Passions

Thanks to my old friend Elie for sending this Video Clip is to good to pass up. It combines all of my passions:
Passion for Judaism
Passion against Mel Gibson who was passionate about the Passion Of Christ
Passion for baseball.
Passion for comedy.
Passion for Charity.
Well, that is except for one passion: I passionately hate the Red Sox and they look pretty good in this inning.

Lenovo gets customer service...Yeah!!

Thanks to Doron for posting a link to an article from Techdirt, entitled Lenovo Suddenly Decides That Maybe It Should Pay Attention to Customers. As a follow up to my two previous rants on the X60 problems and Lenovo's follow up, I wanted to let you know that Lenovo invited my laptop to visit their customer service lab in Israel to fix the docking station issue. You will be happy to know that they solved my docking station problem. After seeing the problem and fiddling for a while they told us "You just need to push hard, very hard all around the computer in many spots and it goes in."

Oh, so that is how it is supposed to work. I get it.

Part 3: Orthodoxy in the Modern Business World, Always Explain

This is now part 3 in this series on being Orthodox in the Modern Business World. The original post generated more questions in the comments section, some of which are addressed below in this post. The second post yielded quite a theological discussion in the comments section that I found absolutely fascinating. This post about "explaining" is part theory and part tactics. I look forward to seeing where the comments take us in this discussion.

In my first post on this topic, I wrote:

"Always Explain. I find it much easier to explain my religious practices in great detail before I get into any circumstance rather than try to find some lame excuse to avoid an uncomfortable situation thereafter. I find that people, co-workers, partners, competitors etc. are very understanding when you take the time to explain your situation."

Most of us are saying to ourselves, "explaining is easier said than done." You are right, which is why this post took me a long time to write, will be much longer than other ones and will delve into more details - which, frankly, I was trying to avoid...So view this as a personal memoir and not a guide book.

Truly, there are two issues that make this complicated. First, there is SO MUCH to explain: Kosher Food, Yarmulke, Prayers and prayer times, inter-gender interactions, Shabbat, Holidays etc. Second, we are afraid that some of the issues may be interpreted in an offensive manner.

Explaining the long list of issues we deal with should not be viewed as tedious for your listener or an unending chore for you. It is a chance to educate yourself about your own religion, and you will be surprised to find out that others are happy to get educated. Human beings want to learn more about others. That is why they tour other countries, taste different cuisines, and study other cultures. Judaism is no different.

Additionally, I would submit that explaining your convictions (I use that word on purpose) in a humble, gentle and understanding manner, no matter where you draw the line in your practices (and I think on some issues there are multiple places one can draw the line), you will end up in a better place. Most people are not looking to get offended unless they have some insecurity or unless you are arrogant and demeaning in your explanations. To illustrate this, I think it is useful to look at the most famous Jew, Moses. Moses is described by the Torah as the most humble person. He was not a zealot nor did he have a feeling of superiority. He learned from his non-Jewish father-in-law Jethro and deferred to others who began prophesying. He gently explained to Moab why he wanted to cross their land and retreated at a cost when he could not persuade Moab. There is a lesson in this.

Kosher Food
I spend lots of time explaining this. Hot vs cold food, knives vs. spoons, slaughter, split hooves, dairy and meat.....and of course wine. If I am invited to a place where there will be no kosher food, I send an email in advance explaining that I only eat Kosher food and am happy to join them wherever they like and my host should feel absolutely comfortable but that I will likely not be eating. When I arrive at said place, I remind my hosts again that I eat strictly kosher and will not likely be eating. This normally engenders the question "well there must be something you can eat?" I normally order a beer or drink at that point (beer on an empty stomach can sometimes not be a good idea) to make my hosts more comfortable (There was a 2000 article in the Red Herring on similar topic that I can't find a link to). I use the Atkins dieter in a Pasta restaurant as a parable that sometimes works.

