Where can you interact with stellar movers and shakers, mostly Anglo, in areas of entrepreneurship and media, network with colleagues and friends, and enjoy delicious refreshments? (Shout out to the Muffin Boutique.)
The fourth annual Jerusalem Business Conference, this year’s titled “Own Your Voice: Building Business and Community,” took place on November 19 at the Nefesh B’Nefesh Campus in Cinema City. The conference was an event of the Israel Networking Hub and was organized by its founder, Lesley Kaplan, who made aliyah 35 years ago from South Africa, in partnership with the Association of Americans & Canadians in Israel (AACI) and Nefesh B’Nefesh. More than 200 people filled the halls.
The timing was fortuitous, as people were gearing up for sales and events taking place on Hanukkah.
Among the many speakers were Leket founder and chairman Joseph Gitler and broadcaster Rolene Marks, head of World WIZO Public Diplomacy and host of The Israel Brief.
A panel discussion on podcasts and brand visibility, moderated by podcaster Heather Dean, author of Searching for Heather Dean and podcast host of 613 Books, included Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, who is a special envoy for Trade and Innovation, host of The Quad podcast, and former deputy mayor of Jerusalem; Debbie Sassen, a business and money coach and host of The Jewish Entrepreneur Podcast; and Zev Levi of the Israel Story podcast.
Leket’s origins
Joseph Gitler suffered his own tragedy in this war when his son-in-law Sgt.-Maj. David Schwartz fell in battle in Khan Yunis on January 8, 2024. But the substance of his talk was about what he has been doing with Leket since its founding.
Leket Israel’s focus is on rescuing healthful surplus food and delivering it to those in need. In 2024, they reportedly delivered 33,340 tons of food to 300 nonprofit partner agencies, which distributed it to 415,000 Israelis in need per week.
Gitler met his wife, Leelah, when they were on a Bnei Akiva summer program in Israel. He attended law school in America (“for my mother”) and worked in law for a year. After making aliyah, he worked in hi-tech for a few years. “We knew we wanted to live in Israel, and we’re all proud of that decision, through the good and the bad, the highs and the lows.”
Twenty-two years ago, he identified a need and a solution. He saw enormous food waste at hotels and celebrations, even as the working poor struggled. “Who works and also has to go to a soup kitchen? We should be embarrassed as a society that it exists.” That realization led him to launch Table to Table, later renamed Leket, after the biblical commandment obligating farmers to care for the poor. The mission: to prevent good food from going to waste. In the early days, Gitler called 100 caterers. None asked about liability or tax breaks; many said they had been waiting for such an initiative.
“And then, I thought, ‘What about agriculture?’” In 2005, a farmer offered thousands of kilos of fallen persimmons, asking that they be given away. “I didn’t say to him, ‘I’ll get back to you next week. I’m going to research it.’ I just said yes. In Leket, we say yes before we know how,” Gitler said.
“The good news is that Israeli farmers are very resilient. Most of them are back to normal; 75% of the foreign workers have returned. It’s very hard to take silver linings from the war… The positive note is that despite the horrors that we’ve seen, in the charity world it’s been something incredible to see… We saw it on October 8, when millions of dollars started to flow into our coffers. We also gave financial help in huge numbers. So much of what we did are things that we never do, and I hope we’ll never have to do again.”
Rolene Marks told the audience that someone had responded to an article she wrote: “You are a vacuous bimbo who should be called ‘Occupier Barbie.’ I thought to myself, ‘I’ll drop the vacuous bimbo, but ‘Occupier Barbie,’ how fantastic, how original. It makes a clean break from being called ‘baby killer’ and other slurs.” So she decided to take ownership of this. “I’m going to take the term ‘Occupier Barbie,’ and I’m going to turn it into my own personal brand or story. Maybe I’ll do a rhinestone T-shirt that says ‘Occupier Barbie’…
“The greatest privilege of my life, especially over the last two years, has been the honor of telling the story of our people, through our tragedies and our triumphs. Especially as Israeli journalists, we have a little bit of difficulty right now in telling Israel’s story…[But] it’s very simple. It’s our story. One of the stories that has broken through the noise has been the story of our hostages, our ability to bear witness to the fact that they were not just faces on posters. They are whole universes. This philosophy you can bring to your business,” said Marks. “What is my story? Who is my hero? Is your hero the service that you offer or your product? How are you going to use the hero of your story to connect with your audience?
“If I’m a fundraising organization, how is my audience going to connect emotionally to me? Be authentic. Be who you are.
“The people in this room have decided against all odds to come here, to start new lives, to start businesses, to grow community… to cry together, to mourn together, to celebrate together, and to thrive together. So next time someone calls you an ‘Occupier Barbie,’ own it, make it your story and get the damn T-shirt.”
Strengthening voices
On the podcasting and media panel, Hassan-Nahoum said, “I was helping other people strengthen their voice and sharpen their message. And then at one point, I thought to myself, ‘Well, I have something to say.’
