its cereals, Jell-O, and Maxwell House coffee (and now owned by Altria Group Inc., formerly known as Philip Morris). In 2004, Rosenfeld was elected CEO of Frito-Lay, the company that makes Cheetos, Doritos, Tostitos, Lay’s, and Ruffles. During her successful tenure, she shifted the focus of the company towards healthier ingredients and products. Two years later, she moved on to become CEO of Kraft Foods (also owned by Altria). After overseeing a great deal of growth within Kraft, including the acquisition of Cadbury, the largest confectioner in the UK, Rosenfeld engineered the company’s split into two new corporations. She remained as chairwoman and CEO of the snacks division, now known as Mondelez International. This new multi-billion dollar company employs over 100,000 people globally, and makes popular foods like Oreos, Chips Ahoy!, Peek Freans, Toblerone, Halls, Ritz, and both Trident and Dentyne gums. Not surprisingly, Rosenfeld has been ranked by Forbes among the world’s most powerful women on multiple occasions. She currently lives in a Chicago suburb, where she is a central member of the local Reform synagogue. Rosenfeld is a noted philanthropist, too, known for discretely donating large sums of money to hospitals, schools, and other institutions. She is also an avid basketball player, tennis player, and rollerblader.

Today is the 3rd Day of Sukkot. Chag Sameach!

Words of the Week

Just as it is incumbent upon every Jew to put on tefillin every day, so is there an unequivocal duty which rests upon every individual, from the greatest scholar to the most simple of folk, to set aside a half-hour each day in which to think about the education of his children.
– Rabbi Sholom DovBer Schneersohn, the 5th Lubavitcher Rebbe

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

Jew of the Week: Elie Wiesel

Messenger to Mankind

Elie Wiesel

Eliezer Wiesel (b. 1928) was born in Romania in a home that regularly spoke Hungarian, German, Romanian, and Yiddish. During the Holocaust he suffered in multiple labour and concentration camps, including Buchenwald and Auschwitz, and lost both parents and a younger sister. After the war, he resettled in Paris, studied at the Sarbonne, and worked as a journalist. In 1949, Wiesel became the Paris correspondent (later the international correspondent) for Yediot Ahronot. Though originally not wanting to write at all about the horrors of the Holocaust, he was convinced by a friend and published Night in 1958 – a shortened French version of his 900-page memoir in Yiddish. Though it took a while to hit the mainstream, the book now sells hundreds of thousands of copies every year and has been translated into 30 languages. Wiesel has subsequently authored many more publications, and has become an internationally-renowned speaker. In 1986, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts against racism, violence, and genocide, and was called a “messenger to mankind”. He has also won the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, and was knighted, among many other awards. He has even been nominated as President of Israel, but did not wish to take up the post. Wiesel has taught at Boston and Columbia Universities, the City University of New York, and served as a visiting scholar at Yale. He has spent a great deal of his life as a political activist for international causes. He stood strongly against apartheid South Africa and raised support for intervention during the Bosnian genocide, and more recently in Darfur. He has assisted the plight of Kurds, Native Americans, Argentinian Desaparecidos, as well as Soviet and Ethiopian Jewry. Wiesel remains a vocal supporter of Israel, and Jerusalem as its undivided capital. For the past 58 years, he has lived in the US and to this day has authored 57 books.

UPDATE: Sadly, Elie Wiesel passed away on July 2, 2016.

Words of the Week

For me, the Jew that I am, Jerusalem is above politics. It is mentioned more than six hundred times in Scripture – and not a single time in the Koran.
– Elie Wiesel