VCinJerusalem

Closing The [Venture] Gap: From Silicon Wadi to Silicon Valley

Over a cup of coffee this morning discussed with a super smart visiting entrepreneur (and professional angel investor) from Silicon Valley the remaining differences between the Wadi and the Valley--or in other words, start-ups here in Israel and those found (and backed by investors) in the Bay Area.

Bottom line, I believe a gap does still exist, but it's closing, and there are many of us working to close the gap completely.

But a word to the wise for Israeli entrepreneurs, investors in Israeli startups, as they say in the London Tube:

MIND THE GAP!

Where are the main remaining differences (well, beyond the better weather here in the Middle East, better food, and the Power That Is being a local call...)?

Over time I will revisit this, but let me just highlight a few areas worth further exploration:

1. We started later. Well, we started way before, like, say, three thousand years ago...but then took a break (for about two thousand years). Silicon Valley got going in the 1960s, hit its stride in the 1970s, and has never looked back. And that was on the base of a country that has enjoyed a somewhat stable government for 200 years. We are operating in a political reality formalized 60 years ago (that has never enjoyed more than a week or two of stability). Our start-up culture really only got kick started  about 20  years ago, in the late 1980s. Really picked up only in the 1990s. 

2. We Speak Hebrew. We really do. My mother still can't believe it (really, she asks, "what do the kids speak in school to each other?" I say, "Hebrew." She says, "and they understand each other?").  You see, we literally had to recreate a society  after two thousands years of exile  --  part of that was breathing new life into an old language. Maybe you haven't realized it -- but not too many people speak Hebrew...which means at first we were a bit cut off from the global culture. Now many of us speak English as well...but we still think in Hebrew.

3. We are far away.  OK,  so no matter how much my friends in Tel Aviv  or Long Island pretend, Israel is in the Middle East. We are not in Europe, we are very far from the US, or any other market for our companies. Sure, its a lot easier to connect today, but air travel costs are going up again, and people still want to see people when they do business together.

4. We know what's best. Maybe as a result of that whole "chosen people" thing, or being on edge for 60+ years, Israelis have a "we know what's best" attitude, that sometimes makes dealing with us...a little rough. But we are learning, at least in our public behavior, to become more "American" (as my partner Lior says). At meetings we now say things like "how interesting" when really we mean....

These are just some highlights -- and we are quickly closing the gap. I will write more on how and why that is happening. But until it's completely closed, take someone's hand to make it across.

On Yom Hazikoron, It Hits Home

I was standing at our local community center Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) ceremony last night when I looked around and noticed my friend Aharon Horwitz (for more on him and his projects see here ) there as well, along with many other friends and neighbors, a true local community recognition of a national event. When I got home, and checked my email, found reflections that Aharon had already written and sent out, and far more articulate and personal than anything I would say. So Aharon is my guest blogger for the day:

Dear friends,

On Yom Hazikaron I try to personally honor--and ask those I know to as well--two soldiers from my unit (Nachal 931, August '99 draft) who died in service:  Dani Cohen and Shani Turgeman.

Standing tonight at the Baka community memorial ceremony my thoughts were already on Dani when, to my surprise, a boy from Bnei Akiva read aloud to the community about him. Dani, so it turns out, was a counselor at the neighborhood chapter. I didn't expect that, didn't even realize that I was daily walking the neighborhood bereft of Dani, the same neighborhood he'd invited me home to for Shabbat in the year 2000 (how I wish I'd taken him up on that invitation). Dani's name joined tens of others, sons and daughters of the assembled bereaved who sat among the rest of us mourners. Seeing the families and accompanying friends and community members reminded me that a soldier in Israel is never alone, accompanied as he or she is by the hopes and dreams of a country, and by the love and firm faith of a family. So much is risked on every soldier we send out. So much is lost when they fall.

I, like each of you, honor those like Dani and Shani who sacrificed for their friends, fellow soldiers, and for all of Israel, and pray this Yom Hazikaron for the day when no more soldiers will be added to the lists of fallen. The mitzva of Yom Hazikaron must be to rededicate ourselves to personally striving for that future day. As Dani wrote in a letter of premonition to his parents, "the point of life is to be the part of the puzzle you were meant to be to the best of your ability....to give rise to future generations better than yourself either by influencing your children or those around you. I, it seems, am destined to be one of those who had to make his difference by impacting those around me." To me that is the undying call to us from these who have fallen in service: one's life is to be spent--as theirs was--in pursuit of a better future for those who come after. And in that sense, both Dani and Shani lived life to the fullest.

Dani died in the November 2002 battle near Ma'arat HaMachpelah in Hebron. Shani, serving in the reserves, was killed near Lebanon during the attack that lead to the kidnapping of Regev and Goldwasser. May their memories continue to inspire the living.

Thanks for remembering with me,

Aharon

When I have None, Rely On Other's Words

When I am lack for words for myself, as I have been the past few days (really weeks, but hit home more this past Thursday night), as I passed the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva minutes after 8 teenagers were slaughtered while they studied in the library. I again passed there yesterday morning and afternoon. And then word came our that their killer was a Palestinian Jerusalemite from Jabel Mukaber, a village less than a mile from my house.

