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November 17, 2011

Success without honor

Leave a Comment / David Suissa, News, Opinion /

Few stories have shaken me up this year quite like the sexual scandal at Penn State University.

My revulsion at the depravity in this story knows no bounds — according to law enforcement officials, at least nine boys were sexually assaulted at the hands of a former Penn State football coach over a 15-year period, while university leaders allegedly did nothing to stop it.

As David Brooks of The New York Times writes: “What could have made them so numb and callous? How could they have not been seized by revulsion after hearing the reports of what was happening? How could they have not felt a desire to expunge this from their athletic system? It’s the failure to follow normal intuitions that is striking.”

Yes, the failure to follow normal intuitions, as in the case of Penn State graduate student Mike McQueary, who in 2002 witnessed a 10-year-old boy being sexually assaulted in the shower by former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. Instead of screaming rape and stopping the crime — or at least calling the police — McQueary went home and passed the buck to his father and, the following day, to head coach Joe Paterno, who then waited another day before passing the buck to the athletic director, who then passed the buck to the president — you get the pattern.

For years, everyone passed the buck, hoping somehow it would “all go away.”

The great Jewish commentator of the middle ages, Nachmanides (The Ramban), wrote that you can be a scoundrel and still follow the letter of the law. It’s likely that the most powerful man in this story, Paterno — who ran the program for nearly half a century and was treated like royalty by the university — followed the letter of the law in his lame response to the horrible accusations he heard. But did he follow his own code of “success with honor”?

“Success without honor is an unseasoned dish,” Paterno said during a commencement speech he gave to the Penn State Class of 1973. “It will satisfy your hunger, but it won’t taste good.”

It won’t taste good? Is that what this is about — success tasting good? I don’t know about you, but I find this metaphor betrays a certain moral flaw. Is the virtue of honor only there to make a dish “taste” better? Doesn’t honor deserve a dish of its own?

When honor is seen as a maraschino cherry on top of success, when it become about satisfying your tastebuds, it gets diminished and loses out to bigger sources of satisfaction. Had Paterno done more to root out the evil in his program, he might have tasted a little satisfaction. But, in his mind, to do so would have poisoned the much-greater satisfaction he derived from the legendary program he’d spent decades building — and how good would that have tasted?

Once honor was reduced to a narrow calculation of “what tastes better,” passing the buck in the face of evil became the “normal intuition.” If Paterno was really serious about honor, his motto would have been, “Success Without Honor Is Failure.”

As someone who believes in the ultimate PR value of transparency, it’s tempting for me to argue that Penn State would have looked better, in the long run, had it exposed the scandal right away.

But that’s patronizing. It’s like saying “honesty is the best policy” or “good ethics is good business.” It might well be true, but it misses the point. Virtue shouldn’t need a sales pitch.

In the Jewish tradition that I’ve been taught, honesty is honesty and good ethics are good ethics. They are not means to an end; they are the end.

I learned an even tougher variation of that idea in business. “A principle is not a principle unless it costs you money,” wrote Bill Bernbach, the co-founder of an ad agency where I used to work.

Sure, it might have cost Penn State plenty of fundraising money to expose the moral rot inside its vaunted football program, but, regardless of any positive or negative PR implications, it would have been the right thing to do.

Just ask Penn State alumnus Jon Matko, who, according to local reporter Wayne Drehs, showed up at the school’s football game last Saturday with a thick piece of black duct tape covering the Penn State logo on his baseball cap and a pair of signs criticizing the university.

As Drehs writes, “So while kids posed for pictures next to the Joe Paterno statue and others did the ‘We Are’ chant before Saturday’s game, Matko stood on a street just outside the stadium quietly holding his signs and accepting the abuse that came with it.”

One of his signs quoted Albert Einstein: “The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

Another sign included the message “Put the kids first.”

Yes, of course, do the right thing by putting the kids first. It sounds so right, so natural, so normal. But there’s a problem: Putting the kids first means putting yourself second. And, apparently, no one at Penn State was willing to stoop that low.

David Suissa is president of TRIBE Media Corp./Jewish Journal and can be reached at davids@jewishjournal.com.

Success without honor Read More »

From boycott to ‘buycott’

Leave a Comment / Israel, News /

In the latest effort to counter continuing efforts to delegitimize Israel on the world stage, a Buy Israel Week campaign will be held nationwide Nov. 28 through Dec. 4.

Frances Zelazny, a New York marketer who came up with the idea, said Buy Israel Week is an integrated online and print effort that is being co-sponsored by nine Jewish newspapers throughout the country, including The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Coupons will be found online at buyisraelweek.com.