I find it also helps to use self-deprecating humor as part of the explanations. Allow me to illustrate this with a story in a context where I actually had kosher food. I was speaking at a conference and sitting at a table with a group of people. The conference organizers had arranged kosher food for me. Everyone else's food had come out already and I saw that my table-mates were waiting for my food to arrive before starting to eat. I told them all to start eating, because even when my kosher food would arrive it would likely take me a while to start eating it. Those sitting at my table dug in and then it arrived, my very own mountain of aluminum foil. As I began to unwrap layer after layer of aluminum foil, accumulating quite a ball next to my plate, I saw everyone at the table stop eating. I explained that kosher food cannot be cooked in ovens with non-kosher food unless it is heavily wrapped, and then as I saw all eyes turn to the soccer ball of tin foil near my plate, I added "Oh, it takes a lot of self-confidence to eat kosher in public." Everyone quickly put their heads down and resumed eating.

Prayers
Before I go off and pray (mostly mincha), I always ask an assistant or the person I am meeting with if I can take a 5 minute break in a quiet room for "solemn prayers. " I explain that I cannot be disturbed during that time and would be much obliged if they could find me a quiet and closed room. I do not try to sneak away and find a place because I found that I cannot concentrate, thinking that someone may find me. It is much easier for your hosts and your own religious practice to simply say something up front. I often find myself explaining and giving answers to the following 2 questions in this context and am happy to share the answers.

1. Why do you pray three times a day?
Praying three times a day connects us with the entire beginning of Judaism. The forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (everyone knows them) each chose a different time of day to pray according to the Bible and as a people we have adopted all three times. It is good to start and end your day with prayers as it reminds you of your priorities.

2. Why is the prayer only 5 minutes?
The Rabbis understood that people needed to work and had employers and were very sensitive to that. The work ethic is very important in Judaism as it is in Calvinism. So when the Rabbis formalized the prayer liturgy, they wanted to make sure that people did not waste the money of their employers or slack off the job. Hence, they instituted a short afternoon service during the workday.

I also find it is helpful to think about my schedule in advance and plan to pray mincha in an open time slot, even if it is earlier in the day, and not wait for the last minute.

More Eating Habits
This same approach holds for washing and grace after meals (benching). If I am in a Kosher restaurant and want to eat bread, I tell my guests at the beginning of the meal that we have a requirement to wash our hands before eating bread so I will be getting up to do that. Already at that point I tell them that it also comes with a minor inconvenience for them at the end of the meal as they will need to wait three minutes for me to do Grace After Meals. I have even once been asked to recite it out loud so the person could hear it. Most often, I do not wash so as to keep a slender figure.

Inter-Gender issues
Many religions place limitations on interaction between the sexes of varying levels. There are also numerous responsa within Judaism on how to handle these issues and I recommend that you read them. When dealing with these issues, I often explain that Judaism was very concerned with the family unit and the Rabbis, by observing the generations, developed a series of concentric circles of protection for the Jewish Family. This has led to a multitude of practices in this area and each person draws their own lines based on consultation with their families and rabbis. To be perfectly frank, this has been less of an issue for me than not wearing a wedding ring. My biggest issues have arisen when in various business interactions, my bare fingers have attracted inquiring questions as to my marital status. Those have been much stickier and I have found that explanations are of no use and I try my best to get away. The blog name has, I hope done much to relieve that (maybe I should print the blog address on my business card :)).

Inter-religion issues
I find that this issue arises in two cases: wine and entering churches. Typically, the question I get is what is the difference between kosher wine and non-kosher wine? After all, the grapes are the same! For the uninitiated, Orthodox Jews are forbidden to drink wine that is not boiled if it has been poured or prepared by non-Jews. I often get this question and explain that historically wine was used in idolatrous worship. Judaism, the fathering religion of monotheism, relentlessly fought idolatry and idolatrous worship practices throughout the generations. The rabbis built many prohibitions to significantly distance Jews from any symbol of idolatry. This approach was certainly effective over the generations while Jews lived in foreign lands, as Jews survived many attempts to convert them. Today, although there is certainly less-rampant idolatry, we maintain that practice, as the practice has helped maintain our people for many generations.

Shabbat and Holidays
The world thinks that we have a huge number of holidays. Not working Chol Hamoed, compounds that impression. The truth is that our holidays are not as well engineered as American holidays around weekends or end of calendar year. There are not more Holiday days, they are simply more inconvenient to the work calendar. Additionally, our Sabbath and holidays are what I call shutdown days. There is no work allowed.

