buy israel week section

11Chicago Jewish News - November 18 - 24, 2011

12 Chicago Jewish News - November 18 - 24, 2011

What is Buy Israel Week?Think of it as a ‘buycott.’Buy Israel Week, an effort to

spur consumers to purchase prod-ucts made in Israel, is the brain-child of Frances Zelazny, a mar-keter by trade who, dismayed atthe growing strength of the boy-cott and divestment movement,decided to fight fire with fire.

“Israel’s advocates shouldstart thinking of shopping as away to support the state,” Zelaznysaid.

Zelazny has used her profes-sional skills to make doing thatparticularly easy, and appealing,during Buy Israel Week. FromNov. 28 to Dec. 4, merchantsacross the country will offer dealson Israeli products to buyers whodownload coupons from the BuyIsrael Week website (www.buyis-raelweek.com).

Consumers need make no

sacrifices in terms of quality inorder to support Israel with theirwallet, Zelazny said. The countryis home to several world-leadingbrands, such as Ahava cosmet-ics, that enjoy the same level ofname recognition as their Euro-pean or American competitors.

“We are promoting theseproducts on their merits,” Zelaznysaid. “People will want to buythem.”

Nor does Zelazny intend towind down her efforts when thisfirst Buy Israel Week ends. Sheplans to turn the initiative into anonprofit organization to moresystematically disseminate themessage that Israel needs itsbackers’ purchasing power in ad-dition to their political power.

“We’ll promote Israeli prod-ucts,” she said. “This is a directcounter to the boycotts.”

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By Joseph AaronEditor

Not every American Jewcan move to Israel.

Not every American Jewcan visit Israel. And even if youdo go on a trip or mission to Is-rael, you do that maybe once ayear, maybe once in a lifetime.

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

If you eat food, drink wine,like jewelry, use cosmetics, wearclothes, need medications, enjoyflowers, are looking to beautifyyour home, are shopping for a giftfor a friend, you can Buy Israel.

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

Meaning by buying thosethings, you show your love of andsupport for Israel. And there’s nosacrifice necessary on your part.Products from Israel are of thehighest quality, the latest style,the best make.

And you can Buy Israel nomatter where you stand on thepeace process, no matter if youare right wing or left wing, nomatter what your position is onany issue.

Sometimes we get so caughtup in the politics and the con-troversies and the latest news, welose sight of the essential wonderof Israel and of our unbreakable,kishke connection to Israel.

It is the place where our his-tory has been made and is beingmade, the place that made uswho we are, that defines us as apeople. The state of Israel issomething we have prayed for,worked for, hoped for, longed for,for more than 2,000 years. Andwe are part of the fortunate gen-eration of Jews for whom a sov-ereign Jewish country is a reality. Which is not something to takefor granted, which is somethingto cherish with all our hearts andJewish souls.

One way to put those emo-tions into action, a very simplebut very meaningful way to ex-

S E E C O N N E C T E D O N P A G E 1 4


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press our feelings in a very con-crete way, is to Buy Israel. Everyday, you purchase the things youneed – shoes or swimsuits, beautyaids or books, cheese or linens.And when buying all that, youhave all kinds of choices, allkinds of options.

So why not Buy Israel? Ifthere’s something you’re shop-ping for and there’s a well madeproduct from Israel available at acompetitive price, it’s the perfectway to get what you need whileshowing how much you care.

For by Buying Israel, yousupport Israel, show your alle-giance to the state of Israel, aholy place on earth, the Jewishplace in the world. By buying Is-rael, by choosing food andclothes and jewelry and cosmet-ics and all the many things madethere, you infuse your everydaylife with a tangible connection tothe land and to its people. Youbecome a part of that place byusing products that come fromthat place.

This special section is dedi-cated to Buy Israel Week, Nov.

28 to Dec. 4, when a special em-phasis will be put on Buying Is-rael, when coupons will beavailable online at www.BuyIs-raelWeek.com that offer dis-counts available in stores, all tomake it easier during these sevendays to focus your buying on buy-ing Israel.

By so doing, you’ll find notonly that the products that comefrom Israel are really tasty and re-ally attractive and really useful,but you’ll find that you feel reallygood for having bought them, forhaving elevated the ordinary actof shopping into a connection tothe extraordinary place that isthe Jewish state.

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

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By Pauline Dubkin YearwoodManaging Editor

You could say it all started in1967, when one of Howard Bern-stein’s daughters got married.