Zelazny said she has been concerned not only by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, but more recently by the effort of the Palestinians to gain United Nations membership as a means to further delegitimize Israel.

“This is a way to counter that by pushing not just Israel’s political but commercial aspects — highlighting its food, high-tech and other innovations,” she said.

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, has embraced the initiative because he said it “gives people another avenue to express their support for Israel and counter the increasing effort to boycott Israeli products. And it is sending various messages — economic, psychological and political.”

Although the BDS movement has not gained as much traction in the United States as it has in Europe, Hoenlein said, “We have seen manifestations of it here. There are increasing voices for BDS activities in church groups and by academic and cultural figures. … We are sending the biggest names in Hollywood to Israel to let them talk about the reality of what they see in order to counter the claims that Israel is an apartheid state.”

Just last month, a group of 75 New York University faculty members signed a letter asking that TIAA-CREF, a financial services organization, divest from the occupation in Israel, according to Hindy Poupko, executive director of the Council of Young Jewish Presidents.

She said her group, which represents more than 25 young leadership groups in New York, “clearly supports the Buy Israel Week initiative because we view it as positive PR for Israel. It is important for Americans and in particular New York consumers to understand the variety of contributions Israel has made in every possible field. … In an age when there are almost daily calls for a boycott of Israeli products, it is critical we go out there and demonstrate that there is a strong and growing market for Israeli products.”

Poupko pointed out that attempts to boycott Ahava products sold in Ricky’s New York City stores earlier this year was met with a “buycott” and that since then “the sales of Ahava products in Ricky’s stores have soared.”

“That speaks to the power of focusing our efforts to buy Israeli products at least one week a year, and hopefully consumers will enjoy the products enough to make them part of their everyday purchasing patterns,” she added.

Hoenlein noted that not only will Buy Israel Week counter boycott efforts but also it will “make people aware” of the Israeli products that are out there and encourage stores to carry them.

Martin Raffel, project director of the Israel Action Network, an initiative to mobilize the North American Jewish community to respond to the assault on Israel’s legitimacy, said Buy Israel Week is a good effort because “it supports the Israeli economy and that sends the right kind of message. And because it can be sent across the Internet, it has more of an impact.”

He added that such efforts have been held in other parts of the country in recent years. One of them is the buyisraelgoods.org Web site established about 10 years ago to showcase different Israeli products and services. (See story on the site’s founder here.) The America-Israel Chamber of Commerce in Chicago created it as a free service, according to its executive director, Michael Schmitt.

StandWithUs, a group that supports pro-Israel education worldwide, partnered with the chamber last year.

“They had a wonderful Web site and we had a wonderful global campaign,” said Roz Rothstein, the group’s chief executive officer.

She said the groups have held two campaigns, both on days on which Israeli products had been targeted for a boycott.

“We were very successful — people bought out the shelves of Israeli goods in cities around the world,” she said.

Even though boycott efforts have failed, Rothstein said she is still disturbed by the rhetoric the boycott groups use against Israel.

“Everyone should be troubled by these people who are trying to collectively punish the citizens of Israel,” she said. “A lot of them are propagandists and anti-Semites who have launched a movement that is poisonous and who use classical anti-Semitic rhetoric that needs to be condemned.”

From boycott to ‘buycott’ Read More »

Importing Israeli creativity

Leave a Comment / Israel, News /

Don’t buy Israeli products just to support the Jewish state. Buy them because they’re well-made, cutting-edge, even avant-garde in quality, look and feel, says Nili Shalev, Israel’s economic minister to North America.

“It’s not just important to buy Israeli. It’s a pleasure,” Shalev said.

“Israel produces high-quality products mainly targeted for export, since Israel itself is such a small market. Whether it’s fashion, jewelry or gourmet foods, they’re packaged beautifully to give the buyer a real feeling of uniqueness and innovation,” she said. “There is no better way to support the Israeli economy than to get engaged with Israeli companies that are active in the United States.”

Speaking from the two-day KosherFest exhibition in Secaucus, N.J., Shalev zeroed in on the many Israeli edibles that are marketed to (not just Jewish) consumers in all niches, from gluten-free to gourmet. “The advantage is that they are kosher but also tasty and healthful,” she said.

As for gadgets, Israeli brands such as Epilady are epic, but for the most part Israeli technology is on the inside. “Israeli innovation is embedded in practically every high-tech device on the market,” Shalev said.