With so many conflicting thoughts racing around in my brain, trying to stay focused on my immediate family, my venture business, was so moved to receive the following note from a friend in California, for whom we are her only connection to Jerusalem:

 

Jacob, I just had to write to tell you how sad I was to read today’s news about the murders in Jerusalem.   I know how hard you and your family have worked for peace, and how especially devastating it must be to see it eroded within your own city, and in such an ugly and senseless way.  I am praying for reason and a shared humanity to prevail over ignorance and hatred, and am ever more grateful to know people like you and Haviva who live your lives in peace and teach your children love. 

           Wishing you the best,
            Martha

I certainly could not have said it better. Amen Martha. Amen.

We Even Make Good Wine

While the usual discussion in these pages is about start-ups, and how Israel is an incredible breeding ground for tech entrepreneurship, we have also gone back to our roots.

I was first introduced to Castel Winery  by my good friend Elie Wurtman, and we actually entertained the thought of opening a winery ourselves. Probably good that we stopped at the drawing board with that one, but Eli Ben Zaken and his peers have blazed a new trail for Israeli wine. Yet another example of the "new Israel," as a center of creativity and a global sense of the aesthetic.

Take a look at this story from this past weekend's Wall Street Journal (thanks to Jules Polonetsky for pointing it out):

Israel's New Revolution in Quality

By WILLIAM ECHIKSON
SPECIAL TO THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
February 22, 2008

It started as a hobby. Eli-Gilbert Ben-Zaken, an Israeli restaurateur and poultry farmer, planted a few grape vines on a hilltop next to his house in the Judean hills in 1988. He chose the name Domaine du Castel after a nearby crusader fortress and, starting with a mere 600 bottles, attempted to make high-quality, French-inspired wines.

In the beginning, Mr. Ben-Zaken's quest looked quixotic. Wine was produced in ancient times in Israel -- archaeologists have found antique wine presses in the Galilee and Judean Hills -- and the Rothschild banking family reintroduced grape cultivation at the end of the 19th century. But for most of the country's history, the Israeli industry was dominated by sweet wines of poor quality that taste like alcohol-tainted grape juice -- tired red wines with cooked, herbaceous flavors.

Israeli winemaker Eli-Gilbert Ben-Zaken in his cellar

Today, Mr. Ben-Zaken and a small group of other Israeli pioneers are creating world-class reds and whites that are gaining increasing recognition from critics both at home and abroad. Ever more-prosperous Israelis are demanding better drinking choices, while connoisseurs in the U.S. and Europe in search of something different are intrigued enough to taste these "new" world wines from an ancient land.

"We were real pioneers -- the Israeli market used to be a prisoner market for poor-quality kosher wine," Mr. Ben-Zaken, 63 years old, recalls. "It's different these days. Everybody is trying to make something good."

Traditionally, Jews drank mostly for Shabbat blessing and this wine was made sweet because a bottle had to last for several days and still be drinkable. In modern Israel, winemakers had a captive market that demanded kosher wines and little in terms of quality. Israelis traditionally put little emphasis on gastronomy.

The country's economic boom over the past two decades has changed that, creating more of a market for the finer things in life. Israel's reduction of travel taxes prompted a wave of visits to Europe and exposure to good food and good wine. Import taxes were lowered and many of the world's most famous international wines finally began to become available in the country. Annual per capita consumption of wine has doubled in the past two decades to about seven liters.

A new generation of wineries and winemakers has emerged to satisfy Israelis' new appreciation for quality wines. Before 1980, Israel counted only about 20 wineries. One company -- Carmel -- dominated the industry, vinifying about 70% of the country's total grape harvest. Today, more than 200 smaller wineries are spread across the country, from the Golan Heights in the far north to the Negev Desert in the far south. Sweet wines now represent a minority of the market.

In Europe, supermarkets still tend to stock the mainstream Israeli brands. But increasingly specialty wine stores or Jewish stores are carrying a wider selection of highly rated Israeli wines. (For details on some stores in Europe and tasting notes on some wines, see accompanying article.)

In addition to Castel, some of the best names to look for include Margalit, Tzora, Chateau Golan and Clos de Gat. Even Israel's largest and oldest wineries, led by Carmel, have invested in new production of high-quality, European-style wines. Carmel has launched the well-respected wineries Ramat Daltan, Zichron and Yatir.

Mr. Ben-Zaken's Domaine du Castel was the first winery to plant vines in the Judean hills, in the center of the country. Now, more than 30 wineries flourish there. The Judean's Mediterranean-style hillsides -- where olive groves also flourish -- benefit from relatively cool summers, which make them suited to quality winemaking. For his wines, Mr. Ben-Zaken has given the hills a French name: Haute-Judée.

Domaine du Castel regularly ranks among the best Israeli wines in international tastings. Its wines are exported to the U.K., Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Bottles sell for €30 or more. Mr. Ben-Zaken often shows off his wines in St. Emilion during the Bordeaux region's annual primeur tastings, and he recently traveled to Brussels.