“I insisted we serve Israeliwine,” the Chicago businessmanand founder of the Buy IsraelGoods website said. He had vis-ited Israel both as a tourist and inhis position as an investmentbanker to the food industry andwas searching for ways to helpthe Jewish State.

“It doesn’t cost any more tobuy Israeli products, and they aresuperior products in most cases,”he said.

But it was several decades –not until 2002, in fact – beforeBernstein would launch BIG(www.buyisraelgoods.org), whichhe now runs in conjunction withAmerica-Israel Chambers ofCommerce, StandWithUs andseveral other organizations.

His motivation was simpleto explain, more difficult to ac-complish: help the Israeli econ-

omy by motivating consumers tobuy a broad range of Israeli prod-ucts for their everyday needs.

Today BIG, which Bernsteinfunds, and maintains with thehelp of a few interns, lists avail-able Israeli products in about 25categories in 17 cities in theUnited States and Canada. Bothlocal merchants and online sell-ers are identified. The coveragearea includes more than 75 per-cent of the Jewish population ofthe country, he says.

So let’s say you live in Seat-tle and are looking for an Israeli-

“It doesn’t costany more to buyIsraeli products,and they are su-perior productsin most cases.”

S E E I N T E R N E T O N P A G E 1 6


made birthday present for yourtoddler. Click on your city, clickon “Toys and Games” underProduct Categories, and voilà,you discover there’s a Toys’R’Usstore in town that sells Israelibrands, plus a listing of five on-line retailers. Couldn’t be sim-pler.

That’s exactly what Bern-stein was going for.

“I noted the singular focus indoing business with Israel washigh-tech products,” he said.“That’s as it should be, becauseit’s Israel’s strongest suit. But I

also noticed that nobody waspaying attention to the consider-able amount of companies in theconsumer products business.”

He decided he would be theone to pay attention, coming upwith the idea of a website thatwould direct people to Israeliconsumer products. He startedout in a few market areas,watched the website grow andhired some college students who,he freely admits, knew muchmore about website developmentthan he did.

“I gave them a single rulethat they must never violate,” hesaid. “I will sacrifice any elementof color or design to have a sitethat, if a visitor sees a page theywant to print, all they have to dois press print and they get a per-

fectly legible copy. I had to dragthe (website designers) back tothe straight and narrow.”

Now Bernstein has Jewishorganizational sponsors in anumber of cities whose membershelp gather information for thesite. He’s recently added a blogfeature, with news about Israeliproducts, and a library featurethat archives articles on the sub-ject.

Big news on the site mightbe that “AIPAC served Israeliwine to 10,000 people at its lastnational meeting in Washington,D.C.,” he said.

Wine, in fact, is Bernstein’sfavorite product and one heworks hard to promote. “If I hearof someone having a banquet, Isend a letter: Here’s why youshould serve Israeli wine. There’sa lot of misinformation out there.A lot of people think they won’t

like Israeli wine, but when theydrink it, they like it,” he said.

He gives credit to localAmerica-Israel Chambers ofCommerce in BIG’s market areasfor providing listings of localmerchants selling Israeli prod-ucts. “Without their input, therewould be no BIG,” he said.

Bernstein said he often hearsfrom merchants pleased with thenumber of sales they’ve madethrough BIG.

That’s also the view of RozRothstein, co-founder and CEOof StandWithUs, a 10-year-oldpro-Israel education and advo-cacy non-profit based in Los An-geles.

The organization works inpartnership with Bernstein afterlaunching a campaign that alsopromoted buying Israeli goods.That promotion was designed tospecifically combat the efforts ofgroups calling for a boycott of Is-raeli products, Rothstein said,and was launched on Nov. 30,2010 and March 30, 2011 – daysanti-Israel groups had designatedas boycott days.

“We have a very large inter-national membership and ourcampaign became global,” reach-ing supporters as far away as Aus-tralia, Rothstein said. “Shelves ofIsraeli products were emptied” onthe “boycott” days, she said.

Rothstein said Stand-WithUs “pushed the campaign(to buy Israeli products) out intothe world. It became a living, ac-tive thing.”

Another goal, she said, wasto counter the negativity of thepro-boycott groups. “We createdan upbeat, happy campaign,” shesaid. “We asked people to send intheir photos, videos, and it cre-ated excitement in Jewish andChristian schools, synagogues,churches. Federations picked itup. It became a whole campaignthat was very effective.” Chris-tian pro-Israel groups helpedpower the effort as well, she said.