There are other ways to wear Israel on the outside, however.

Lilly Berelovich, president of New York-based trend forecasting company Fashion Snoops, lived in Israel for four years and is now looking to promote hot Israeli designers such as Sharon Brunsher, Yosef Peretz, Anya Fleet and Aluma. She’s expecting to meet and greet these and many other established and up-and-coming designers at Tel Aviv Fashion Week, Nov. 21-23, and is working with the Israeli Embassy on ways to introduce them to American buyers.

“I want to elevate awareness of the creativity that Israel has to offer in all realms, to get the focus off the constant talk of conflict,” Berelovich said. “There are other things to talk about.”

She calls Israeli designers “daring, innovative and different. I think their creative angle is unlike anything I’ve tasted here in the U.S. It does not surprise me that a lot of high-tech ideas are born in Israel because of that creativity and daring. Israeli designers are not held back by commercialized concepts, and it shows in their use of fabric, detail and composition, even how silhouettes are cut.”

Berelovich is also a fan of home décor designers, such as Elemental, which don’t have much recognition outside of the Jewish state. “Our goal is to curate an event to highlight that,” she says. “People are still asking if there are a lot of camels in Israel, and they’re missing out on a lot of creative talent.”

There’s another category of creative talent that British-born Nikki Jason is working to publicize. She’s formed Co’motion (comotiongrp.com), a “super agency” composed of 14 Israeli providers offering a full range of sales, marketing, promotional and branding services to overseas companies, including some Fortune 500 A-listers.

“This is a wonderful example of how you can get creative, top-notch business services at lower cost from Israel,” Shalev said.

Jason explains that while living in Israel, she established a branding agency to help Israeli companies develop export strategies for marketing and branding. Now she’s expanding the concept.

“Israel is very isolated and restricted in terms of growth because it’s such a small market, so I turned to our collaborators and put together services for every field in business. We are helping HP launch new technologies and products, and we recently helped Apple launch its flat screens in Europe,” Jason said.

“We realized the capabilities of Israeli creativity are not limited to technology. We have package designers, print production experts, Web developers, social media and e-commerce specialists, top photographers and more. If you bought the same level of services in Manhattan, it would cost tens of thousands of dollars, but you can buy them in Israel for a fraction of the price.”

The Israeli government is supporting this effort, which represents some 150 employees working in Israel. “My mission for Co’motion is to make sure we can sell creative services the same way technology is selling Israeli innovation,” she says. “I feel that the way to support Israel is not [just] through philanthropy but through the work we do so well, sometimes in surprising areas.”

Importing Israeli creativity Read More »

Old land, new wines

Leave a Comment / Food, Leisure, News /

As Israeli wines win medal after medal in international competitions, their entry into the mainstream fine wine market is hardly news anymore.

And yet, says Gary Landsman, director of marketing for the importer Royal Wine Corp., Israeli wines are lately reaching new benchmarks.

“We’re seeing stylistic changes by winemakers in Israel,” said Landsman, who worked in Israeli wineries during the harvest seasons from 2006 to 2008. He’s not referring to the big switch from sweet Kiddush wine to sophisticated products that is already well entrenched, but something much more subtle.

“As recently as five years ago, some Israeli winemakers still preferred bombastic, robust, masculine styles, where they’re getting rich fruit extracts and using oak barrels to their fullest. Now we are starting to see winemakers temper their use of oak barrels and pare back a little on extraction so the wines are a bit more elegant.”

Another significant change has to do with the age of the vines. Although wine making existed in the region thousands of years ago, the modern enterprise started from scratch after the founding of the state and in some ways is just now coming into its own.

“The [wine growing] grapevines in Israel are about 30 years old, and by worldwide standards that is young,” Landsman explained. “When wine is made from immature vineyards, that comes through in the taste — some of the younger vineyards have off-putting herbaceous flavors. Only now are some of the first Israeli winemakers, like Carmel, able to offer ‘old vine’ wines.”

The term “old vine,” he added, is sometimes dismissed as a marketing gimmick, but the difference is real.

“With older vines, often you don’t have to water them because the roots have dug deep enough that they can find the water they need to survive. Though Israel pioneered drip irrigation, for grapes they prefer ‘dry farming,’ which implies not watering them. Most areas that are putting out better fruit get rain and sometimes snow in winter, so they get enough natural water during the winter months to hold them through the dry season. When you don’t irrigate, you encourage the vines to dig down deep, and digging deeper gives you better flavors. When vineyards suck in too much water, the grapes plump up and get watered down.”