Truth be told, I am not sure how people survive in the modern frenetic business world without the Sabbath. It is a time to recharge batteries and make sure we connect with our wonderful families. Holidays or Festivals provide a historical anchor to this reconnection. It helps span all of our generations from the first Jewish Family of Abraham and Sarah to our own families. For me, this issue arises around scheduling calls and board meetings. I take the time to lay out the "off-dates" in advance. Everyone you work with, in their own way, has off-dates. It may be birthdays or family vacations or Presidents Day in the U.S. In Europe, the entire month of August is off. Our off days just happen to be scattered around the year. Explain this well in advance to your co-workers, partners, people at other companies. This one is easy to explain.

With this as a background, in my next post, I hope to discuss the issue of consistency

Nachas

Nachas is the Hebrew (or yiddishism) word for joy, proud of or enjoyment. Generally it is used in blessing someone to have nachas, joy or proudness from their children.

Well, in the VC business you can get some Nachas as well aside from selling companies or taking them public. When one of your portfolio companies becomes a clue in the New York Times Crossword puzzle, that is Nachas. My Grandfather, who completed the NYT Crossword puzzle every day, would have had a lot of nachas from this. Check out clue 7 Down!

Thanks to Amir for sending this my way!

Kids and Cars

We just came back from a series of long car rides and I want to thank the CE companies for the portable DVD player. 10 hours in a rental car in one day and the kids were amazingly well behaved. While I still have Elmo and Dora and I Love Lucy (my kids love Lucy) ringing in both my ears, it was still a remarkably pleasant drive.

However, I fear that there is a downside to these pleasant rides. Kids spend less time getting along with each other (although sharing time with the portable DVD player is some sort of social sharing skill) when they are watching DVDs. There is less fighting and, hence, less working-things-out. When I was a kid we played geography and I Spy in the car, which were both more social and educational. We fought over seats and snacks (well that still happens) and had to work out game issues when someone blurted out an answer or the object you were spying was out of sight of the speeding car. I hate to sound that "ah...those were the days theme" but...

As an aside, the whole idea is kind of funny for us since we do not have a TV at home, the car is somewhat of a home theater for our kids.

Say It Ain't So Halutz

When Yehuda Sharoni wrote this morning in Maariv that IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz sold his entire stock portfolio in the hours before the war in Lebanon broke out and following the kidnapping of soliders Regev and Goldwasser by Hezbollah, I did not want to believe it. Now it turns out that it was a heck of a scoop. Halutz admitted to his stock sale late this morning but is trying to deflect criticism by saying that he did not know the war was breaking out, by highlighting a 25,000 NIS loss and telling people to stay out of his private life and finances. That is intolerable.

While I think the press spends too much time in politician's private lives, this is different. Completely different. The Israeli press has flogged Halutz for showing poor leadership. In my opinion, the press has picked up the wrong issue. I think there are two bigger issues here.

1. This feels to me like insider trading. I am not sure it qualifies under strictly legal terms (SEC here) because it is not corporate information but I am also not sure what the difference is between knowing bad micro news about a specific company or knowing bad macro news about a war and then trading based on that information. It is just less likely to be "in the know" for macro news.

2. Halutz responded by saying that hours before the war broke out he did not know there was going to be a war. Either he is lying or we have a much worse problem on our hand. What does it mean when your Chief of Staff does not know what the response to kidnapping 2 of Israels soldiers will be. Does the country have no contingency plans?

Whether Halutz needs to resign because of his management of the war is not something I feel I have an educated opinion on. But this story stinks and seems to me a basis to ask Halutz to resign.

See Globes piece on the topic here

Ipod Paving the way for Video on Cell Phones

I have always been quite bearish on the "Video on Cell Phone Opportunity" that VCs and entrepreneurs have been shouting about for the last few years. My core issue was the screen size. However, I witnessed something on a recent plane ride that both blew my mind and began to ever so slightly crack open my skepticism on the phenomenon.