Bernstein said that in eachmonth when a boycott was calledfor, BIG’s page views increasedfrom about 5,000 to almost50,000. “StandWithUs’ effortshave proved to be very effective,”he said.

StandWithUs, meanwhile,will continue to sponsor andwork with BIG as Bernstein seeksto expand the website’s reachinto new markets, including in-ternational ones.

And here’s what Bernsteinwants everyone who uses hisservice to remember: “While Ihope and think that BIG assistsIsrael, the Israelis do more for usthan we do for them, just bybeing there.”

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Don’t whine over Israeli wineBy Pauline Dubkin Yearwood

Managing Editor

Alpana Singh, Chicago’smost famous sommelier, marriedinto a Jewish family and em-braced their traditions – sweetPassover wine and all.

In fact, Singh, director ofWine and Spirits for the LettuceEntertain You Enterprises restau-rant chain and host of WTTW’spopular show “Check, Please!”thought the syrupy stuff was theonly kind of Israeli/kosher winethere was. A recent trip to Israeldisabused her of that notion in abig way.

She received an invitationto take a wine tour of the Jewishstate from Israel’s Economic Mis-sion to the Midwest, a govern-ment body that promotes tradewith Israel. She jumped at thechance, she said during a recentphone interview.

Singh, who in 2003 becomethe youngest woman ever toachieve the rank of Master Som-melier, admits that she was fairlyclueless about Israeli wine.

“My husband is Jewish and

I’ve always had an interest in Is-rael,” she says. “I don’t know thatmuch about kosher wines, andquestions about them come upquite often, and I don’t like say-ing ‘I don’t know.’ I was curious.”

Besides, her husband, writerand editor Charles Blackstone,had never been to Israel, so thetwo set out together, along with arepresentative of the Israeli gov-ernment, to tour wineries andmeet with people in the industry.“It was a fantastic opportunity.What better guide than the gov-ernment of Israel?” she says.

They toured establishmentsin the three main wine-produc-ing regions of the country: theJudean Hills, the Golan Heightsand the Galilee.

“I went in with the assump-tion of knowing only about thewines I had had during Passover,so I was expecting sweet, notvery good-quality wine,” she says.

Then came the surprise:“What I actually discovered wasquite the opposite. The wineswere very much on a par with theMediterranean wines we enjoy

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from Greece, Italy and France.”Varieties she sampled in-

cluded merlot, sirrah, sauvignonblanc, pinot noir – “all the mod-ern grape varieties we enjoyevery day,” she says.

Here’s more of what Singhlearned:

The current Israeli wine in-dustry, she says, is a very youngindustry. “The region has beenmaking wines since the days ofthe Bible, but the industry waspretty much wiped out for 600years when the Ottoman Empirewas wiped out,” she says. The an-cient grape varieties, she learned,were decimated during that pe-riod.

Baron Rothschild beganmaking wine in the region in the1880s, but the wine was mainlyfor ceremonial religious purposes.

“It wasn’t until the ’70swhen somebody decided to makea drier style of wine. The modernIsraeli wine industry reallystarted in the ’80s, so it is a veryyoung industry compared, say, toFrance,” she says.

Singh also discovered that“just because a wine is kosher,that does not affect the taste andflavor.”

In fact, not all Israeli wine iskosher, and Singh and her groupvisited several small boutiquewineries whose wine is notkosher. But most Israeli wine iskosher, more for economic thanreligious reasons, she discovered.

“If you get to a certain pro-duction level, it’s more econom-ically viable for a business to bekosher, because of the need forkosher wines at hotels andevents. If you want to get massdistribution, it’s hard not to bekosher,” she says.

For a wine to be consideredkosher, a Sabbath-observant Jewmust be involved in the entire

winemaking process. Some wineis also mevushal, meaning boiled,an ancient practice that was sup-posed to keep wine kosher evenif it was used for idolatrous pur-poses.

What particularly surprisedSingh was that, while most winemade in Israel is kosher, onlythree percent of kosher winescome from the Jewish state. Thatmuch-maligned super-sweet Kid-dush wine was probably made inthe United States.

That’s why Singh would liketo see stores in this country makea change in how they market Is-raeli and kosher wines.

“If you walk into a winestore, the wines from Israel tendto be put into the same section askosher wines. Kosher is the Is-raeli section,” she says.

She would like to see Israeliwines have their own section justas wines from other countries do– “statehood for Israeli wines,”she calls it.