Carmel’s Appellation label, for example, can be found on old vine wines such as its Shomron Carignan 2004, made from Carignan grapes (with a little added Petit Verdot) growing in the winery’s nearly 35-year-old vineyards in Zichron Ya’acov. Carmel has a leg up on most other Israeli wineries in terms of age. It was founded in 1882 by Baron Edmond de Rothschild, owner of Chateau Lafite in Bordeaux, France.

Wine critic Daniel Rogov gave Binyamina Winery’s Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 a score of 94 out of 100, and wrote: “A limited edition, showing dark, almost impenetrable garnet with just a hint of royal purple at the rim. Full-bodied, with generous but remarkably round tannins and gentle notes of spicy wood. On the nose red fruits, vanilla and a hint of cinnamon. Opens in the glass to reveal traditional Cabernet blackcurrant and blackberry fruits, those complemented by notes of bittersweet chocolate and freshly cured tobacco. … Elegance on the grand scale.”

Alongside the maturing of the vineyards, he continued, Israel’s winemakers have learned which grape varieties work best.

“The wine industry in Israel started with French varietals, such as Merlot and Chardonnay, but now we’re discovering that Israel’s soil may not be best for those,” Landsman said. “There’s a lot of experimentation now with varietals suited to the Eastern Mediterranean climate of Israel, such as Grenache and Petite Sirah. This is leading to better and more distinctively Israeli wines.”

All these developments represent a rich opportunity to introduce the general wine-buying consumer to Israeli wines if they haven’t already been convinced to try them.

To that end, Royal recently started the Israeli Wine Producers Association (IWPA), an initiative to help Israeli wines gain greater acceptance. “You’re finding more and more people getting over the impression that Israeli wine equals kosher equals Kiddush-sweet equals ‘why bother.’ We’re working diligently to break that stigma,” Landsman said.

The IWPA’s ads promote the message that buying Israeli wine is no different than buying from other nontraditional wine countries like Chile and Argentina, and that kosher certification isn’t an indication of inferiority, as evidenced by the kosher symbol on iconic products such as Snapple and Coke.

Not that all Israeli wines are kosher — a designation that has less to do with the grapes than with the manner in which they are handled. In order to have kosher certification, the product can be handled from field to bottle only by Sabbath-observant Jews. This is another evolving area, Landsman said. Many of Israel’s dozens of boutique wineries are starting to go kosher to increase their appeal to the all-important overseas Jewish consumer.

The IWPA, however, wants to break out of the parochial mindset.

“My goal is to inform the wine drinkers of the United States that Israel is on the map for wine,” said Joshua Greenstein, vice president of sales and marketing for the IWPA. The tagline he likes to use is “Ancient land, modern wine.”

“Retail shelves are cluttered with so many different labels. What helps is a great story, and Israel is nothing but great stories,” said Greenstein, who will soon be meeting with many Israeli winemakers to formulate a game plan of wine-education events in North America.

Greenstein, formerly with large American wineries such as Gallo, understands something about the general market. “In the wine world, people are looking for the next new thing. They want to learn about wine and the stories behind the wineries and the grapes they use.”

The organization is hoping to urge retailers to categorize Israeli wines by varietal, along with similar nonkosher wines, rather than putting them in dedicated sections that few non-Jewish shoppers seek out.

“They need to put all the Chardonnays together,” Landsman said. “More Israeli wines are in retail stores today, but mostly in the back, in the kosher section. We want to continue pushing them into the mainstream because they deserve the attention. Why limit the Israeli wines?”

Old land, new wines Read More »

Beyond matzah and couscous

Leave a Comment / Food, Leisure, News /

Ataste of Israel is no farther away than your local grocery store — and not just in the kosher aisle.

No one’s surprised to find Israeli matzah on a shelf, but what about sliced Mexican turkey from a company called Hod Golan (motto: “The Height of Good Taste”), which is offered at many Ralphs stores?

That’s just the beginning when it comes to the varied food products being imported from the Holy Land these days. There’s also tea, spices, cheese and even frozen herbs.

Consider it food for thought as Buy Israel Week approaches. The effort to promote products made in Israel, which is co-sponsored by The Jewish Journal, will take place Nov. 28 through Dec. 4.

American grocery stores have seen an influx of products hailing from Israel. In the first half of this year alone, the country exported $85 million in food to the United States, an 8 percent increase over the same period last year, according to Lital Frenkel-Porat of the Israel Export & International Cooperation Institute.