I was sitting on a plane and witnessed 4 kids watch full length videos on their iPods. They were zoned in. Why did it make me think that the whole TV on cellphone idea may just happen. Ipod, the cultural phenom, is acculturating kids to watching video on small screens. Not just short video clips but full length films. Watching full length films on an iPod firmly placed personal choice (the video I want to watch) over the convenience of the larger airplane screen with a less compelling movie. In an era of home Hifi theaters with giant screens, I would not have expected that.

Could it be that Apple's iPod Video is conditioning the market to view video on small screens? Might the cell phone vendors and carriers reap much of those rewards?

More Lenovo Problems - Oh No

My previous post on Lenovo generated a bunch of suggestions for new computers to buy. It also brought a comment from David Churbuck, a marketing manager at Lenovo, who I wrote to hours after he posted the comment and got back an "away on vacation message."

Minutes ago, I was complaining to our IT head about two new problems I found on my Lenovo X60s. I needed to use the extended-life 8-cell battery that Lenovo sent me by accident when I traveled last week. Upon installing the 8-cell battery, I discovered that it leaves a hole between the battery and the computer of about 2 inches high and 1/2 inch wide, exposing some metal connectors on the underside of the computer. Also, I could not get the laptop to dock on the docking station and after trying 3 different docking stations for the X60s, we got it to dock properly by pressing hard on the lower left corner of the maching (FYI - the docking connector is in the upper center). Go figure.

Just as I was finished talking to our IT head, I got a call from Luke (he must have used The Force to know I was talking about Lenovo at that time) at customer service at Lenovo who called to document my problems. He was very professional and helpful although, he did not yet have any solutions and seemed puzzled (as I am as well) by the latest problems.

The good news, my original slice battery was waiting for me in my mailbox this morning when I returned from my trip.

The more things change....

This was sent to me by my friend Mort.

ISRAEL'S PECULIAR POSITION by Eric Hoffer (LA Times 5/26/68)


The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews.

Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it, Turkey threw out a million Greeks, and Algeria a million Frenchman. Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese-and no one says a word about refugees.

But in the case of Israel the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees. Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single Arab. Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis. Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when Israel is victorious it must sue for peace .

Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world. Other nations when they are defeated survive and recover but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed. Had Nasser triumphed last June [1967] he would have wiped Israel off the map, and no one would have lifted a finger to save the Jews. No commitment to the Jews by any government, including our own, is worth the paper it is written on.

There is a cry of outrage all over the world when people die in Vietnam or when two Blacks are executed in Rhodesia. But when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one remonstrated with him. The Swedes, who are ready to break off diplomatic relations with America because of what we do in Vietnam, did not let out a peep when Hitler was slaughtering Jews. They sent Hitler choice iron ore, and ball bearings, and serviced his troop trains to Norway.

The Jews are alone in the world. If Israel survives, it will be solely because of Jewish efforts. And Jewish resources. Yet at this moment Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally. We can rely more on Israel than Israel can rely on us. And one has only to imagine what would have happened last summer [1967] had the Arabs and their Russian backers won the war to realize how vital the survival of Israel is to America and the West in general.

I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us.

Should Israel perish, the holocaust will be upon us.

Go back and check the date on the top. This article was written 38 years ago!!!

NY Times Optical Illusions on Lebanon "destruction:

You must see this graphic on the Ny Times home page. It is a complete manipulation. It uses a change between a July 12th image to a July 31st image to show the "destruction" of a beirut suburb. There are two manipulations with these images:
1. It changes the coloring from color on July 12th to Black and white on July 31st, making the "destruction" look worse.
2. It shows an isoltaed area which was Hezbollah HQ and not the entire beirut. This same tactic was used on the so-called Jenin massacre back when Israel cleaned the terrorists out of jenin.

Blogger does not want to upload my photos, otherwise, i would post the photos themselves. If you want me to email them to you, just say so in the comments section and leave and email address.

Update: Thanks Rafael for the link to the photos!

Guest Post on Current War in Lebanon - We Have Already Won

Following Bob Rosenschein's guest post from Tuesday on the war in Lebanon, today I am posting one is written by my brother Noam, a recruiter, who lives in Jerusalem. I thought it was particularly appropriate for Tisha B'av, the Jewish day of communal mourning over the detsruction of the Temples and the lack of unity that led up to the destructions.