"Castel is the king of Israeli boutique wineries," says Philippe Weinberger, an Antwerp-based importer and wine-shop owner who sells a wide range of top-ranked kosher wines. "He was the first one to do this and he pushed the big guys -- the big companies such as Carmel -- into making better wine." At his Antwerp shop, Mr. Weinberger says, he sells top-flight Israeli wines to Jews "who want to taste great kosher wine" and non-Jews "who just want to try something new."

The diminutive, bearded Mr. Ben-Zaken grew up in Alexandria, Egypt, having no experience with wine. In the 1960s his family moved to Italy, where he acquired a taste for fine food and wine. Both he and his wife Monique, also from Egypt, attended the University of Geneva, which nurtured his Francophile tendencies.

In 1970, the Ben-Zakens settled in Israel, on a small farm with a chicken coop about 17 kilometers from Jerusalem, where Mr. Ben-Zaken opened a restaurant called Mamma Mia. "It was the first restaurant serving fresh pasta in Israel," he says. The restaurant required a wine list. He began to taste seriously, traveling often to French and Italian wine regions, and was inspired to plant his initial vines.

During a 1985 trip to Burgundy, Mr. Ben-Zaken was staying in Puligny-Montrachet and asked for a bottle of the local wine at the hotel's restaurant, not knowing the village was home to one of the world's most famous Chardonnays. When the wine was served, it proved a revelation -- "the first time I tasted a white wine aged in oak that was not just fruity but had much more complex flavors."

For his own wine, Mr. Ben-Zaken has adopted a similar French style. His reds blend the five Bordeaux grape varietals led by Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. His whites are 100% Chardonnays and are crafted to resemble Burgundies. One of his two sons, Ariel, joined the winery after studying oenology in Burgundy. His son-in-law also works at the winery. All Domaine du Castel wines are aged in French oak barrels.

The winery now has 15 hectares under cultivation and produces about 200,000 bottles each year. Mr. Ben-Zaken has stopped raising poultry and turned the old chicken coop into a modern cellar and winemaking facility. When in 2002 the intifada put his Mamma Mia restaurant on the front lines of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, forcing him to hire security guards and chasing away many of his customers, he closed it and concentrated full-time on making wine.

Mr. Ben-Zaken is a secular Jew, and at first, he didn't make kosher wines. But many of Domaine du Castel's customers began asking for wines that respect Jewish dietary laws, so Mr. Ben-Zaken changed his production process to get rabbinic approval. Although much debate continues to swirl about what makes a wine kosher, most insist on rabbis or their assistants supervising the wine's production and prohibit the use of animal byproducts such as gelatin, which is used to clarify wine.

The domaine's wines are intriguing -- impressive but not always successful. At a recent tasting in Brussels, the 2005 Chardonnay, which costs €39 a bottle, seemed crisp and cool, with a nice buttery finish. But one of the tasting participants, Brussels wine-seller Paul van Dievoet, said too much oak masked the fruit's full flavors. "It's hard to justify such a high price," he said.

The reds received similarly mixed reviews in Brussels. Both the 2005 Petit Castel at €32 a bottle and the 2004 Grand Castel, at €54, are clean, impressive wines, with full flavors -- from floral violets to fruity cherries -- with licorice, clove and other spices in the finish. "These are more Bordeaux than real Bordeaux," said a surprised Mr. van Dievoet. Despite the high quality, he remained dissuaded by their high cost.

None of the criticism matters much to Mr. Ben-Zaken. His wines' high prices reflect the low output and strong demand for top Israeli wines. Most of his vintages are sold out and he has begun mimicking Bordeaux growers in selling them en primeur -- before bottling, while still aging in barrels.

Accolades continue to pour in. Wine author and expert Hugh Johnson awarded the domaine his highest four star rating and named the red Castel Grand Vin one of his 200 favorite wines in his 2008 pocket wine book. Robert Parker's Wine Advocate magazine gave the domaine many of the best notes in its December, 2007, Israeli tasting. Mr. Parker grades on a 100 point scale, with anything over 90 considered superb. The red 2005 Grand Castel received a 92, the Petit Castel received 90 points, and white 2005 "C Blanc du Castel" won 91 points, with the Advocate reporting "generally good balance, some brightness, some depth, and a respectable finish that lingers and has some intensity."

When German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Israel last year, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert served her Castel. She liked it -- and placed an order for several cases that are now being delivered to Berlin.

A Bright Spot in Israeli Politics: My Friend Shlomo

In the midst of all the frustration of stalled out peace talks (once again), the biting self-critique of the state of our army and military decision making process in the "Winograd Report," and the general lack of charismatic leadership in the Israeli political pantheon, there are my bright spots.

One of the them is Shlomo Molla, as of yesterday a new member of Knesset, the Israeli parliament. Shlomo replaced Avigdor Yitzhaki, who resigned in wake of the Winograd report. Shlomo is the only Jew of Ethiopian origin in this Knesset, and only the second in history of State of Israel.