A document by that nonprofit organization, which is supported by the Israeli government and private sector and charged with promoting the country’s business abroad, suggests a few reasons for the boost:

• A blend of cultures due to geography and immigrant populations has created a variety of unique food products;

• A national health awareness has translated into increased meatless and sugar-, lactose- and gluten-free products;

• A strong commitment to research and development has led to advancements in food-ingredient technology and innovative products.

The result? Hundreds of products trickling into American grocery stores, even if the average consumer isn’t aware of it.

Whole Foods Market, for example, sells more than 200 products nationwide that are made in Israel by 14 companies. Among them are Elyon’s fat-free, gluten-free marshmallows; Gefen’s gluten-free ziti noodles; and a host of spices by Pereg — including mixed spices for the all-American hamburger. (Availability varies by store.)

“Whole Foods Market is proud to sell products from Israel and many other countries around the world,” Marci Frumkin, executive marketing coordinator for the company’s Southern Pacific region, said in a statement. “In fact, our 365 Everyday Value team recently took a trip to Israel to investigate products we may want to include in our line.”

Other major chains stock up on Israeli goods, too. Ralphs lists about 275 products from more than 30 companies. Vons counts more than 80 items from eight Israeli businesses.

Trader Joe’s was the first to carry a line of frozen foods by Dorot, a kibbutz located at the edge of the Negev in southern Israel. It produces all-natural, flash-frozen herbs and other products that are packaged in ice cube-like trays for individual servings.

“A few hours after the harvest, it’s already frozen,” said Tal Tal-Or, CEO of the company’s U.S. subsidiary based in West Hills and vice president for all Dorot export markets. “We always say it’s faster than fresh.”

Now Dorot products can be found in nearly 4,000 stores, including Whole Foods, Bristol Farms and Ralphs.

“There are a lot of struggles, but our company is growing in the U.S.,” Tal-Or said. “Our product is not like bread or cheese or milk. It requires a lot of explanation. People don’t expect to find basil in the freezer.”

Trader Joe’s carries Israeli couscous, too, but perhaps more intriguing is what consumers may find a few aisles over: Pastures of Eden feta cheese. Produced by the Israeli Sheep Breeders Association, it’s a creamy, Balkan-style cheese made from sheep’s milk.

“In terms of feta, this is really the highest quality that we have found,” said Melissa Shore, marketing director of importer Arthur Schuman in New Jersey. “It’s very different from the Greek feta. It’s just a totally different texture. I think people are surprised by it.”

Israeli grocery imports go beyond just food. Ralphs, for example, carries a number of drinks by Prigat, a brand that has been in the United States since 2000. It produces mango and peach nectar, as well as other flavors.

Then there’s the wine, especially that being produced in the Golan Heights. Brands like Yarden are widely available — Ralphs is one carrier — and up to world-class standards, according to Martin Weiner, who runs the Los Angeles School of Wines.

“In the last 20 to 30 years, there’s been a marked increase in quality,” he said.

Tea drinkers can indulge in Wissotzky Tea, available at Ralphs and Vons. Flavors include everything from Mango and Passion Fruit to Nana-Lemon (a mix of lemon and mint). The company has a manufacturing plant in the Galilee and has been producing tea since 1936.

So the time is good to be an Israeli food exporter. But it’s not without its challenges. Dorot, for one, has been caught up in campaigns by pro-Palestinian organizations to boycott Israeli goods, according to Tal-Or.

Trader Joe’s, however, told the company not to sweat it.

“[They] told us, ‘Look, since these protests have started, your sales have gone up 20 percent. Hundreds of thousands of people all over the U.S. … were exposed to the product. That helped us increase sales,” he said.

Still, he concluded: “A lot of Israeli products really suffer from these Palestinian organizations, and it’s making us feel uncomfortable. We try to fight it as best we can.”

Beyond matzah and couscous Read More »

An internet guide to finding Israeli products

Leave a Comment / News, Tech /

You could say it all started in 1967, when one of Howard Bernstein’s daughters got married.

“I insisted we serve Israeli wine,” the Chicago businessman and founder of the Buy Israel Goods (BIG) Web site said. He had visited Israel both as a tourist and in his position as an investment banker to the food industry and was searching for ways to help the Jewish state.

“It doesn’t cost any more to buy Israeli products, and they are superior products in most cases,” he said.

But it was several decades—not until 2002, in fact—before Bernstein would launch BIG (buyisraelgoods.org), which he now runs in conjunction with America-Israel Chambers of Commerce, StandWithUs and several other organizations.