“If you lump them togetherwith the kosher wines, peoplewill think about their own mem-ories of kosher wines and lumpthem in with that,” she says.

Meanwhile, she says, “themessage needs to get out that Is-raeli wines are very tasty, high-quality wines and they shouldnot be put into the same categoryas sweet Kiddush wines.”

When she told this to her fa-ther-in-law, “he said, but itwouldn’t be Passover (withoutthe sweet wine). It’s kind of likemy mother’s lumpy mashed pota-toes. You grow fond of it,” shesays.

She envisions a kind of two-tiered system for Israeli wines:Those who keep kosher andwant a kosher wine should beable to find a good one, whileothers would be encouraged topick an Israeli wine simply be-cause it’s good.

“If you go in a grocery storeand you pick up a bottle of

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ketchup and see the kosher certi-fication, you would never thinkit’s going to taste different” froma similar non-kosher product, shesays. “Basically it’s the samething with wines. It doesn’t meanthat it’s sweeter, it’s just made dif-ferently.”

And she has a message forall wine-lovers, kosher or not:“Israel has a wonderful, beautifulMediterranean climate that pro-duces wines that mostly just hap-pen to be kosher. I would notlook at these wines from a reli-gious perspective. You have afantastic opportunity to havethese wines for your holiday tableor to enjoy them every day. If youlike wine, why not try ones fromIsrael?”

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Beyond matzah and couscousGrocery storesoffer plethora ofIsraeli products

By Ryan E. SmithJewish Journal of

Greater Los Angeles

A taste of Israel is no furtheraway than your grocery store –and not just in the kosher aisle.

No one’s surprised to find Is-raeli matzah on a shelf, but whatabout sliced Mexican turkeyfrom a company called HodGolan (motto: “The Height ofGood Taste”)?

That’s just the beginningwhen it comes to the varied foodproducts being imported fromthe Holy Land these days.There’s also tea, spices, cheese,and even frozen herbs.

American grocery storeshave seen an influx of productshailing from Israel. In the firsthalf of this year alone, the coun-try exported $85 million in foodto the United States, an 8 per-cent increase over the same timeperiod last year, according toLital Frenkel-Porat, of the IsraelExport & International Cooper-ation Institute.

A document by that non-profit organization, which is sup-ported by the Israeli governmentand private sector and chargedwith promoting the country’sbusiness abroad, suggests a fewreasons for the boost:

• A blend of cultures due togeography and immigrant popu-lations has created a variety ofunique food products;

• A national health aware-ness has translated into increasedmeatless and sugar-, lactose- andgluten-free products;

• A strong commitment to

research and development hasled to advancements in food-in-gredient technology and innova-tive products.

The result? Hundreds ofproducts trickling into Americangrocery stores, even if the aver-age consumer isn’t aware of it.

In Chicago, many Jewelstores feature a variety of Israeliproducts, but none more so thanthe stores on Howard inEvanston and in Highland Parkwhich feature sections calledKosher Marketplace at Jewel.There you find aisles of Israeliproducts of all types, from a widevariety of dairy products to ex-tensive wine selections to choco-lates and candies and muchmore.

Because of its support of Is-raeli products, Yakov Yarmove,national ethnic foods businessmanager for SuperValu, Jewel’sparent company, was honoredwith the Business LeadershipAward at the recent annual din-ner of the America-Israel Cham-ber of Commerce Chicago.

Whole Foods Market sellsmore than 200 products nation-wide that are made in Israel by14 companies. Among them areElyon’s fat-free, gluten-free

Yakov Yarmove

Jaffa oranges have been a staple of grocery stores for many years.

S E E G R O C E RY O N P A G E 2 2


marshmallows; Gefen’s gluten-free ziti noodles; and a host ofspices by Pereg – includingmixed spices for the all-Ameri-can hamburger.

Other major chains stock upon Israeli goods, too. Trader Joe’swas the first to carry a line offrozen foods by Dorot, a kibbutzlocated at the edge of the Negevin southern Israel. It producesall-natural, flash-frozen herbs

and other products that are pack-aged in ice cube-like trays for in-dividual servings.

“A few hours after the har-vest, it’s already frozen,” said TalTal-Or, CEO of the company’sU.S. subsidiary. “We always sayit’s faster than fresh.”

Now Dorot products can befound in nearly 4,000 stores, in-cluding at Jewel. “There are a lotof struggles, but our company isgrowing in the U.S.,” Tal-Orsaid. “Our product is not likebread or cheese or milk. It re-quires a lot of explanation. Peo-

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GroceryC O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 2 1


ple don’t expect to find basil inthe freezer.”