Below is Shlomo's formal bio, but let me add a few words. I first met Shlomo in 1988, four years after he arrived in Israel as part of "Operation Moses." Shlomo literally walked to Israel, trekking 600 kilometers across Sudan to reach Israel from Gondar. He saw many fall along the way, and knew little Hebrew when he got here as a teenager. Within four years he was not only fluent in Hebrew (and English), but organized and led the Ethiopian Students Association. I helped organize Shlomo's first trip to the United States (to speak on college campuses), and remember how amazed he was at the skyscrapers (we didn't have those back then in Israel, and certainly not in Gondar...).

What connected Shlomo to me then and now is the belief that through the modern State of Israel we make this world a better place. Sometimes that belief is shaky, and sorely tested, but we [still] believe. Shlomo has devoted his life to the Jewish people and tikkun olam--I am so glad he is now in the knesset, representing not only the success (with all its warts) of the aliya from Ethiopia, but so much more.

I look forward to his service in the Knesset, we are a better people for him being there!

Shabbat Shalom.

Mr. Shlomo Molla (WZO) Board Member

Shlomo (Naguse) Molla  was born in Ethiopia and made Aliyah to Israel in 1984 from Sudan in "Operation Moses". He is a member of the Zionist Executive and heads the WZO Department for Zionist Institutions.   Prior to his current position, Shlomo was the Head of the Ethiopian Division of the Aliyah & Klitah Department in JAFI. In the past he was the Supervisor of Ethiopian Immigration and Supervisor of Absorption Centers and Ulpanim in Northern Kibbutzim; he also served as the Head of the Absorption Center in Tiberias and the Coordinator of distressed population, WUJS.   Shlomo has a LLB Law degree from Kiryat Ono College and a BA in Social Work, from Bar Ilan University . His Volunteering activity included running to the Knesset as a part of the Kadima Party in 2006; he was a  Member of the advisory committee for civilian opposition at the Ministry of Interior; Treasurer of non-profit organization for defense law in Ethiopia; Member of committee to advise Ministry of Health on war conditions and Co-Chair for the Organization of Ethiopian students.   Shlomo Molla is a member of the Board of Governors since June 2006.

Gary Snowman Comes to Israel

Once again, we have to thank our friends at Blueprint Ventures for making us laugh (at ourselves) in a wonderful holiday spirit. And a special thank you from this Israeli VC, for bringing Gary Snowman to Israel...and allowing us to help launch his latest adventure. Happy Holidays to all!

CEO needed for MEET, one of my favorite NGOs....

While I already posted this to Facebook , some people are still not there yet (Thank God), so also using this medium to shout out about a job opening at MEET . MEET is one of my favorite NGOs, MEET stands for Middle East Education Through Technology. Started by a group of MIT students, MEET is an example of doing, not just talking (or even worse, complaining).

When faced with the multi-generational conflict between Zionism, the State of Israel, and Palestinian nationalism, it is quite easy to get overwhelmed, frustrated, and burn out (believe me, have experienced all of that). And trying to "solve the conflict" can lead sometimes to disastrous consequences, such as the failure of Camp David II back in 2000. While we pray that the Annapolis ceremony will lead to actual progress on the macro level, true peace and coexistence will only come from programs like MEET.

I have watched MEET grow from idea, to pilot, to early stage start-up. Now they are moving to the next level, and if I was not otherwise engaged right now I would jump at this opportunity. It's that exciting. If you want to make a difference, or know someone like that, please urge them to be in touch with my friends at MEET. Details below.

CEO for MEET

Leveraging on MEET's expertise in technology and proven educational model we are looking for a CEO to lead the organization during an exciting period of growth, enhancing MEET's impact. The CEO will report directly to MEET's executive board and will be stationed in Jerusalem.

Position Summary

We are looking for a passionate leader with strong, performance driven management skills. The CEO will focus on developing and strengthening the MEET program and organization, preparing it for future growth.

For immediate consideration please send resume with both "CEO for MEET" and full name in the title to: joinus@meet.csail.mit.edu

Responsibilities

 

• Define short and long term priorities; turn them into a yearly work plan and oversee its implementation
• Introduce and manage key processes for sustainable growth
• Oversee and play a pivotal role in all aspects resource development
• Oversee implementation of current educational programs, managing a team of up to twenty international staff and volunteers
• Drive growth of current model and future developments
• Create a multi-year financial plan, manage all finances

Requirements

 

• BA or BS degree from a leading institution
• At least 3 years of proven track record in managing an organization/ business unit with at least a $500K budget and a team of 10 or more
• Demonstrated strong performance in prior roles, with increasing levels of responsibility and independence
• Strong teamwork and communication - able to lead and motivate an international team of employees and volunteers
• Superb organizational skills, ability to lead critical processes within a growing organization
• High level vision and strategic planning abilities
• Superb interpersonal and teamwork skills
• Independent, self motivated, a leader
• Results oriented, data driven professional
• Excellent presentation & sales skills
• Ability to achieve goals in limited time with limited resources
• Language skills: Mother-tongue level of written/spoken English; Knowledge of Hebrew/Arabic (both a plus)
• Interest in technology
• Passionate about working in the third sector

Role's Critical Success Factors

 

• Strengthening organization's structure and processes
• Raising resources for the organization
• Developing and cultivate sustainable relationships with all stakeholders
• Effective work with Executive board

Identity Theft on Facebook: How Many Israelis Are there?

