Wissotzky Tea

Wissotzky Tea (Hebrew:תה ויסוצקי) is an international, family-owned tea company based inIsrael with offices inLondon and theUnited States. It is the leading tea distributor inIsrael. Founded in 1849 inMoscow,Russia, it became the largest tea firm in theRussian Empire.^[1] By the early 20th century, it was the largest tea manufacturer in the world.^[2]^[1] It is one of the oldest tea companies in the world.

Wissotzky Tea

Native name	תה ויסוצקי
Company type	Tea Company
Founded	Moscow,Russia 1849
Founder	Kalman Zev (Kalonimus Wolf) Wissotzky^[1]
Headquarters	Tel Aviv , Israel

The Wissotzky Tea Company is headed by Shalom Seidler, a descendant ofShimon Zeidler; the latter, related to Wissotzky by marriage, opened the Middle East branch of the company in 1936.^[1] The company's headquarters are located inTel Aviv while production takes place at a factory located in theGalilee; the company employs about 400 workers.^[3]

The company enjoys a 76% hold in the local market and exports its products worldwide. Wissotzky Tea is distributed inCanada, UK,Australia,Japan andSouth Korea, Europe,Hungary, Russia,Ukraine and the USkosher market, entering the United States mass market with its launch of The Signature Collection; a collection of "silky pyramid sachets" containing whole loose leaf tea, fruits and herbs.

Kalman Ze'ev Wissotzky

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Kalman Ze'ev Wissotzky (July 8, 1824 – May 24, 1904) was born in Starye Zagare, in theKovno Governorate in northernLithuania, to an Orthodox Jewish family.^[1] Following "a traditional Jewish education," Wissotsky, whose personal name later became known by various Anglicizations,^[4] married Keyla Zivya Abramson at age 18. With support from his in-laws, he studied the Talmud for three years, including six months at the renownVolozhin Yeshiva.^[1]^[5] He also was a student ofYisrael Salanter. When he was a young man he joined the "Love of Zion" movement (Hovevei Zion/Hibbat Zion), and remained an observant Jew his entire life. Wissotzky, along with his in-laws and 18 other Jewish families, set up an agricultural cooperative about 32 kilometers fromDvinsk, (today Daugavpils) Latvia. After, he was somehow allowed to move to Moscow, where he worked for Pyotr Kononovich Botkin (1781–1852), an innovative Russian tea trader. By selling tea door to door Wissotzky was able to eventually work himself up to a tea trader. While living in Moscow he gave himself a more acceptable Russian name: Wulf or Wolf Yankelevich, and his customers and partners knew him as Vasily Yakovlevich. After Botkin died Wissotzky started his own tea business in Moscow around 1858.^[5]

After moving to Moscow for economic reasons and "trading in tea" Wissotzky founded what became his signature tea company. Using his wealth^[1]

he funded a Jewish school in Jaffa
he was a major supporter of theJewish National Fund^[5]
he helped found "the Hebrew-language journal Hashiloah" ("edited byAhad Ha'am, who also managed Wissotzky offices, first in Russia and later in London")^{[citation needed]}
in 1908 his estate gave 200,000 rubles to the construction of what is today theTechnion-Israel Institute of Technology^[5]

In 1885, as a representative of Hovevei Zion, Wissotzky spent three months touring theLand of Israel.^[5] Wissotzky and his wife Keyla had four children, three daughters, including (Chana) Liba Miriam who was born 1860^[6] and their youngest, son David, born in 1861.^[5]

History

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19th century

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Kalonimus Wolf Wissotzky

In 1885, Kalonymus Zev Wissotzky visited the Holy Land, about which he later wrote a book.^[1] In that year, Wissotzky, who founded the tea company carrying his name in 1849, was already a wealthy and influential man, and was called "the Russian king of tea".

He had become a prominent figure in the proto-ZionistHovevei Zion movement and was part of the leadership of the Bilu movement, founded in 1882. In 1885 the movement sent him to what is now Israel following an argument with the heads of the JewishYishuv, regarding the use of funds sent to the Holy Land from the Jewish diaspora.Hovevei Zion thought the money should be spent on founding new Jewish colonies, while the heads of theYishuv, naturally disagreed. Wissotzky was given the role of touring the land in order to find a way of solving the debate, while keeping everyone happy.

Wissotzky Tea soon gained devoted customers all over theRussian Empire.^[1]

20th century

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1900–1919

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Wissotzky Tea logo, Russian Empire

By 1904 the company extended its activities toGermany,France,New York andCanada. In 1907 Wissotzky established the Anglo-Asiatic company with its head offices in London, managed byAhad Ha'am, a renowned Jewish writer and philosopher.^[7] He had joined the company in 1903 on his resignation as editor ofHa-Shiloach, a Zionist journal.^[8] The company acquired plantations in bothIndia andCeylon (presentSri Lanka).

From the early 1900s through 1917, Wissotzky Tea Company was the largest tea company in the world.^[9] Following theBolshevik Revolution, in 1917 all private businesses in the Russian empire were immediately nationalized by the government, yet it took two more years to complete the takeover of Wissotzky Tea. This is mostly due to the social benefits provided by the company to their many employees.

In 1917 the company gradually ceased its operations in Russia, and the Wissotzky family emigrated to the U.S and Europe, opening branches in Italy, Danzig, Poland, and additional European countries.

During theRussian Revolution, ananti-Semitic ditty mentioning Wissotzky tea made the rounds of Russian society, spreading the idea that Russia was the victim ofJewish domination: "Tea of Wissotzky, Sugar ofBrodsky, and Russia ofTrotsky."^[10]

1920–1939

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In the years following the Russian Revolution, Wissotzky Tea Company activities centered in London as its headquarters where it was managed by Boris Lourie and inDanzig,Poland. The operation inDanzig was run by Alexander Chmerling and Solomon Seidler, a tea specialist and scion of the Wissotzky family. Due to the vast emigration from Russia, the Polish facility catered to the demand for the tea they were accustomed to back home.

In 1936 Simon Seidler, the son of Solomon Seidler, sensed the impending danger of the war and left Poland for Palestine. In the following years, many of the family were murdered in theHolocaust and the company lost its holdings in Europe.

In 1936 Simon Seidler established a Wissotzky hub in theMiddle East.^[1] Seidler began selling tea to British soldiers stationed inMandatory Palestine, thereby promoting the brand name. Simon built a packing facility and gradually expanded the company's range of products. In 1957 Simon Seidler died and his wife Ida Seidler took over the family's tea business. Ida introduced a modern approach to manufacturing and marketing of the brand.

1940–1999

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In 1945, Boris Lourie married Anna Wissotzky, and they had two sons,Serge Lourie (born 1946) and Michael Lourie (born 1948). The family holding company, Anglo-Asiatic Ltd, ceased to exist after the death of Boris Lourie, in a car crash, in 1950.

21st century

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Wissotzky Tea Company acquired Zeta Olive Oil, a leading olive oil company in theGalilee and Lahmi, a leading home baked goods company in Israel with an international brand named Elsastory.^[11]^[12]

In December 2012 the three companies formed the Wissotzky Group, a gourmet and delicacies conglomerate.

Cultural references

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"Visotskis Tey" is the title of aklezmer song by Josh Waletzky, based on aSholem Aleichem story about a mother who peddles Wissotzky's tea to earn money to buy the freedom of her son who had been drafted into the czar's army.^[13]^[14]