Jewish Contributions to Humanity
SCAN THIS PAGE TO
SEE A VIDEO OF 5
MINUTES WITH MAGEN
DAVID ADOM.
A rendering of the Marcus National
Blood Services Center
#48 in
in a a series
#39
series
The Federal
Reserve’s Three
Jewish Chairs.
Alan Greenspan
Ben Bernanke
Janet Yellen
ALAN GREENSPAN (1926-).
MDA serves both
the IDF and
Israeli citizens.
b. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Federal Reserve Chair, 1987-2006. A Randian in Washington.
The former five-term chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System, Alan Greenspan has been one of America’s most influential economic
policymakers in the 20th and early 21st centuries. He’s credited with helping the nation
navigate the Oct. 1987 stock market crash, two recessions, the 1997 Asian financial
crisis, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Greenspan was close with the late libertarian author
Ayn Rand, and is a major advocate of minimal government intervention in the economy.
Unlike many Federal Reserve heads, Greenspan was more focused on controlling price
inflation and promoting the value of the dollar than with promoting “full employment.”
Before being appointed to the Federal Reserve by President Ronald Reagan, Greenspan
studied economics at New York University and Columbia University, worked at the
National Industrial Conference Board and chaired President Gerald Ford’s Council of
Economic Advisers.
BEN BERNANKE (1953-).
uses to save lives every day.
Advancements such as smartphone
apps and integrated command-
and-control centers allow MDA
to dispatch emergency vehicles
within four seconds of receiving a
call.
Key to that success has been
ongoing support from the Greater
Detroit community. Over the
years, local donors have sponsored
hundreds of ambulances, Mobile
Intensive Care Units, MDA
medical stations, equipment and
training. Natalie Charach, and
her late husband, Manny, set an
extraordinary example, donating
42 MDA ambulances, more than
anyone else in the world.
“MDA’s ability to save tens
of thousands of Israelis every
year is thanks, in large part, to
the community in Michigan
which, per capita, provides
more support to MDA than any
other community in the U.S.,”
said AFMDA Midwest Regional
Director Richard Zelin.
“For years, Detroiters have been
incredibly generous supporters
of MDA through sponsorships
of emergency vehicles and
youth volunteer stints, and we’re
incredibly proud of that,” added
Judy Karp. “Now the cause is
even more profound as the need
to build a new blood center
underscores the mission of saving
lives and keeping Israel safe and
secure.”
For those who cannot attend
Oct. 17, Dershowitz will also speak
at a MDA-themed event on Oct. 18
at 7 p.m. at the Jewish Community
Center of Greater Ann Arbor.
For more information, contact
Sharon Kobernik at (888) 674-
4871 or skobernik@afmda.org.
Tickets for the Detroit event start
at $18 and can be purchased at
www.afmda.org/events/detroit. ■
b. Augusta, Georgia.
Federal Reserve Chair, 2006-2014. From Dillon, SC to Washington, D.C.
The former two-term Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Shalom Bernanke is one
of the 21st century’s most influential economists, and played a key role in leading the
federal government’s response to the economic crisis that began in 2008. Bernanke was
raised in small Dillon, South Carolina, where his family attended Ohav Shalom synagogue.
Bernanke’s grandfather, Harold Friedman, was a chazzan, shochet and Hebrew teacher,
and he taught a young Ben Hebrew. Bernanke studied economics at Harvard and MIT,
and went on to teach at Stanford and Princeton before being appointed as a member of
the Fed’s Board of Governors. Bernanke believes that the continued growth of developed
nations has helped to moderate the volatility of the economic business cycle (upward and
downward GDP movements), and his “Bernanke doctrine” has become a key theory as to
how to prevent deflation. During the Great Recession, Bernanke was a key architect of the
government’s bailouts and takeovers of failing banking institutions.
JANET YELLEN (1946-).
b. New York, New York.
Federal Reserve Chair, 2014-present. The Fed’s first female head.
The third consecutive Jewish head of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen is also the
Fed’s first female chair. Born in Brooklyn, and educated at Brown and Yale, Yellen taught
at Harvard before being tapped for a brief stint with the Federal Reserve before returning
to academia at the London School of Economics and UC Berkeley. Yellen went on to serve
as an economic adviser to President Bill Clinton, and led the Federal Reserve Bank of San
Francisco before being appointed as the Fed’s Vice Chair in 2010, a position she held until
President Barack Obama appointed her as Ben Bernanke’s replacement in 2014. Yellen’s
term, thus far, has been characterized by the maintenance of low interest rates, a nod to
her Keynesian preference to favor decreasing unemployment over preventing inflation.
Original Research by Walter L. Field Sponsored by Irwin S. Field Written by Jared Sichel
jn
October 4 • 2018
17