The field of social networking is an Israeli/Jewish art form...we have been perfecting it for thousands of years. Jews in general, and Israelis in particular (one can look at Israelis as super-Jews[both those that consider themselves Jewish and even those that do not], but that is a whole other conversation...), love to talk. Israelis also love to travel, mainly to find new people to talk to!

No surprise that Israel is a center of communications technology development and commercialization, ranging from IM to VoIP to wireless to [next thing to come]. I have had the honor to be in the center of a lot of this action over the past 12 years (yes, that long since we founded Delta Three (NASDAQ: DDDC), soon after the introduction of [the original] iphone from Vocaltec.

The new buzz on the block is of course social networking, with the somewhat friendly face of Facebook. And Israel has taken to Facebook in a big way. A very big way. As of yesterday (last I checked) there were over 200,000 Facebook members who identified themselves as originating in Israel, i.e. self-identifying as Israelis. That is a lot, especially given the fact that there are only 7.2 million citizens of Israel, according the Israel census bureau. If we take the numbers on face value, 2.7% of Israelis are members of Facebook. Remember, this in a country where a good 10% are ideologically opposed to the Internet.

Are a lot of Israelis using Facebook? Yes. 200,000? No.

So how to make sense of the numbers being reported?

Well, a few ways. First of all, when signing up for Facebook, and even after joining, one can set any country as your home "network." For example, my good friend, the uber-social blogger and all around tech-guru Jeff Pulver listed his home network as Israel. Now, many of us would love Jeff, Risa, Dylan and Jake Pulver to spend more and more time in the Holy Land, and while they are, formally Jeff is not [yet] a full fledged Israeli. But he makes up one of those 200K+ Israelis on Facebook. And he is not alone.
So Jeff is utilizing a very light form of identity theft. Without altering his real world passport, he has created a virtual identity that is not 100% accurate. But since we love Jeff, we are honored that in the virtual world he has thrown in his lot with Israel.

Lets move on to a more serious form of Facebook identity theft...over the past few months I have been friended by some well known political figures....and lets just say that while I would be happy to be friends with [some] of them, something tells me that these virtual friends are something other than they appear. For example, one of my "friends" is Shimon Peres. Now, I happen to like Shimon, and actually am in communication with some of his family members, but Shimon himself...but even that is welcome. I actually like Shimon, so even if not really him, proud to say I am friends with him. Now take another "friend" of mine: Yasser Arafat.  Now, him,  I didn't even like, especially when he was alive.  Now that he is dead, a real stretch to say he is a friend of mine. But there he is, listed as a friend (for the record "he" friended me). [For more info on all these friends and more just peruse my friends on Facebook, itself a dangerous feature....]

Bottom line: it's the Wild West out there, a new frontier, and the rules have not yet been created. But they need to be, and quickly. Because while the above examples are humurous, and we love to brag about the intense interest of Israelis in social networking (after all, we are the "people of the  [Face]Book"), very soon, if not already, we will see some bad stories, criminal uses of false Facebook identities, and worse. Lets hope that Mark and friends over at Facebook central will start to develop some controls in the system. Because if not pretty soon Facebook will become faceless.

Finally, The Dam Around Jerusalem Has Cracked. Thank You, Rabbi Kanefsky

For forty years, longer than I have been alive (yes, still shy of the 40 mark, but closing in on it!), Jerusalem has been the blessing and the curse of the Jewish people. My God, you say, how could I,of all people, say Jerusalem is at all a curse for the Jewish people!Well, sometimes even the best things have their dark side. And perhaps  40 years ago we  were given a test  by the cosmic forces of this world, a test that I believe we have failed.

First, a step back. In 1948 the modern state of Israel declared independence, with borders that were more or less recognized around the world (outside of the then "head in the sand" Arab nation-states). Even then, however,  Jerusalem was an unsettled issue.  Many argued for it to be under international rule, a UN protectorate, if you will. Both the new Israeli state and Jordan (who, when the dust settled in 1948 controlled roughly half of Jerusalem, including the old city) were not interested, and for 19 years each ruled over "their half" of Jerusalem.

In 1967, as you know, Israel took control of all of Jerusalem, and immediately annexed the "Jordanian half" to Israel. No other country, including the United States, recognized that annexation...to this day almost all diplomatic delegations to Israel are based in Tel Aviv area, probably the only UN member state with almost no embassies in its capital!

As I said, there is a blessing and a curse to Jerusalem. The blessings are too  many to  list...but come visit us  for a sabbath dinner, breath the air of Jerusalem, and you will get a hint of what I am talking about.

The curse...well, the name of Jerusalem has been used for so much violence over the past 40 years, also too much to list.  Chances for peace rise and fall over the fate of Jerusalem. And all too often have fallen.

For Israel, a "unified" Jerusalem has been much more important as symbol than as a real place...just look around at  neighborhoods in  East Jerusalem,  which  Israel has controlled for  over 40 years, and one realizes it  is unity  in slogans only. From garbage collection to  schools,  from  [lack of ] police presence to   crumbling infrastructure, from [lack of] parks to  [lack of] sewage system. East Jerusalem (outide of the Jewish quarter of the Old City) is NOT part of modern West Jerusalem, or the thriving State of Israel.   