His motivation was simple to explain, more difficult to accomplish: Help the Israeli economy by motivating consumers to buy a broad range of Israeli products for their everyday needs.

Today BIG, which Bernstein funds, and maintains with the help of a few interns, lists available Israeli products in about 25 categories in 17 cities in the United States and Canada. Both local merchants and online sellers are identified. The coverage area includes more than 75 percent of the Jewish population of the country, he says.

So let’s say you live in Seattle and are looking for an Israeli-made birthday present for your toddler. Click on your city, click on “Toys and Games” under Product Categories, and voila, you discover there’s a Toys ‘R’ Us store in town that sells Israeli brands, plus a listing of five online retailers. Couldn’t be simpler.

That’s exactly what Bernstein was going for.

“I noted the singular focus in doing business with Israel was high-tech products,” he said. “That’s as it should be, because it’s Israel’s strongest suit. But I also noticed that nobody was paying attention to the considerable amount of companies in the consumer products business.”

He decided he would be the one to pay attention, coming up with the idea of a Web site that would direct people to Israeli consumer products. He started out in a few market areas, watched the Web site grow and hired some college students who, he freely admits, knew much more about Web site development than he did.

“I gave them a single rule that they must never violate,” he said. “I will sacrifice any element of color or design to have a site that, if a visitor sees a page they want to print, all they have to do is press print and they get a perfectly legible copy. I had to drag the (Web site designers) back to the straight and narrow.”

Now Bernstein has Jewish organizational sponsors in a number of cities whose members help gather information for the site. He’s recently added a blog feature, with news about Israeli products, and a library feature that archives articles on the subject.

Big news on the site might be that “AIPAC served Israeli wine to 10,000 people at its last national meeting in Washington, D.C.,” he said.

Wine, in fact, is Bernstein’s favorite product and one he works hard to promote. “If I hear of someone having a banquet, I send a letter: Here’s why you should serve Israeli wine. There’s a lot of misinformation out there. A lot of people think they won’t like Israeli wine, but when they drink it, they like it,” he said.

He gives credit to local America-Israel Chambers of Commerce in BIG’s market areas for providing listings of local merchants selling Israeli products. “Without their input, there would be no BIG,” he said.

Bernstein said he often hears from merchants pleased with the number of sales they’ve made through BIG.

That’s also the view of Roz Rothstein, co-founder and CEO of StandWithUs, a 10-year-old pro-Israel education and advocacy nonprofit based in Los Angeles.

The organization works in partnership with Bernstein after launching a campaign that also promoted buying Israeli goods. That promotion was designed to specifically combat the efforts of groups calling for a boycott of Israeli products, Rothstein said, and was launched on Nov. 30, 2010, and March 30, 2011 — days anti-Israel groups had designated as boycott days.

“We have a very large international membership, and our campaign became global,” reaching supporters as far away as Australia, Rothstein said. “Shelves of Israeli products were emptied” on the boycott days, she said.

Rothstein said StandWithUs “pushed the campaign (to buy Israeli products) out into the world. It became a living, active thing.”

Another goal, she said, was to counter the negativity of the pro-boycott groups. “We created an upbeat, happy campaign,” she said. “We asked people to send in their photos, videos, and it created excitement in Jewish and Christian schools, synagogues, churches. Federations picked it up. It became a whole campaign that was very effective.” Christian pro-Israel groups helped power the effort as well, she said.

Bernstein said that in each month when a boycott was called for, BIG’s page views increased from about 5,000 to almost 50,000. “StandWithUs’ efforts have proved to be very effective,” he said.

StandWithUs, meanwhile, will continue to sponsor and work with BIG as Bernstein seeks to expand the Web site’s reach into new markets, including international ones.

And here’s what Bernstein wants everyone who uses his service to remember: “While I hope and think that BIG assists Israel, the Israelis do more for us than we do for them, just by being there.”

An internet guide to finding Israeli products Read More »

Feeling connected to Israel by buying Israel

Leave a Comment / Israel, News /

Not every American Jew can move to Israel. Not every American Jew can visit Israel. And even if you do go on a trip or mission to Israel, you do that maybe once a year, maybe once in a lifetime.

But what every American Jew can do, every day of the year, is Buy Israel.

If you eat food, drink wine, like jewelry, use cosmetics, wear clothes, need medications, enjoy flowers, are looking to beautify your home, are shopping for a gift for a friend, you can Buy Israel.

Meaning all those things, and many more, are on sale somewhere in your town or city, all of it made in Israel.