It has now been 3 weeks since the beginning of the war in the north and a full month+ since Gilad Shalit was kidnapped and soldiers killed in the south. The question that has been occupying everyone from politicians, media, IDF, civilians, etc.: What is a victory for Israel? And has Israel been successful up until now? I too have been debating this question with friends and family and up until yesterday focused solely on the military aspect of the war. Don't get me wrong!! Israel must continue to attack, destroy, disarm and demolish as much of Hezbollah as possible, but there is more to this war.

In reading and listening to all the major media outlets I have been struck by one of their main points since Israel started bombing Lebanon in retaliation to Hezbollah's unprovoked attack and kidnapping of two of its soldiers. The media's continued mentioning of the rise of "displaced"
Lebanese throughout the conflict has been startling. With each passing day we hear how thousands more are homeless and have now become refugees or displaced people. In Israel where Hezbollah has rained thousands of rockets on civilian populations sending tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people to bomb shelters and having to flee their cities, not one mention has been made of the Israeli "displaced" people.

Living in Israel these last couple of weeks has been a tremendous experience for me personally. During such a tense and trying time I have come to understand that no matter how much our enemies try they will not be successful in destroying us. The reason why I believe this is the reason why you don't hear about our "displaced" people of the north and in turn is the reason why we have already won the war. The country, and its citizens, have lined up one by one and opened their homes to people from the north. There are ads in every newspaper of people giving out their home address' and phone #'s to anyone who needs a place; Organizations have opened up shelters and are distributing food packages; Teenagers are volunteering in droves to help entertain and set up camps for the children of these families; People who have homes here but are currently not here, have opened their homes to complete strangers and are allowing them to live in these homes while the firing continues in the north. Everything you could possibly imagine, and things that you can't, is being done to help out; And then my wife, Shana, came into our kitchen yesterday and told me a story she heard on the radio.
There are two competing (I believe manufacturing) companies one is based in Nahariya and one someplace in the south. As everyone is aware Nahariya has been one of the cities that has been one of the hardest and most frequent cities hit since Hezbollah started firing. Because of the intensity of the rocket fire the company was forced to shut down its factory. The competing company's owner then stepped in. They arranged that his company would use the factory from 7am till 7pm and then allow the company from Naharyia to continue their operations by using their facilities from 7pm till 7am. The owner of the factory while being interviewed stressed that we are all one family and in times of hardship you come to your family's side to help and he hopes this will inspire others in the country to do the same.


Ro'i Klein is another story that must be told in order to highlight the differences between us and our enemies. Ro'i Klein was a commander in the infantry unit that entered Bint Jbail earlier this week. He was one of eight soldiers killed during the fighting. Ro'i, a 31 year old husband and father of two young children, jumped on top of a grenade during the fighting in order to prevent anyone else from being hurt or killed. I have been telling people since I heard this story that we educate our people to jump on grenades to prevent others from being killed while our enemies teach their children to become grenades in order to kill.

As you can see, we have already won. No matter how many times our enemies try they will never succeed in destroying us, because during times of hardship our family unites in order to prevent others from being hurt or god forbid worse.

In these days leading up to Tishaa Ba'av our hearts continue to wail for past tragedies and our hearts are heavier again this year as we mourn those who were taken from us too soon these last couple of weeks. My hope is that our actions of achdut these last couple of weeks will help us realize that we are one family and must continue to help each other out during hard times and also during good times. May our recent actions bring the geulah shlema that much quicker and may we all be zocheh to celebrate the chag of Tishaa Ba'av this week.


Respectfully yours,

Noam

NO NO LeNOvo! - Bring Back Big Blue

I needed to upgrade my laptop recently. Since I was a long term IBM ThinkPad user I did not think twice when deciding to order the new super light X60 machine, now made by Lenovo. For those of you who do not remember, China-based Lenovo purchased IBM's computer business about a year ago. Well, one year later the IBM Logo is still on the machine and it still says ThinkPad but this is not your father's IBM.