Unfortunately, for forty years we have lived by slogans alone, with little connection to reality. This was especially true for the Diaspora Jewish community, who have rallied around the cause of a unified Jerusalem, with little first hand knowledge of facts on the ground.

It takes a lot courage to break with 40 years of slogans--and to call a curse for what it is. Last week, a friend from long ago, Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky (spiritual leader of Bnai David Judea in Los Angeles),  broke the dam of  dishonesty concerning  Jerusalem.  In his now famous article, first printed in the LA Jewish Journal  (see here), the false unity of Jerusalem was exposed just a bit. From Jerusalem I applaud Rabbi Kanefsky for speaking truth in the world. I urge you to read his thoughts, which I have pasted below. React to them, agree with them, argue with him--but do not ignore his call to be honest about the reality of Jerusalem, and the necessity of putting aside slogans.

2007-10-26

An Orthodox rabbi's plea: consider a divided Jerusalem

By Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky

The question of whether we could bear a redivision of Jerusalem is a searing and painful one. The Orthodox Union, National Council of Young Israel and a variety of other organizations, including Christian Evangelical ones, are calling upon their constituencies to join them in urging the Israeli government to refrain from any negotiation concerning the status of Jerusalem at all, when and if the Annapolis conference occurs. And last week, as I read one e-mail dispatch after another from these organizations, I became more and more convinced that I could not join their call. It's not that I would want to see Jerusalem divided. It's rather that the time has come for honesty. Their call to handcuff the government of Israel in this way, their call to deprive it of this negotiating option, reveals that these organizations are not being honest about the situation that we are in, and how it came about. And I cannot support them in this. These are extremely difficult thoughts for me to share, both because they concern an issue that is emotionally charged, and because people whose friendship I treasure will disagree strongly with me. And also because I am breaking a taboo within my community, the Orthodox Zionist community. "Jerusalem: Israel's Eternally Undivided Capital" is a 40-year old slogan that my community treats with biblical reverence. It is an article of faith, a corollary of the belief in the coming of the Messiah. It is not questioned. But this final reason why it is difficult for me to share these thoughts is also the very reason that I have decided to do so. This is a conversation that desperately needs to begin. No peace conference between Israel and the Palestinians will ever produce anything positive until both sides have decided to read the story of the last 40 years honestly. On our side, this means being honest about the story of how Israel came to settle civilians in the territories it conquered in 1967, and about the outcomes that this story has generated. An honest reading of this story reveals that there were voices in the inner circle of the Israeli government in 1967-1968 who warned that settling civilians in conquered territories was probably illegal under international law. But for very understandable reasons -- among them security needs, Zionist ideologies of both the both secular and religious varieties, memories that were 20 years old, and memories that were 3,000 years old -- these voices were overruled. We can identify with many of the ideas that carried the settlement project forward. But the fact remains that it is simply not honest on our part to pretend that the government of Israel didn't know that there was likely a legal problem, or that the government was confident that international conventions did not apply to this situation. That just wouldn't be an honest telling. An honest reading of the story reveals that the heroes of Israel's wars who became the ministers in its government, who were most responsible for the initial decision to settle, were quite aware that by doing so they were risking conflict with the Arab population that was living there. They were aware that these Arabs would never be invited to become citizens of Israel, and would never have the rights of citizens. Nonetheless, they decided to go forward. Some believed that the economic benefit that would accrue to these Arabs as a result of their interactions with Israelis and Israel would be so great that they wouldn't mind our military and civilian presence among them. Others projected that some sort of diplomatic arrangement would soon be reached with Jordan that would soften the face of what would otherwise be full-blown military occupation. These may have been reasonable projections at the time. But as it turned out, both of them were wrong. And it's not honest to tell the story without acknowledging that we made these mistakes. The Religious Zionist leadership (similar to today's Evangelical supporters of Israel) made a different judgment, namely that settling the Biblical heartland would further hasten the unfolding of the messianic age. Thus, the Arab population already there was not our problem. God would deal with it. This belief too -- reasonable though it may have seemed at the time -- has also turned out to be wrong. To tell the story honestly, this mistake too must be acknowledged. And the difference that honest storytelling makes is enormous. When we tell our story honestly, our position at the negotiating table is one that is informed not only by our own needs and desires, but also by our obligations and responsibilities. The latter include the responsibility to -- in some way, in some measure -- fix that which we have done. Also included is the need to recognize that we have some kind of obligation toward the people who have been harmed by our decisions. Honesty in our telling of the story reveals the stark and candid reality that we also need to speak the language of compromise and conciliation. Not only the language of entitlement and demands. To be sure, I would be horrified and sick if the worst-case division-of-Jerusalem scenario were to materialize. The possibility that the Kotel, the Jewish Quarter or the Temple Mount would return to their former states of Arab sovereignty is unfathomable to me, and I suspect to nearly everyone inside the Israeli government. At the same time though, to insist that the government not talk about Jerusalem at all (including the possibility, for example, of Palestinian sovereignty over Arab neighborhoods) is to insist that Israel come to the negotiating table telling a dishonest story -- a story in which our side has made no mistakes and no miscalculations, a story in which there is no moral ambiguity in the way we have chosen to rule the people we conquered, a story in which we don't owe anything to anyone. Cries of protest, in particular from organizations that oppose Israel's relinquishing anything at all between the Mediterranean and the Jordan, and which have never offered any alternative solutions to the ones they are protesting against, are rooted in the refusal to read history honestly. And I -- for one -- cannot lend my support to that. Without a doubt, the Palestinians aren't telling an honest story either. They are not being honest about their record of violence against Jews in the pre-State era, or about the obscene immorality with which they attacked Israeli civilians during the second intifada. They are not being honest about the ways in which their fellow Arabs are responsible for so much of the misery that they -- the Palestinians -- have endured, and they certainly are not being honest about the deep and real historical connection that the Jewish people has to this land and to this holy city. And there will not be peace (and perhaps there should be no peace conference) until they tell an honest story as well. But for us to take the approach that in order to defend and protect ourselves from their dishonest story, we must continue telling our own dishonest story, is to travel a road of unending and unendable conflict. Peace will come only when and if everyone at the table has the courage, the strength, and enough fear of God to tell the story as it really is. For many decades we have sighed and asked, "When will peace come?" The answer is starkly simple. There will be peace the day after there is truth. Yosef Kanfesky is rabbi of B'nai David Judea in Los Angeles.

