Hershey Friedman | |
---|---|
Born | 1950 |
Occupation(s) | Businessman, philanthropist |
Spouse | Raisy Stuhl |
Children | 6 |
Parent(s) | Yisroel D. and Elza Friedman |
Relatives | Two older brothers [1] |
Hershey Friedman (born 1950) is a Canadian billionaire businessman and philanthropist. His business concerns span the plastics packaging business and kosher meat in North America as well as luxury real estate development and Jewish books in Israel.
Hershey Friedman was born in 1950 in Montreal, Quebec. [1] His parents owned a textile company. [1] His father was paralysed in a car accident in 1960, when Friedman was ten years old. [1] He has two brothers. [1]
Friedman was raised as an Orthodox Jew. [2] He was educated at Yeshivas Ner Yisroel near Baltimore, USA, and Beit Shraga in Monsey, New York. [1] He later studied the law and accounting in Montreal. [1]
Friedman started his career by working for his family textile company. By 1982, he acquired a plastics packaging business. By 2014, Friedman told The Jerusalem Post , "we are the largest in North America, packaging Hershey’s chocolates, Pepsi, Nestle, Elle Candy, the famous Entenmann’s donuts, McCain’s fries, as well as larger and smaller companies internationally and locally. We’re also probably the largest bread-bag producer." [1]
Friedman purchased Azorim [HE] , a real estate development company which builds luxury apartments in Israel, from Shaya Boymelgreen in 2009-2011. [1] [2] [3] The company built the Beeri-Nehardea Tower; it also planned to build the Elite Tower, but the project was discontinued. [4]
Friedman purchased Agriprocessors, a kosher meat company based in Iowa, USA in 2009. [2] Shortly after, he renamed it Agri Star Meat and Poultry. [2] All employees are E-Verified. [2]
Friedman is the co-owner of "Dun & Bradstreet, Fourier, which produces solutions for scientific education, and CVD, a development company." [1]
Friedman is a philanthropist who contributes to charities, hospitals and yeshivas. He also invests heavily in funding large-scale projects of publishing holy seforim and is the chief patron of the Babylonian Talmud (Vilna Edition Shas), the Jerusalem Talmud, Shulchan Aruch and Mishna Berura published by the Oz Vehadar institute. These editions are called 'Friedman edition'. [1] [5] [6] The cost of the Babylonian Talmud project was over $20 million. [7]
Friedman married Raisy Stuhl in Montreal in 1975, and they have six married children, all of whom work for his businesses. [1]
Friedman resides in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. [2] He spends one week a month in Israel, and always stays at the Hilton Tel Aviv. [2]
Kashrut is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the term that in Sephardic or Modern Hebrew is pronounced kashér, meaning "fit". Food that may not be consumed, however, is deemed treif, also spelled treyf.
The Talmud is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (halakha) and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewish cultural life and was foundational to "all Jewish thought and aspirations", serving also as "the guide for the daily life" of Jews.
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Ner Israel Rabbinical College, also known as NIRC and Ner Yisroel, is a Haredi yeshiva in Pikesville, Maryland. It was founded in 1933 by Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman, a disciple of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, dean of the Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania. Rabbi Aharon Feldman, a disciple of Rabbi Ruderman and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of America, became its head in 2001.
The Jerusalem Talmud or Palestinian Talmud, also known as the Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century Jewish oral tradition known as the Mishnah. Naming this version of the Talmud after Palestine or the Land of Israel—rather than Jerusalem—is considered more accurate, as the text originated mainly from Galilee in Byzantine Palaestina Secunda rather than from Jerusalem, where no Jews lived at the time.
A hechsher or hekhsher is a rabbinical product certification, qualifying items that conform to the requirements of Jewish religious law.
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Shemaryahu Yosef Chaim Kanievsky was an Israeli Haredi rabbi and posek. He was a leading authority in Haredi Jewish society on legal and ethical practice. Known as the Gadol HaDor and the "Prince of Torah", much of his prominence came through Torah education and advice about Jewish law.
Chaim Yisroel HaLevi Belsky was an American rabbi and posek of Orthodox and Haredi Judaism. He was one of the roshei yeshiva (deans) at Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, and rabbi of the summer camp network run by Agudath Israel of America.
Abraham Aaron Rubashkin was an American businessman of Russian Jewish origin. He died during the COVID-19 pandemic due to complications brought on by COVID-19.
Agriprocessors was the corporate identity of a slaughterhouse and meat-packaging factory based in Postville, Iowa, best known as a facility for the glatt kosher processing of cattle, as well as chicken, turkey, duck, and lamb. Agriprocessors' meat and poultry products were marketed under the brand Iowa Best Beef. Its kosher products were marketed under various labels, including Aaron’s Best, Shor Habor, Supreme Kosher, and Rubashkins.
The Postville raid was a raid at the Agriprocessors, Inc. kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa, on May 12, 2008, executed by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division of the Department of Homeland Security together with other agencies.
The Tav HaYosher is a certification mark offered, free of charge, to Kosher food establishments that meet a series of ethical criteria developed by the organization, Uri L'Tzedek. Particularly, the Tav HaYosher confirms that an eating establishment with its seal pays minimum wage to all employees and overtime to those employees working more than 40 hours a week. It also ensures the establishment offers employees appropriate breaks as required by law, and provides a safe and abuse-free working environment.
Asa Keisar is an Israeli Jewish religious scholar, rabbi, scribe, and advocate for veganism. He has given many public lectures across Israel in support of veganism as both a Torah imperative to avoid cruelty to animals, as well as it being the Torah's ideal for mankind.
Oz Vehadar is a Torah institute that deals with the publication of Torah books. It was founded by Rabbi Yosef Samet and currently headed by Rabbi Yehoshua Leifer from Monsey, NY.
Dirshu is an Orthodox Jewish international organization whose goal is to strengthen and encourage Torah study. Founded in 1997, the organization produces study cycles, sponsors shiurim, furnishes and grades tests, and offers financial incentives to individuals and groups to learn and master Talmud, Halakha, and Mussar texts. It has also published new editions of traditional Jewish texts, and sponsored major gatherings to celebrate the completion of its study cycles. As of 2018, more than 150,000 people have participated in its programs, which have spread to 26 countries on five continents.