Meaning by buying those things, you show your love of and support for Israel. And there’s no sacrifice necessary on your part. Products from Israel are of the highest quality, the latest style, the best make.

And you can Buy Israel no matter where you stand on the peace process, no matter if you are right wing or left wing, no matter what your position is on any issue.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the politics and the controversies and the latest news, we lose sight of the essential wonder of Israel and of our unbreakable, kishka connection to Israel.

It is the place where our history has been made and is being made, the place that made us who we are, that defines us as a people. The State of Israel is something we have prayed for, worked for, hoped for, longed for, for more than 2,000 years. And we are part of the fortunate generation of Jews for whom a sovereign Jewish country is a reality.

Which is not something to take for granted; it is something to cherish with all our hearts and Jewish souls.

One way to put those emotions into action, a very simple but very meaningful way to express our feelings in a very concrete way, is to Buy Israel. Every day, you purchase the things you need — shoes or swimsuits, beauty aids or books, cheese or linens. And when buying all that, you have all kinds of choices, all kinds of options.

So why not Buy Israel? If there’s something you’re shopping for and there’s a well-made product from Israel available at a competitive price, it’s the perfect way to get what you need while showing how much you care.

Because by buying Israel, you support Israel, show your allegiance to the State of Israel, a holy place on earth, the Jewish place in the world. By buying Israel, by choosing food and clothes and jewelry and cosmetics and all the many things made there, you infuse your everyday life with a tangible connection to the land and to its people. You become a part of that place by using products that come from that place.

This special section is dedicated to Buy Israel Week, Nov. 28 through Dec. 4, when a special emphasis will be put on buying Israel, when coupons will be available online at buyisraelweek.com that offer discounts available in stores, all to make it easier during these seven days to focus your buying on buying Israel.

By so doing, you’ll find not only that the products that come from Israel are really tasty and really attractive and really useful, but you’ll find that you feel really good for having bought them, for having elevated the ordinary act of shopping into a connection to the extraordinary place that is the Jewish state.

Once you feel that feeling, you’ll want to make every week Buy Israel Week.

Feeling connected to Israel by buying Israel Read More »

Letters to the Editor: Global Warming

Leave a Comment / Letters to the Editor /

Chilly Responses to Prager’s Global Warming Comments

To agree with Dennis Prager that global warming “is a left-wing hysteria” requires ignoring more than 150 years of science (“Man-Made Global Warming: Why Many of Us Are Skeptical, Part 1 and Part 2,” Oct. 28 and Nov. 11). Global warming was proposed in 1896 by Nobel Laureate Svante Arrhenius based on physical principles discovered earlier in the 19th century, and in 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Scientific Advisory Panel warned of this science and its serious implications.

Prager says it is the “liberal media” that claims the “science is settled,” when actually it is the United States National Academy of Sciences that has concluded human-caused global warming is a “settled fact.” This is not belief; it is a conclusion from evidence, and there is not another theory that explains what we now see with our own eyes and instruments.

Prager insists the views of a single scientist (Richard Lindzen of MIT) falsify global warming, yet how can he know this, since by his own admission he doesn’t understand the science? Lindzen concludes global warming is real, that humans are causing it, but he suggests that impacts will develop slowly. The reason Lindzen’s findings are not influential is that in reaching his conclusions, he examined only a portion of available data.

Prager is a smart guy and could have figured this out; but he chooses not to so that he can make outrageous claims that solutions for global warming will “wreck our economy” when all major economic analyses say just the opposite.

The basic science is not that complicated. Just like adding a blanket on your bed, greenhouse gases are capturing energy that used to escape Earth. This same principle explains why Venus is hotter than Mercury even though Mercury is closer to the sun. Physical facts such as these lead 97 percent of climate scientists to sound the grave warnings Prager dismisses absurdly as “hysteria.”

Richard Gunther
Andrew Gunther, executive director
Center for Ecosystem Management and Restoration

Dennis Prager is an excellent radio talk-show host, but he continues unfairly to paint the political “left” as a monolithic group of Democrats whose agenda can be categorized with sweeping generalizations about its unworthy motivations. His recent discussion of climate change is a good example of his continued attempt to draw large and unsupported conclusions about those with whom he disagrees. By discussing nine so-called “untruths” that he asserts are purposely perpetrated by the “left,” he reasons that climate change as a condition exacerbated by human activity also is an “untruth.” 