The Whole World is Waiting for Jews to be Jews

The Whole World is Waiting for Jews to be Jews....
-Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach

As we move out of the holiday season, we take a deep breath and actually get to work on the new year. We tackle old questions, new challenges, and think up new ways of being. In line with my thinking of the Jewish people (and the State of Israel) as start-ups (that constantly need to innovate) is my friend Ariel Beery , who is among other things the co-founder of PresenTense magazine and the PICZ (PresenTense Institute of Creative Zionism). Ariel has a wonderful essay on so-called "Intermarriage" that is must reading. Bottom line -- Ariel tackles the main issue, which is instead of worrying who I am marrying, why not focus on making it interesting and compelling for me to be Jewish. Give me a purpose, a cause. As Reb Shlomo often said, the world is waiting for us to be Jews. A Jew is constantly in a state of "to be," of movement. Of direction. Not static. Just like with companies, no one likes continuity for continuity's sake-- companies, like Nations/Religions/Cultures, need reasons to keep going -- otherwise they die out.

Anyway, here is full text of essay, for convenience of my RSS and Email subscribers:

The Biblical Case for Intermarriage: Why You Can Marry Anyone You Want

   

By Ariel Beery

The Jewish community is fighting to prevent Hitler’s posthumous victory. Across the denominational spectrum the threat is the same: intermarriage, scourge of Jewish continuity, boogey man of every caring Jewish mother and father. To defend good Jewish boys and girls everywhere from the threat of marrying out, communal resources have been poured into projects which seek to engage youth in hip new ways so that they will choose to remain within the fold. Above all else the goal of continuity-seeking Jewish communal professionals and those who fund them is the same: prevent any non-Jewish partner that might be crouching at the door.

It is not enough to dismiss the fear of discontinuity driving this panic by claiming, as did Simon Rawidowicz half a century ago, that the Jews are “an ever dying people;” the Jewish community really does have a crisis on its hands. The Jewish People is losing quality members to a general society that has so lovingly embraced it. But the culprit isn’t intermarriage qua intermarriage, and aiming communal energies at this particular symptom will not cure the true illness that has beset the Jewish People: indifference.

Intermarriage is not the source of the illness because intermarriage itself has been with us as long as has Judaism. Let it be said: Moses did not marry a daughter of Israel. Neither did a good number of the greatest heroes of our tradition. Joseph married an Egyptian princess. King David, none other than the prophesized forbearer of the Messiah, married Batsheva, whose former husband was a Hittite–one of the original and circumscribed non-Israel tribes in the land of Canaan. Solomon, the ‘wisest’ of the Jews, followed the tradition of his ancestor Moses and married an African, the Queen of Sheba. And let us not think that mating with those outside the tribe was reserved for the biblical men of our tradition—the Jews would have been decimated had Queen Esther not slept with the uncircumcised. Since we Jews have a long tradition of learning from the actions of our wisest of ancestors—what is now known as their Da’at Torah—one can’t ignore the lesson taught by this overwhelming minyan of heroes.

True, the decree to stay away from the daughters of the other nations came early. Before we entered the Land of Promise, Moses relayed the Law that Israelites may not make marriages with the daughters of the tribes of Canaan because they may lead the Israelites to worship other gods. But that call came from the same Moses who had married the daughter of a foreign priest with divine sanction, Tzippora. When Moses’ brother and sister complained about his choice in a life partner, God punished Miriam with leprosy. In other words, it wasn’t intermarriage God seemed worried about: it was whether one would use intermarriage as an excuse to leave the community and follow other gods, or whether one would remain loyal and cleave to the covenant.

