Yeshiva World News

“Does anyone here not know what a Kindle is?” asks the man leading a $180 business seminar at Jerusalem’s Ramada hotel on a recent evening, his side curls swinging as he takes a quick look around the crowded room.

It may be a strange question to pose to budding entrepreneurs, but some of Rabbi Issamar Ginzberg’s clients come from the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, where some consider Internet and TV taboo and many maintain a lifestyle built around tradition that has little need for modern technology.

As a scion of prominent Hasidic rabbis himself, Rabbi Ginzberg is steeped in this community and its religious sensitivities; his family, he says, traces its roots back through rabbinical dynasties to King David and even Adam and Eve.

But Ginzberg’s eager gaze lies very much on the future – to how social media and cutting-edge business practices can help propel him and his clients to greater prosperity, all in pursuit of spiritual goals. He spends most mornings learning in a yeshiva, and then works during New York’s daytime hours as a business strategist, offering seminars and $400 consultations as well as free lectures, writing columns for The Jerusalem Post, and squeezing every ounce of potential out of LinkedIn and Facebook in the hopes that his earnings will enable him to follow his forefathers and open a local synagogue.

“I’ve built a reputation for myself as someone who looks like a guy from Fiddler on the Roof, kind of eccentric, but he’s proven to be able to help businesses from Fortune 500 down to the little guy,” says Ginzberg, whose reach extends well beyond the ultra-Orthodox community. He has lectured at Google’s Tel Aviv offices and will be speaking at Yahoo in Israel in a couple of weeks.  “Once I’ve achieved that reputation, I can be a rabbi, learn all day long … and pay my own way to build a synagogue.”

Ginzberg, who moved to Israel from Brooklyn, N.Y., five years ago, is a stark contrast to the prevalent perception of ultra-Orthodox in Israel today, where the community faces an increasing backlash for not “sharing the burden” of modern Israeli society – namely, serving in the army and contributing to the economy.

Many ultra-Orthodox men eschew army service and regular jobs in favor of studying the Torah and other Jewish teachings, and they generally rely on state subsidies to provide for their large families, though some wives help bring in income. Recent legislative moves to require all but a handful of ultra-Orthodox to serve in the Israeli military have faced stiff resistance.

“If someone is learning, studying, he should not be forced to give that up,” says Ginzberg. On the other hand, he doesn’t see a contradiction between his community’s religious traditions and the world of modern business. “It’s not like I have to find the cracks between religion and business. It actually meshes quite well,” he says.

And the combination is attractive. One of the attendees at his recent seminar, Avi Kaufman, is also an ultra-Orthodox immigrant from Brooklyn who recently started a business selling SIM cards to people traveling to the US. “My wife kind of pays the bills” for now, he says, but he’s hoping to grow his fledgling company.

Another young attendee, Abe Rosmarin, describes himself as an “avid fan” of Ginzberg.

“He brings a very unique perspective,” says Mr. Rosmarin, who works in the travel industry and lives in Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim neighborhood, the epicenter of the city’s ultra-Orthodox life. “A lot of the ideas here have helped me greatly.”

(Source: csmonitor.com)

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council failed to reach an agreement Wednesday on a British-proposed resolution that would authorize the use of military force against Syria.

The draft resolution — if it were to be put to a vote — would almost certainly be vetoed by Russia and China, which have blocked past attempts to sanction President Bashar Assad’s regime.

Britain put forth the proposal Wednesday as momentum seemed to be building among Western allies for a strike against Syria. U.S. officials, including Vice President Joe Biden, have charged that Assad’s government used deadly chemical weapons near Damascus last week.

The U.S. has not presented concrete proof, and U.N. inspectors currently in Syria to investigate alleged chemical attacks have not endorsed the allegations.

After the ambassadors met for a couple of hours at U.N. headquarters, the draft resolution was being sent back to their governments for consultations, according to a Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private.

The diplomat said Russia reiterated its objections to international intervention in the Syrian crisis.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power and British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant left the meeting without commenting to reporters.

A spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said in London that the British draft resolution would authorize “all necessary measures under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter to protect civilians from chemical weapons.”

Chapter 7 allows the use of international armed force to back up U.N. decisions.

Speaking Wednesday from The Hague, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said no action should be taken until the U.N. chemical weapons inspectors finish their work.

“Let them conclude … their work for four days and then we will have to analyze scientifically” their findings and send a report to the Security Council, he said.

The U.N. said the analysis would be done “as quickly as possible.”

Ban also pleaded for more time to give diplomacy another chance to end the more than two-year conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people.

But the secretary-general added that the Security Council must not go “missing in action.”