Since I purchased the machine, it has been hell. First my wireless was not working right. I kept getting an error message that said my wireless card was not operating. Then it sometimes went back on and then back off again. When we checked (our IT person as well) all of the system settings, everything looked fine. After hours on the phone with Lenovo tech support (they could not help either), our IT manager found on the web that Lenovo installed on SOME models of the x60 a new on/off Wifi Radio switch in the front underside of the laptop. I guess that it was rubbing against my leg when I held the laptop on my lap, which was toggling the switch. MMI design is I guess not Lenovo's forte.

Nor is Backward compatibility. These geniuses at Lenovo, clearly attempting to juice profits form accessories, switched the plug for the power cable! So, my entire investment in power cables for the thinkpad went in the garbage. Not only that, but Lenovo has not produced enough power supplies so in some parts of the world (like a third world city called London) you need to wait weeks for a power cable. Did I mention the need for a new docking station as well?

And then there are the batteries. I ordered my laptop with an extra battery. That extra battery did not come. We spent three weeks on the phone with Lenovo in Israel and the US trying to get an extra battery (the slice battery that fits on the bottom of the computers). After weeks of blame shifting and passing the buck, it turned out they did not have any in stock. I finally received my battery late last week. And, guess what? Lenovo sent the wrong battery. Instead of the slice battery that I ordered, they sent the backside add-on battery.

I figured that maybe I was unlucky but, alas, our office in London had to shelve 2 X60s that they purchased because Lenovo put a different Wifi card in that was interfering or not working with personal firewalls.

Somehow it seems to me that they good old American motto of "if it ain't broke don't fix it." has not made it to Lenovo. This has been a disastrous customer experience and I am already cautioning friends not to buy Thinkpads. Since I don't think I can Bring Back Big Blue (sounds like a good compaign) I am now thinking twice about my purchase. After almost 10 years of ThinkPads I am thinking of trading this one back for a Sony.

Guest Post on Current War in Lebanon - One Israeli's View

I am hosting a few guest posters (most of who are American Citizens living in Israel) who provide their own views on the current war in Lebanon. This post is by Bob Rosenschein, CEO of Answers.com.

One Israeli's View

The great Yogi Berra once said, "In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is."

I am not a columnist - just an ordinary American citizen living in Israel - but I have gained some insight into both cultures, some might say mentalities. Here is what many Israelis are feeling nowadays.

The first point concerns some unwritten American values I grew up with:

• Problems are solvable.
• Good will is returned in kind.
• In general, favor the underdog over the top dog (unless you're the top dog).
• If two sides are fighting, they must both have some justification.
• Be reasonable; split the difference.

But what if you are living in a neighborhood where they are not quite as reasonable as you? Where your attempts to reason and split the difference backfire? Or worse, where concession is laughed at as weakness.

The second point concerns Israel in particular. We are 6.6 million people, toughened but pragmatic. At 8,020 square miles, we have an area 25% smaller than Maryland. The difference is that, unlike America's vast power, with oceans and peaceful neighbors on all sides, the Jewish state is surrounded on several sides with people who actually want to kill us. Not subdue us - destroy our country.

It would be convenient to think that this must be because of something we did. But Hamas and Hezbollah say it out loud and crystal clear. The "occupation" is the whole works. Their final solution is the total destruction of Israel. Iran, a member state of the UN, holds conferences called "A World Without Israel."

This is the backdrop against which most civilized countries would have us turn the other cheek. As social writer Eric Hoffer once said, "We really do expect the Jews to be the only good Christians in the world."

To put things in perspective, imagine, if you can, that Arlington lobbed 1,000 shells at Georgetown. Or sent suicide bombers. How exactly would you react? Imagine that Mexico was calling for the destruction of the United States, backing it up with cross-border raids and missiles.

The third point is that Israel already withdrew from every last inch of southern Lebanon and Gaza, as the international community demanded. But the provocations and terror - violence aimed intentionally against civilian targets - continued. This is why we entered this conflict. Enough is enough.

This is a horrible situation to be in, fighting Hezbollah behind its human shields. But before bombing southern Lebanon and the Hezbollah neighborhoods of Beirut, Israel dropped leaflets encouraging evacuation. Confronted with terrible choices, we are trying to fight while minimizing civilian casualties.