“For many years I was essentially the face of Jerusalem in the international media, and that is why on Oct. 7, when nobody else was answering the phone, even though I’m Shabbat observant, when I saw them calling at 10 a.m. and there were sirens and a massacre going on, I thought, ‘I need to be the voice of what’s going on here outside of the country.’”
About her podcast, The Quad, she said, “I want the world to see how diverse and how strong Jewish women are… It takes time to find your voice…. But I think the main thing is to just be your genuine, authentic self.
“It’s not necessarily the smartest people that are the most successful, but it’s certainly the people who communicate very well. I’ve worked with people who were shy or didn’t have the confidence, and I would say to them, ‘You have to step out of your comfort zone every single day.’”
Debbie Sassen’s business went from financial planning to money coaching to business coaching. When her revenue hit multi-six figures, she launched her podcast. “It was really a way for me to develop my thought leadership and share my unique approach to business. I talk about God and bitachon - reliance on God. I bring verses from the Torah and know in my soul that I’m co-creating with the Almighty. As a mom of eight and grandmother of 21, the work-life harmony (not balance) juggling act is real.
“Two weeks ago, I finished giving a webinar, shut down Zoom, and stepped into an ambulance with my [pregnant] daughter to be her doula. That’s ‘my’ story — and you have yours. And your story matters. Through my podcast, I develop business concepts like ‘debt-free entitlement.’ I shared my viewpoint that too many service-based business owners resist borrowing money and investing capital to get their businesses going, and it’s slowing down their growth. Product-based businesses buy inventory, rent spaces, and hook up utilities before they sell the first widget. That takes cash. Bootstrapping keeps you small. I know that if just one person hears my message and goes all-in, she’ll collapse time and be astounded by her own growth. That’s my story. And yours also has a place in the world.”
Zev Levi of the Israel Story podcast said, “Somebody who’s listening to a podcast can either keep listening to you, or they can listen to the best song in the world. You need to show the listener that you are respecting their time by giving them a reason to continue listening.
“Number one is: Prepare your content. I can talk to you about how far away the microphone should be from your face, but it’s so much less important than you writing down on a piece of paper.”
A surprise ‘reveal’
The conference saw the launch of Lesley Kaplan’s new initiative, ImpactIL, powered by her Israel Networking Hub PRO Circle. She said, “ImpactIL is designed to empower Israel’s younger generations with real-life skills, while spotlighting business owners who volunteer their skills and expertise to create change, and partnering with the younger generation to amplify their visibility, strengthen their brand, and enhance both profitability and purpose, to build a stronger, vibrant Israel together.”
Kaplan believes that you’re never too young or too old to achieve your goals, and for three decades she has been living that philosophy, coaching business owners and nonprofits. She is also author of several business and motivational books.
“I feel it’s in my DNA to connect, collaborate with, and promote businesses. ImpactIL was founded to narrow the gap between theory and real-life skills.” The program includes group activities, workshops, and one-on-one mentoring. Business owners choose the activity and location of their choice and how often they’re available. “There’s a low annual cost to be part of the community, but cost will not be a barrier to joining the program,” she said.
ImpactIL projects focus on education and empowerment, community and social empowerment, and IDF soldiers, their spouses, and lone soldiers – particularly important due to the extended reserve duty of many soldiers who either left their businesses or no longer had the drive to continue working in the same field.
“Skills learned through activities, mentoring, and workshops provided by ImpactIL – such as business strategy and how to run a successful business – can make all the difference between sink or swim,” Kaplan explained.
Kaplan’s weekly Zoom Monday Motivation Spotlight podcast, which she started after Oct. 7 to spotlight Israeli business owners and nonprofits, hosts those “who had taken a hit after the onset of the war, as well as to motivate and inspire.”
The Israel Networking Hub is for small to medium-sized businesses and nonprofits that attend in-person and online events and network through a Facebook group. Members of the hub’s PRO Circle receive special benefits and discounts and are professionals who volunteer their services and skills to empower future generations through ImpactIL.
Nonprofits that are interested in having ImpactIL professionals partner with their organization are welcome to reach out, and ImpactIL welcomes inquiries from professionals and business owners seeking to sponsor this initiative, and anyone who is interested in supporting this cause. (ImpactIL.org or IsraelNetworkingHub.com).
My own takeaways included connecting with a number of people who I can help or be helped by on a project. One of the gems was joining a circle of women for lunch and meeting a young Hungarian woman who, by “coincidence,” is a tech wizard in an issue I’d been struggling with on one of my websites. We bonded over memories of the Hungarian cooking we grew up with, but our next meeting was professional.
Joseph Gitler gave me an enchanting children’s book by Madeline Black titled Juicy Lucie and the Leket Lady, gorgeously illustrated by Shirley Waisman, with all proceeds going to Leket, ending with the Leket Food Waste Challenge. I read the book with one of my a granddaughters.
In business or charity, we must prepare the next generation to carry it forward.
The writer is an award-winning journalist and theater director and co-founder and editor-in-chief of WholeFamily.com. Her current theater project is HEROINES! Songs & Soliloquies for the Soul.