(AP)

When gabbaim of Migdal HaEmek’s Central Shul for European descendants arrived on erev Shabbos 17 Elul 5773 they were shocked to see swastikas painted on five pillars of the shul. Making things worse, it was too late to clean the vandalism away before Shabbos, and mispallalim arriving for minyanim on Shabbos were forced to see the horrific site on the marble pillars.

While price tag graffiti attacks are reported by the media in Israel and are sharply condemned by state leaders, this vandalism hate crime, swastikas on a shul, did not merit statements of condemnation from the nation’s leaders.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

French prosecutors have confirmed that they are conducting a preliminary investigation into whether the U.S. National Security Agency violated French law by secretly collecting personal data.

Responding to an inquiry from The Associated Press, Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre, spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor, said Wednesday that an investigation was opened in July after two rights groups filed a lawsuit. The France-based International Federation for Human Rights and Human Rights League say that the surveillance, disclosed by NSA leaker Edward Snowden, would violate French privacy laws.

The preliminary investigation would not necessarily lead to any charges. Like many French judicial processes it was not publicly announced.

The rights groups’ case is one of a series of legal efforts around the world, including in the U.S. and Britain, to raise pressure on the U.S.

(AP)

Over the past two days, the likelihood of an attack by the Unites States on Syria has increased dramatically—to the extent that stock markets such as the Hang Seng index in Asia, which fell significantly by 1.6% overnight.

The shekel has decreased against the dollar, so that while just last week the shekel was 3.57 shekels to the dollar, today the shekel hit 3.65 against the dollar.

This means that, for example, if you were buying an apartment and paid the sellers just last week, or had you closed on the purchase this week instead, you would have been left with $10,000 extra in your pocket, based on the fluctuations of the shekel vs. the dollar that took place over the past few days.

This shift, however, where prices are essentially cheaper than they were last week, is most likely only a short term trend. This is not because the shekel will necessarily climb back to previous levels in the near term after the US government takes action in Syria, or even on the extent of how long such military action would take and its effect on the price of oil and the region.

Rather surprisingly, the very fact that Israel is a large exporter (40% of Israel’s gross domestic product is exported globally, including to the USA) which many people mistakenly think will make the economy stronger.

The way it actually works, however, can be bad news for buyers of new construction housing. This is because when a real estate purchase is made in a new development, payments are usually made in several installments over the course of the construction. These payments are linked to what is known as the Madad Tsumot Bniyah, or construction-related inflation index.

When you buy real estate in Israel that is under construction, a clause in the contract will specify that your payments are not the actual amount in the contract; instead, if inflation rates go up, your future payments will rise accordingly. This means that where possible, you should structure your payments to be made in installments, but do the best you can to protect yourself from the downside that wide swings in the madad can create.

Over the course of the next six months to two years, there seems to be little question that the turmoil in Syria and the powder keg known as the Middle East will be significantly felt by the economy. Gasoline prices, for instance, are scheduled to rise significantly tonight across Israel, no doubt in a large part due to the effects of what is taking place on the world stage and the threats against Israel by Syria and Iran.

Therefore, the window of opportunity in which prices are lower is likely to be shorter rather than longer; it gives those ready to buy, or those that have signed but have not yet closed on the deal or finalized their contract terms, to take advantage of this favorable window of opportunity.

The Tel Aviv stock exchange (TASE) dropped significantly over the past several days. Were Chas Veshalom, this turmoil to drag on, it would create significant pressure on businesses, which might lay off some of the workforce; this would create pressure on mortgage repayments, which could force the Bank of Israel (BOI) to act to reduce pressure in the housing market, in all likelihood by making it even more difficult to obtain mortgages in the future.

Chalila, in the event of an attack, closures on the Palestinian-controlled territories would be closed for security reasons; this would mean that labor would be in low supply here in Israel for construction jobs because many of the workers would be unable to get to the job sites, causing labor prices to rise and causing additional delays.

On the flip side, both official and unofficial construction freezes due to the “peace process” would actually be less likely, giving buyers both those in Jerusalem and over the green line an additional boost in making sure that the many projects underway, both in Jerusalem, Givat Ze’ev, Beit Shemesh and elsewhere are able to build and get the properties ready for occupancy as soon as possible for the many eager buyers waiting for their apartments to be ready.

Yitzchak Steinberg is a respected attorney with years of experience specializing in foreign buyers purchasing property in Israel. He is also in charge of the municipal elections taking place in Jerusalem as the appointee of the Degel Hatorah political party. He can be reached at his Jerusalem Office at (02)500-2923 and via email at ys@ys-law.co.il

Evidence suggests that some kind of “substance” was used in Syria that may have killed more than 1,000 people, but any military strike in response must first gain U.N. Security Council approval, special envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi said Wednesday.