Trader Joe’s carries Israelicouscous, too, but perhaps moreintriguing is what consumers mayfind a few aisles over: Pastures ofEden feta cheese. Produced bythe Israeli Sheep Breeders Asso-ciation, it’s a creamy, Balkan-style cheese made from sheep’smilk.

“In terms of feta, this is reallythe highest quality that we havefound,” said one food expert. “It’svery different from the Greekfeta. It’s just a totally differenttexture. I think people are sur-prised by it.”

Israeli grocery imports go be-yond just food. Some stores carrya number of drinks by Prigat, abrand that has been in theUnited States since 2000. It pro-duces mango and peach nectar,as well as other flavors.

Then there’s the wine, espe-cially that being produced in theGolan Heights. Brands likeYarden are widely available. Teadrinkers can indulge in Wis-sotzky Tea. Flavors include every-thing from Mango and PassionFruit to Nana-Lemon (a mix oflemon and mint). The companyhas a manufacturing plant in theGalilee and has been producingtea since 1936.

A Chicago chain that carriesan array of Israeli products isGarden Fresh Market, which hasseven stores in the Chicago area.

Its Northbrook store puts aspecial emphasis on Israeli prod-ucts, said Avi Mor, the store’smanager, and import buyer forGarden Fresh Market. “I usuallytravel to the east coast once ayear for a kosher products tradeshow and also I travel to Israel tobring new products and visit fam-

ily,” said Mor. “Customers alwaysrequest that I bring specific prod-ucts that they like and they misssince they are abroad for solong.” He said the most popularIsraeli products are Bamba byOsem, Cheese Burekas by Angelbakery, hummus by Sabra.

“We support Israel by buyingand promoting Israeli products asmuch as possible,” Mor said.

So the time is good to be anIsraeli food exporter. But it’s notwithout its challenges. Dorot, forone, has been caught up in cam-paigns by pro-Palestinian organ-izations to boycott Israeli goods,according to Tal-Or.

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

“[They] told us, ‘Look, sincethese protests have started, yoursales have gone up 20 percent.Hundreds of thousands of peopleall over the U.S. … were exposedto the product. That helped usincrease sales,” he said.

Still, he concluded: “A lot ofIsraeli products really suffer fromthese Palestinian organizations,and it’s making us feel uncom-fortable. We try to fight it as bestwe can.”

Donating thousands of ambulances and other emergency vehicles to Magen David Adom.

Building and renovating MDA Emergency Medical Stations and the MDA Israel National Blood Services Center.

Supplying MDA with vital equipment, urgently needed medical supplies, emergency gear and much more.

Providing unwavering support for Magen David Adom and Israel’s people since 1940 as MDA’s primary and strongest supporter in the world.

More than 71 years ago a group of American visionaries dreamed of forming a support organization for Magen David Adom as their way of helping to build our national homeland and save lives.

Mark D. Lebow, Chairman of the BoardArnold Gerson, Chief Executive Officer

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If you will it, it is no dream

C O N T I N U E D F R O M P R E V I O U S P A G E

Avi Mor

By Abigail Klein LeichmanNew Jersey Jewish Standard

Don’t buy Israeli productsjust to support the Jewish state.Buy them because they’re well-made, cutting-edge – evenavant-garde in quality, look, andfeel, says Nili Shalev, Israel’sEconomic Minister to NorthAmerica.

“It’s not just important tobuy Israeli. It’s a pleasure,” saysShalev.

“Israel produces high-qual-ity products mainly targeted forexport, since Israel itself is sucha small market. Whether it’sfashion, jewelry, or gourmetfoods, they’re packaged beauti-

fully to give the buyer a real feel-ing of uniqueness and innova-tion,” she says. “

As for gadgets, Israeli brandssuch as EpiLady are epic, but forthe most part, Israeli technologyis on the inside. “Israeli innova-tion is embedded in practicallyevery high-tech device on themarket,” says Shalev.

Lilly Berelovich, presidentof Fashion Snoops, is lookingto promote hot Israeli designerssuch as Sharon Brunsher, YosefPeretz, Anya Fleet, and Aluma.

“I want to elevate aware-ness of the creativity that Israelhas to offer in all realms, to getthe focus off the constant talkof conflict,” Berelovich says.“There are other things to talkabout.”

