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| Rahm Israel Emanuel |
Rahm Israel Emanuel, born November 29, 1959) is an American politician and the mayor-elect of Chicago. He was formerly White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama. He served as senior advisor to President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1998 and as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Illinois's 5th congressional district, from 2003 until his resignation in 2009 to take up his position in the Obama Administration.
Emanuel was chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2006 mid-term elections and remained a top strategist for House Democrats during the 2008 cycle. After Democrats regained control of the House in 2006, Emanuel was elected chairman of the Democratic Caucus. This made him the fourth-ranking House Democrat, behind Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn.
Two days after Obama's election victory, Emanuel was announced as Obama's designee for White House Chief of Staff. He resigned from the House on January 2, 2009, and began his duties as Chief of Staff on January 20, 2009, the day of Obama's inauguration.
Emanuel resigned as Chief of Staff effective October 1, 2010, in order to pursue a campaign to run for Mayor of Chicago pending the announced retirement of six term incumbent Richard M. Daley. On January 27, 2011, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed a lower court's ruling that had cast doubt on Emanuel's candidacy; the court unanimously held that Emanuel did not abandon his Chicago residency by serving in the White House, thus affirming his eligibility to run for mayor. He won the Mayoral election on February 22, 2011, with 55% of the vote. President Obama appointed William M. Daley, the brother of Emanuel's predecessor as mayor, as Chief of Staff to replace Emanuel.
Early and personal life
Emanuel was born in Chicago, Illinois to Jewish parents. His father, Benjamin M. Emanuel, is a Jerusalem-born pediatrician who was once a member of the Irgun, a Jewish paramilitary organization that operated in Mandate Palestine. His mother, Marsha Smulevitz, is the daughter of a Chicago union organizer. She worked in the civil rights movement and owned, briefly, a local rock and roll club. She is now a psychiatric social worker. The two met in Chicago in the 1950s. Emanuel's older brother Ezekiel J. Emanuel is an oncologist and bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health, and his brother Ari Emanuel, a Hollywood talent agent. He has an adopted sister, Shoshanna, who is 14 years younger. Emanuel's grandfather was a labor leader in Moldova.
Emanuel's first name, Rahm (רם) means high or lofty in Hebrew. The surname Emanuel (עמנואל), adopted by the family in honor of his father's brother Emanuel Auerbach, who was killed in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War in Jerusalem, means God is with us. Sources disagree as to whether the family name was changed in 1933 or 1938.
When the family lived in Chicago, Emanuel attended the Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School. After his family moved to Wilmette, he attended public schools: Romona School, Locust Junior High School, and New Trier West High School. He and his brothers attended summer camp in Israel, including just after the 1967 Six Day War.
While working at an Arby's restaurant in his high school years, Emanuel severely cut his right middle finger on a meat slicer. He sought medical attention after suffering a severe infection from swimming in Lake Michigan and as a result, had his finger partially amputated.
Emanuel was encouraged by his mother to take ballet lessons as a boy and is a graduate of the Evanston School of Ballet as well as a student of The Joel Hall Dance Center, where his children also took dance lessons. He won a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet but turned it down to attend Sarah Lawrence College, a liberal arts school with a strong dance program.
He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1981 with a B.A. in Liberal Arts, and went on to receive an M.A. in Speech and Communication from Northwestern University in 1985. While still an undergraduate, he joined the congressional campaign of David Robinson of Chicago.
During the 1991 Gulf War, Emanuel volunteered with the Israel Defense Forces as a civilian helping to maintain equipment. Emanuel's wife, Amy Rule, converted to Judaism shortly before their wedding. They are members of the Chicago synagogue Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel. They have a son and two daughters.
Emanuel is a close friend of fellow Chicagoan David Axelrod, chief strategist for the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign. Axelrod signed the ketuba, the Jewish marriage contract, at Emanuel's wedding. Rabbi Asher Lopatin of Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation is quoted as saying Emanuel's family is "a very involved Jewish family", adding that "Amy was one of the teachers for a class for children during the High Holidays two years ago." Emanuel has said of his Judaism: "I am proud of my heritage and treasure the values it has taught me." Emanuel's family lives on the North Side of Chicago, in the North Center neighborhood. (source : biography.com)