Joan Nathan (born 1943) is cookbook author and newspaper journalist who has produced TV documentaries on the subject of Jewish cuisine. She was a co-founder of New York’s Ninth Avenue Food Festival under then-Mayor Abraham Beame. The Jerusalem Post has called her the “matriarch of Jewish cooking.” Nathan was executive producer and host of “Jewish…
Morton Dean (born Morton Dean Dubitsky), 88, is a retired television and radio anchor, news correspondent, and author. He is a former weekend news anchor for CBS Evening News, as well as ABC’s Good Morning America. While a correspondent for CBS News for 20 years and ABC News for 14 years, his many assignments included…
Jamin “Jamie” Raskin, 61, is an attorney, law professor, and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Maryland’s 8th congressional district since 2017. Raskin, co-chair of the Congressional Freethought Caucus, was the lead impeachment manager (prosecutor) for the second impeachment of President Donald Trump in response to the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Before his…
Jason Gould, 57, is a singer, actor, writer, and director. He is the only child of singer and actress Barbra Streisand and actor Elliott Gould. In recent years, Gould has focused on his singing career. He released the 2012 EP Jason Gould, with the single “Morning Prayer/Groove” the following year. Gould performed with his mother…
Alex Halevi Edelman, 35, best known as Alex Edelman, is an American stand-up comedian based in New York City. He is an internationally touring comic and found early success in the United Kingdom where he was named Best Newcomer at the 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He has toured three shows since 2014: Millennial (2014–2015), Everything…
Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich (February 18, 1859 – May 13, 1916), better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem, was a Yiddish author and playwright who lived in the Russian Empire and in the United States. The 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof, based on Aleichem’s stories about Tevye the Dairyman, was the first commercially successful…
Theodore Maiman (July 11, 1927 — May 5, 2007) was an engineer and physicist who is widely credited with the invention of the laser. Maiman’s functioning laser led to the subsequent development of many other types of lasers. The Maiman laser was successfully fired on May 16, 1960. In a July 7, 1960, press conference…
Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich (February 18, 1859 – May 13, 1916), better known under his pen name Shalom Aleichem, was a Yiddish author and playwright who lived in the Russian Empire and in the United States. The 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof, based on Aleichem’s stories about Tevye the Dairyman, was the first commercially successful…
Beverly Fishman (58-59) is a painter and sculptor whose work explores science, medicine, and the body. She is a Guggenheim Fellow; a National Academy of Design Academician; an Anonymous Was a Woman awardee; and Artist-in-Residence at Cranbrook Academy of Art between 1992 and 2019, where she was Head of the Painting Department. Although best known…
Lewis A. Kaplan, 79, is a lawyer and jurist who serves as a senior U.S. district judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. He was the presiding judge in a number of cases involving high-profile defendants, including E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump, Virginia Giuffre v. Prince…
WOW! FACTS
Inventor of the mobile phone, “Father of the Internet,” inventor of the video game cosole, inventor fo the laser, inventor of the gramophone, creator of the Barbie Doll, creator of the cruise ship, “Father of Immunology,” inventor fo the modern condom (!), a prime minister of the U.K., a three-time prime minister of France, a president of Switzerland and the primary financier of the American Revolution?
We knew you could guess… all of them are (or were) Jews!
To learn about these and many more AmazingJews, watch a compilation put together by JewOfTheWeek.net in 2015 and posted on YouTube. >>
Nobel Prizes
Although Jews are less than two-tenths of one percent of the world’s population, more than 20% of Nobel Prize winners have been Jewish. Source: Google
Polio Vaccine
Millions and millions of people worldwide have been spared the ravages of poliomyelitis — including paralysis and even death — thanks to research conducted by Jewish scientist Dr. Jonas Salk and his team. The Salk vaccine entered widespread use in the U.S. in 1955. Source: Wikipedia
Miss Liberty
The words “…give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses…” on the Statue of Liberty were written by Emma Lazarus, a Jew. Source: BuzzFeed
Blue Jeans
Levi Strauss, an immigrant from Germany, invented his blue jeans in 1873. Source: BuzzFeed
Start-Up Nation
Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship in the world. It has the highest rate of entrepreneurship among women and people over 55 in the world. Source: BuzzFeed