It was wishful thinking to hope that joining the government would make Hamas and Hezbollah more responsible. Sometimes putting the bully in charge of the playground works, and sometimes it doesn't.

The operative emotion in Israel right now is sadness, sadness for what is being done to us, sadness for what we must do to defend ourselves. The missiles shot at Haifa landed a few miles from the research labs of Intel, IBM, Microsoft and Google. Israelis would much rather continue working on desalination, stroke treatment, and alternative fuels (see www.israel21c.org). We would rather that our adversaries developed their own economies pragmatically.

We hate this conflict, but we will not commit suicide. As Golda Meir said, "We will have peace when our enemies love their children more than they hate ours."

My father was a survivor of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, was the most optimistic person I ever knew, but he once taught me, "Above all else, when someone threatens to kill you or your loved ones - just believe him!"

The lesson for America is simple. Do not hide from international responsibility. Do not assume the oceans offer protection. Iran is behind Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria, and, of course, the insurgents in Iraq. If Iran gets nuclear bombs, do you want to bet they won't sponsor a radical Islamic group to eradicate American cities?

You want to know what Israelis are thinking? Theory and practice are intertwined. We are on the front line, but we will show patience and strength. That's why 89% of Israelis, Left, Right and Center, support the army right now. A mere 61 years and 10 weeks after V-E day, we know that evil and blind hatred exist. And that they can be beaten.

-- Bob Rosenschein is CEO of Answers.com (NASD:ANSW); he can be reached at rrosenschein at gmail.com; this piece reflects his own views

Posted by: Bob Rosenschein, Jerusalem, Israel | July 19, 2006 12:09 PM

A great week for Israeli Technology companies

Today's announcement that SanDisk was buying M-Systems for $1.3 billion, coupled with HP's acquisition of Mercury last week caps a banner week for Israeli High tech companies. Now, many pundits and journalists will surely bemoan the fact that Israel is selling off its crown jewels. After all, Dov Moran has build M-systems into a worldwide flash disk powerhouse over the last 10+ years and made it a viable independent business. Amnon Landan and Aryeh Feingold turned a small testing tools company called Mercury into one of the world's leading software tools companies with a robust selling model that was, in its time, groundbreaking as it was simple.

So these two companies will not become Israel's Nokia, the oversimplified catch-phrase used to describe a large national crown jewel business. But Israel also won't et a cold when its Nokia sneezes. (Some could argue that Teva pharmaceuticals fits the bill).

Personally, I tip my hat to Mercury and M-systems and I think this is a vibrant sign for Israel's high tech industry. Here is why.

1. Recycling - Any time a company gets bought by a bigger company, those employees who do not wish to work in a larger environment inevitably spin off and spawn new companies. This new company formation is the fuel of a growth economy and provides jobs across the market, as small companies have done in the US economy.

2. Management upgrade - Those managers of M-systems and Mercury who choose to stay at their acquirers will learn a set of global management skills on a scale they could not have enjoyed at their current companies. They will learn global management skills in $10+ billion market cap environments that they will later be able to apply to the next great Israeli tech company and will help it grow to be a multi-national giant.

3. Net net, these acquisitions will add jobs in Israel. Almost all of the big acquisitions of recent history including Shopping.com by ebay and Cyota, Nlayers and Kashya by EMC have resulted in expansion of the companies' local presence. This is great both for the high tech programming jobs as well as the low tech but neccessary services that attend to them: restaurants, furniture etc.

4. These acquisitions are a tremendous shot in the arm to our country while it is fighting the world's war with the Hezbollah terrorists. What a testimony to the health and depth of Israel's economy and value just when the country needed it. It is a testimony to the foresight of the founding fathers of the political and economic spheres in Israel.

In a week of difficult times, Israel was blessed this week with some fabulous economic news that came in the form of HP and Sandisk. I for one am looking forward to the great entrepreneurs and managers that come out of these organizations now and in the future. And, I won't be going out to buy the tissue, neither to wipe tears nor to blow my nose when Israel's Nokia does not get a cold.