Ben Barber, a Jewish-American businessman who owns a linen company in Brooklyn, New York, spoke with Israel National News - Arutz Sheva about how the coronavirus pandemic has affected his business, his close relationship with New York City's mayor, and the secret of his business' success.

"Basically, coronavirus destroyed all the businesses here," Barber said. "We were not able to open the business. There were supervisors who came to check, we needed to close the store and accept orders by phone and do deliveries. We also did not have enough workers, because the employees received money from the state so it wasn't worthwhile for them to work."

"Now things are starting to improve, but if we go to the port in New Jersey we'll see kilometers of containers and there aren't enough trucks to take them. We are making great efforts to bring the merchandise."

Barber has been marketing linens for dozens of years, and is considered one of the the leading brands in New York's market.

"The secret of success is to love what you do," he explained. "Even if you earn less, the main thing is to do the work. The business was founded in 1972, and there were years when there wasn't much profit but I still continued and I developed this market so that it became a sort of fashion. We are always innovating in this field."

According to him, the quality of the linens can determine the quality of sleep, which influences a person's entire lifestyle.

"If you sleep well, you live well," Barber explained. "I sell blankets and pillows from Siberian down, which is the most expensive in the world. If you slept well on a good pillow, everything looks different."

Alongside his linens business, Barber also sells men's clothes and cosmetics - and those brands are also named after him. "It's a brand that promises quality," he said with a smile.

Barber, who is involved in activities to benefit the public, is one of the only people in his community who supported the candidacy of New York's current mayor, Eric Adams.

"The friendship with him has continued for many years," Barber explained. "Once he was a police chief, after that a Senator, and then he was the Borough President. He helped the community with a great many of its needs, against anti-Semitism and even with ambulances for Hatzalah. He loves haredi Judaism and therefore I have a friendship with him."

The advantage with Adams, Barber added, is that he "is from a minority, and we are also a minority. He understands our story by means of his story. This is one of the reasons I supported him, and I was one of the only ones who supported him, almost against all odds and against most of the haredim, who preferred a different candidate."