Young Manny Samuels thought he would retire in Israel with his newly earned fortune, but when the commodities market bottomed out in 1983, he was left penniless. Living on oranges and homemade falafel, a series of providential encounters led him to Rav Nachman Bulman ztz”l and to “Manny’s” — the business that would eventually be the Anglo haven of Meah Shearim.
Manny (Menachem Mendel) Samuels born in April 1949 in Chicago Illinois is a third-generation American whose parents were born in the United States — unlike those of most of his friends. “So my parents were more laid back ” he says. Which partially explains why although he attended a Jewish day school and a religious high school “I did my own thing. Unfortunately I used school more as a country club than as a religious experience. I wasn’t particularly religious at the time.”
In 1969 he left home to study sociology at the University of Illinois in Champagne. He still had an affinity for his Jewish roots which he expressed as a leader of a Young Judea group. A discussion about Israel with this group was his first catalyst to visit the Land.
“Here I was talking about Israel with these kids and I’d never been there myself. I felt like I needed a break anyway and so I decided to take off from my studies and spend a year in Israel.” It was 1970. Manny was twenty-one.
He bounced around Israel for a while spending some time on a kibbutz touring and visiting friends. In Arad visiting a friend he met his bashert and got married. Manny and his new wife rented an apartment in Arad and he set out to find a job stumbling through various positions not yet really knowing where his niche in the working world was meant to be.
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