Even if we disagree about the magnitude of the impact of climate change, what do we have to lose by taking steps to correct it? If there is even a slight chance that the doomsday scenarios might be true, where is the justification for taking that risk, especially when the remedy would be, by itself, so helpful? By using less fossil fuel we will clean up the air (no one can argue with that), we will decrease our dependence on foreign oil (which is a good thing for Israel), and we will stimulate research, development and jobs in new and necessary energy industries. Compared to even a small risk of catastrophic consequences, the advantages of caution make a good deal of sense. So instead of demonizing the sincerity of those with whom you disagree, Mr. Prager, wouldn’t it be far more productive to look at the issue and the solutions, and then craft a policy that would be helpful to all? Clean air, diminishing the influence of oil-producing nations and maybe creating new jobs would do just that.

David A. Lash
Beverly Hills

Thank you Mr. Prager for directing us to the Wikipedia article, “List of scientists opposing the mainstream scientific assessment of global warming.” I do try and understand the right and so I looked at the article. However, it only served to strengthen my belief that global warming is a true cause for concern and it is man-made to a great extent. The top of the page lists the multiple issues the article contains, including the fact that its neutrality is disputed and a suggestion that it may contain “original research,” which is defined by Wikipedia as “material — such as facts, allegations, and ideas — for which no reliable, published source exists. This includes any analysis or synthesis of published material that serves to advance a position not advanced by the sources.”

The facts about global warming are that the fossil fuel industry and the “deniers” retain far more profit denying the facts than scientist or green organizations get from stating the facts. This claim made by people raking in money selling fossil fuels, that thousands of scientists worldwide have conspired to concoct a lie for profit, is laughable. The EPA is under threat and conservatives think it is fine if we let corporations destroy our Earth unchecked. I may be wrong, but I doubt Mr. Prager would be OK with emissions from his car being pumped straight into his home, but we pump them into our collective home relentlessly. I don’t get it.

Joshua Lewis Berg
Burbank

CORRECTION
In “Local Palestinians Remain Loyal to Their Roots” (Nov. 11), the owner of the Olive Tree restaurant in Anaheim was mistakenly identified as Imad Abdo. His brother, who was not quoted in the article, owns the restaurant.

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Don’t be fooled!

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Evangelical missionary David Herzog stooped to a new low deceiving the Jewish community with ads that intentionally avoided any mention of their Evangelical Christian agenda.

The half-page ads ran for several weeks in The Jewish Journal. They promoted a Beverly Hills event offering “supernatural healings” based on what the ad termed Jewish mysticism.  

The ads were devoid of any phone number or Web site that would have facilitated an easy investigation into the true nature of the program.

It turns out Herzog’s duplicity was intentional. He writes on the In Jesus Web site that “due to the highly sensitive nature of these 100% evangelistic meetings dubbed as lectures to the Jewish community we cannot give out the location or details.”

A number of Jewish students attended the recent event, only to discover they had been duped by the Herzog ads.

As the founder and director of Jews for Judaism, I know this is not the first time a community newspaper has been the target of such duplicity. A number of years ago, we alerted the community that ads for the missionary movie “The Rabbi” were surreptitiously placed in dozens of Jewish newspapers across North America.

Once The Jewish Journal realized Herzog’s true intentions, it refused to accept any more of his ads.

Herzog has appeared on many of the growing number of messianic television shows. He is part of a long line of Christian faith healers running revival meetings. However, in his case, Herzog has a Jewish name and he gloats at his success at conducting major “Jewish outreach” on the East Coast, West Coast and Israel.

“Even the Jewish newspapers are begging us to put our ads for our next Health Lecture,” he wrote online.

In a pitch to solicit donations, Herzog claims his historic outreach meetings will be “packed with unsaved Jewish people wide open to the gospel presented with healings and miracles.”

Speaking of past meetings, Herzog claims, “[M]iracles broke out, many were healed, and American and Israeli Jews received salvation after God powerfully healed them.” 

Although missionaries are less visible on street corners, the Herzog episode demonstrates that attempts to convert Jews have not diminished. They have simply implemented new tactics and taken advantage of the Internet to reach unsuspecting students and young adults, often within the comfort of their homes and dormitory rooms.

As a community, we must remain vigilant and increase our positive educational and spiritual promotion of Judaism. Additionally, missionary claims must be continuously refuted and individuals must be taught to think critically to avoid being fooled and taken advantage of.

Jews for Judaism is already planning a campaign to prepare the community for a Chosen People Ministries crusade scheduled to target the Los Angeles Jewish community in 2012.  This time we have enough notice to plan in advance, and it is imperative that the entire community rallies together and joins us in presenting a strong front.

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