Our heroes, then, might strongly disagree with the contemporary sages who have made stopping intermarriage their primary focus. Sociologist Steven M. Cohen of the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College writes that “we cannot ignore a critical master-theme for Jewish policy formation: Intermarriage does indeed constitute the greatest single threat to Jewish continuity today.” Relying upon the highly-contested data generated by the National Jewish Population Survey of 2000-01, Cohen states that those Jews who have intra-married are many times more likely to raise their children Jewish than their peers who marry someone from outside of the fold. This situation, he continues, has created two Jewries: one that benefits the Jewish People while the other detracts by disassociating from communal institutions and depleting our numbers. Intermarriage, in this line of thought, is the existential threat—and those who would marry out are actively, if indirectly, inviting the destruction of the Jewish People.

But the real inconvenient truth is that intermarriage is not the cause of the downturn in communal affiliation. In the science of statistics one learns that sometimes, when two things move in union, there is actually third, hidden variable that is pulling the strings on both. This is known as a hidden variable bias, an affliction of many who try and proffer causal explanations for real-world events. In the case of intermarriage and lack of affiliation, such a not-so-hidden variable is one that few are willing to talk about, and some even dismiss out of hand as unimportant. That variable is the indifference felt by marginal members of the Jewish community to the Jewish People primarily, and the Jewish tradition, as a byproduct. To put it bluntly, most people don’t know why they should give a damn.

The reason most Jews don’t know why they should give a damn is a subject worthy of an essay in and of itself, but suffice it to say that historical circumstances have thrust the Jewish People to a place we’ve not been for thousands of years. A state of sovereignty has arisen beside the warm embrace of open societies that want no more than to be our one true love. And surrounded by would-be suitors, many Jews view their Jewish identity as something which detracts from their otherwise post-modern experience: placing limits on the foods they eat, cultural traditions they follow, and the people with whom they are allowed to fall in love. Faced with a lack of deep philosophical justifications for remaining Jewish, but somehow socialized into maintaining an affiliation to the Jewish People in name only, those with a foot and a half firmly planted in the New World look at their roots with the indifference that only a spoiled child could bring to bear upon a rich heritage.

Indifference is the major difference between those empowering intermarriages of the past, the empowering intermarriages of the present day, and those intermarriages that siphon off our fellows and lead them to leave the Jewish People behind. Each of the married-out heroes of the Bible cared deeply for their Jewish brethren. They understood their membership in the People of Israel as a cause worthy of life and death. And it is based upon this supreme lack of indifference for the Jewish People that the Biblical narrative makes its case for intermarriage: every marriage out can potentially tie more bodies and souls to the destiny of our Tribe. A person who lives the life of a Jew and sees oneself as inseparably bound to the Jewish collective can marry whomever he or she wants, because his or her deference for the People is so great that his or her partner will ultimately come to live among the Jewish People, recognizing that their partner’s people are their own.

Take Roy Sparrow, who grew up in the Baptist South, as an example. When he met his soon to be wife, Miriam, in the 1960s, Sparrow told his beloved that she’d have to take him as he was (not Jewish) if she truly wanted to be with him. “I told her that she’d have to trust me to do the right thing,” recounts Sparrow, “and sure enough we were married, and once we had settled down I decided to become a Jew.”

Sparrow continued his journey from the Christian South and ended up co-founding and co-directing NYU’s program for nonprofit management and Judaic Studies, playing a role in the strengthening the Jewish future. Would those who think like Cohen say that Roy and Miriam, due to their initial intermarriage, belong in that “Other Jewry,” the second one that has no stake in the continuation of the Jewish People? I’d hope not.

Even if he hadn’t converted, Sparrow became a communal Jew from the moment he decided to marry Miriam. “Your people are my people,” he told her, and it was due to her belief in the importance of her Jewish identity that he then later added on, “your God is my God.”

It is no coincidence that the term ‘convert’ is foreign to the Hebrew tradition. Instead, we have ger, which literally translates to a person who “lives among.” When we let the ger in to our community, and we ensure that our community nourishes a Judaism that adds positive value to the individual and the world, that person may chose to become a part of our People. A member of the Children of Israel who believes in the importance of sustaining a Jewish life will, more often than not, share that conclusion with the person she choses to live her life with. And, if the relationship is a healthy one, odds are that commitment to Judaism will permeate the relationship, and perhaps even inspire a shared allegiance to Judaism’s values and traditions. When we use tactics of fear to push away non-Jews, however, we communicate the message that Judaism detracts from the world and restricts one’s choices unnecessarily—instead of drawing others into our community.

Not to say that we should encourage intermarriage. But we should recognize that whether or not intermarriage depletes the Jewish People is dependent upon the content of the Jewish life lived by the Jewish partner in such a pair. Therefore, instead of investing in matchmaking for the masses, the community could do better to inspire answers to the questions facing Judaism and the Jewish People in today’s post-digital world. Instead of focusing on the growing trend of intermarriage, we should develop a culture of devotion to the Jewish family that follows the example of our ancestors. Instead of pushing families who marry “out” into the camp of the Other Jewry, we should be setting up their tents right next to our tents of Jacob, living with them as they live among us and bind their destiny to our ever-living people.

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Ariel Beery is the editor and publisher of PresenTense Magazine and is looking to marry a woman who will share a rich Jewish life.