Israel Hayom..
04 January '12..
Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva is a world leader in the manufacture of generic drugs. The company's market value is estimated at more than NIS 180 billion ($470 million). The company has manufacturing plants, marketing and research facilities around in America, Europe and Asia. The company's flagship product is Copaxone, used to treat multiple sclerosis. The drug, developed by researchers at Israel's Weizmann Institute, has won international recognition and has earned Israeli scientists great respect.
The amazing story of Teva's meteoric success represents the realization of the Zionist vision in the modern era. The Jewish people, exiled from their historic homeland for thousands of years and wandering across continents and seas, have returned to Israel, renewed the Hebrew language and built something out of nothing. Exemplary industry, an education system, scientific research institutes, a powerful military and centers for Torah study – a nation and a society built under constant threat and war. The incredible revival of the State of Israel, and the ingathering of the exiles within it, is a miracle in every sense of the word. There is no other example of this in the history of humanity.
The story of Teva begins with an ultra-Orthodox man, Rabbi Yoel Moshe Salomon, born in Jerusalem in 1838. His family were among the pioneers of the old Ashkenazi community in 19th-century Jerusalem. Salomon himself was one of the individualists who left the Old City and established the first neighborhood outside its ancient walls – Nahalat Shiva. He later went on to build another neighborhood, Mea Shearim, and in 1878 he was one of the founders of Petach Tikva, which eventually became a flourishing city that today houses Teva headquarters.
Haim, Yoel Moshe Salomon's son, opened a pharmaceutical supply company in Jerusalem in 1901 and his brother-in-law, Moshe Levin, who was married to Salomon's daughter Tzipora, opened a franchise in Haifa. This little company, through talent, persistence and perseverance, evolved into a huge conglomerate, a pinnacle of Israeli industry. Ailing people around the world use Teva-produced drugs. Medicine from the Holy Land is healing humanity across the globe.
These days, Teva's CEO is being replaced. Shlomo Yanai, who was a major-general in the military, is resigning and the company has appointed Dr. Jeremy Levin who started out in South Africa, moved to the U.S., and with his exceptional talent became one of the world's leading pharmaceutical experts. Dr. Levin has declared that Teva will continue to be an Israeli company, and that he intends to move to Israel. We've even heard him speak a few words in Hebrew.
For many years Israel relied on donations from the Diaspora. The Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization used donated funds to absorb millions of immigrants that came to Israel from the corners of the earth. Today, Israel is an island of economic stability and no longer depends on the generosity of Jews around the world. The definition of Zionism today is the expectation that talented Jews will move to Israel and contribute to the success of Israeli society.
Professor Stanley Fischer, the governor of the Bank of Israel, is a shining example of the talented "oleh" who contributes immensely to Israel's economic stability. Bar-Ilan University also recently lured several leading nanotechnology and brain science experts to Israel. Doctors hailing from the U.S. are now treating patients in Israel's central medical facilities and marching Israel forward to the cutting edge of global medicine.
Welcome to Israel, Dr. Jeremy Levin. We hope that many quality people will follow in your footsteps. The Zionism championed by Yoel Moshe Salomon and his family now needs the next generation of immigrants such as yourself.
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=1133
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