Made in Israel means quality


Israel, The BrandBy New York Jewish Week Staff

In the 19th century, industryin what became the state of Israelconsisted mainly of small work-shops that made farm imple-ments. Today, the countrymanufactures everything fromdrugs to lasers to shoes, and theclosest thing to farm implementsare complex drip irrigation sys-tems.

Everyone knows the bignames in Israeli manufacturing,like Teva Pharmaceutical Indus-tries and Ahava cosmetics, andthere are others, just as success-ful on the world stage, that flyunder the radar. The establish-ment of world-leading companiesand brands marks a significantstage in a country’s development.

“BMW is Germany. Hermesis very French. Burberry is veryBritish,” said Tim Calkins, a pro-fessor of marketing at North-western University’s KelloggSchool of Business. “For somebrands, location is a big part ofthe brand meaning. A strongbrand can give a sense of pride toa country.”

Manufacturing generates al-

most a fifth of everything Israelproduces in an average year, ac-cording to the Manufacturers’Association of Israel. NorthAmerica is Israel’s largest exportmarket, with 30 percent, or$12.7 billion, of all exports, withEurope close behind at 29 per-cent.

Even forty years ago, Israeldidn’t have the luxury of think-ing about branding. Manufactur-ing had advanced, but until the1970s, most of the country’s re-sources were directed into eco-nomic necessities: food produc-tion, infrastructure andimmigrant employment. Tradi-tional industries such as food pro-cessing, textiles, furniture, pesti-cides, rubber and plastic productsprovided most of the country’sindustrial output, according tothe Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The next phase of develop-ment concentrated on weaponsmanufacture due to various armsembargoes, and that, in turn, cre-ated the foundation for the high-tech industry that dominates thelimelight these days. But even ashigh-tech has exploded, manu-facturing has grown, too, oftenfrom a base in Israel to produc-tion facilities around the world.

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“No doubt, the good reputa-tion of Israeli products and com-panies in countries around theworld contributes a great deal tohow Israel is perceived,” saidShraga Brosh, who heads theManufacturers’ Association. “It isthe Israeli industry’s commit-ment to assure that our productsare not only competitive on aglobal scale, but also leading inboth their quality and innovativetechnology.”

For example, Strauss GroupFood Products, the country’s sec-ond-largest food and beveragecompany, makes Sabra-brandchilled dips and spreads.

Less visible is Delta Galil In-dustries, whose apparel productsmost people have worn, althoughthey may not have known it.The company’s clientele includesretail giants such as Target, Wal-Mart, Calvin Klein, Nike, Maid-enform and Tommy Hilfiger.

Israeli manufacturing alsohas its grittier side. ICL is one ofthe world’s leading fertilizer andspecialty chemical companies,with a monopoly on certainDead Sea and Negev Desert ex-traction concessions.

And then, of course, there

are high-flying consumer productbrand names like Naot, whichmakes footwear; Ahava, maker ofcosmetics with Dead Sea ingre-dients; and Gottex, the high-fashion swimsuit manufacturer.

Such companies aren’t as bigas Teva, which operates in 60countries, but they play an im-portant role in shaping Israel’simage. Nations have long de-fined themselves by their manu-facturing. The production ofluxury goods has shaped Frenchidentity, for example, at least asfar back as the days of the SunKing, who nurtured those indus-tries in the belief that the sale ofshoes and Champagne wouldhelp him dominate Europe.

Like 17th-century France,modern Israel is known for theexport of footwear – sandals –and edibles – hummus. And thecountry has developed to thepoint where it has its own brand,one that mainly plays off thecountry’s rugged beauty, whole-some natural products and activelifestyle.

“There’s no question that Is-rael is bolstered by some of itsstrong brands,” Calkins said.“They reflect back on the coun-try, and the country reflects onthe brand. It enhances both.”

Yakov YarmoveNational Ethnic Foods

Business Manager

We would like to congratulate our National Ethnic Foods Business Manager, Yakov Yarmove, as recipient of the 2011 Business Leadership Award from the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce for his outstanding effort in helping to bring Israeli products to our consumers throughout the United States.

A Taste of Israel A Taste of IsraelA Taste of Israel A Taste of Israel

is proud to offer the fi nest selection of

Kosher foods and wines from Israel throughout many of our Chicagoland area stores.

Visit our special “Taste of Israel” sections, located in select stores, for the widest selection of Israeli products!

BUYISRAELWEEK is Nov. 28 - Dec. 4

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