Brahimi spoke to reporters in Geneva as U.N. chemical weapons experts headed to a Damascus suburb for another look at the alleged poison gas attack near Damascus on Aug. 21 and as momentum built for Western military action against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime.

“With what has happened on the 21st of August last week, it does seem that some kind of substance was used that killed a lot of people: hundreds, definitely more than a hundred, some people say 300, some people say 600, maybe 1,000, maybe more than 1,000 people,” said Brahimi, who has been the U.N. and Arab League’s special envoy to Syria since August 2012.

“This was of course unacceptable. This is outrageous. This confirms how dangerous the situation in Syria is and how important for the Syrians and the international community to really develop the political will to address this issue seriously, and look for a solution for it,” he said.

Brahimi did not say on what he based his information, but he did discuss the work of the U.N. team probing for evidence of the use of chemical weapons.

“The United Nations has inspectors on the spot. They have already spent one day in one area where this substance — whatever it is — has been used,” he said. “They have come back with a lot of samplings, they talked also to doctors, they talked to witnesses.”

He said his information did not come from Western intelligence, including what U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has called “undeniable” evidence of a large-scale chemical attack likely launched by Assad’s regime.

“What we have been told is that this evidence that the Americans, the British, the French say they have is going to be shared with us. It hasn’t been until now,” he said. “And we will be very, very, very interested in hearing from them what this evidence they have is.”

Syria has one of the world’s largest stockpiles of chemical charges, but denies the charges. U.S. leaders have not presented their proof, and U.N. inspectors have yet to comment on the allegations.

Brahimi called the civil war — which has killed more than 100,000, forced about 2 million refugees from their homes and displaced millions of others — the most serious crisis facing the international community.

But he said that any U.S.-led military action must first gain approval from the 15-nation Security Council, whose five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — each have veto power. The United States has been laying the groundwork for a possible strike on Syria, but U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged nations to allow more time for diplomacy.

Britain says it will seek a measure “authorizing necessary measures to protect civilians” in Syria. They want it drafted under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which is militarily enforceable, when it is a political resolution that doesn’t mandate any specific actions.

“International law says that military action must be taken after a decision by the Security Council,” Brahimi said. “I must say that I do know that President Obama and the American administration are not known to be trigger-happy.-What they will decide, I don’t know. But certainly international law is very clear: the Security Council has to be brought in.”

(AP)

[Communicated Content] Today, The Voice of Lakewood, Lakewood’s leading publication, will host an exciting B2B expo for both local residents and those from communities across the area. The large, popular Lake Terrace Hall will be filled with over 40 booths featuring a whole range of popular businesses and services, as well as three world renowned speakers – all with no entrance fee. The expo is cosponsored by prestigious businesses, such as Hamodia, TD Bank, Jivetel, Banquest Payment Systems, SmartPay, Imperial Real Estate and TechKeys.

The Lakewood community is already well known for its rapid growth, bli ayin hora, and increasing prominence on the global Jewish community scene. Along with its strides comes Lakewood’s growing prominence on the business scene, with a customer base of over 11,000 frum families and a growing number of prestigious businesses and professionals.

Throngs of men and women– businesspersons, professionals and others – are expected to attend the expo. Both the booths and individual participants offer a plethora of resources, potential customers, references and other networking opportunities.

The expo will commence at 2:30 pm, with a workshop by Jon Goldman, CEO of Brand Launcher and author of Secret of the Watermelon. Mr. Goldman is a Baltimore resident whose savvy marketing advice is sought by businesses around the world. In his extensive address, Mr. Goldman will elaborate on the keys to identifying the need for a product or service and honing the most effective message to appeal to the public.

Following the address, from 4:00 through 7:00, the networking segment of the expo will kick off with a complimentary buffet lunch served by Four Corners Bagel and Café. Attendees will be able to freely interact with exhibitors and others, according to their individual needs and interests.

At 4:45, a raffle, which all attendees can enter, will be drawn. At 5:00, premier advertising consultant and The Voice columnist Chanina Katz will deliver a workshop (attendance is optional) on understanding the consumer’s intellectual and emotional triggers, and creating a marketing campaign that speaks to them. Mr. Katz has decades of experience helping businesses as prestigious as Colgate-Palmolive, Hilton and Home Depot devise their advertising and marketing strategies.

Wrapping up the event will be an address by Mike Michalowicz, complemented by a Sushi Delight presentation. Mr. Michalowicz is a highly entertaining entrepreneur, speaker, and author of The Pumpkin Plan and other books. His signature advice relates to understanding how a business can excel and be unique, so that it stands out to consumers amongst its peers and gain positive referrals.

“This is an event that truly brings so many people together – with great potential benefit to all,” says The Voice publisher Mr. Ari Berkowitz.

For more information, please visit www.lakewoodexpo.com, or email events@thevoiceoflakewood.com