Jerusalem, Israel - Sept. 1, 2020 - More than half a century after graduation what do five Yeshiva University High School classmates, retirees from the fields of education, business, and social work, do when they want to help Israel? They form an organization called ACHI- American Communities Helping Israel.
During the Second Intifada, one of the YUHS graduates, Suzanne Muschel Weilgus of Rockland County realized that Israeli merchants were in trouble. The shopkeepers on Ben Yehuda were losing business forcing many to close their doors. Suzanne, together with a few friends, decided to stage “Ben Yehuda Fairs” in the New York and New Jersey area, inviting Israeli merchants to come and sell their goods in the United States. The response from the vendors and committed shoppers was so overwhelming that security had to be called to control the crowds in several of the venues.
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Fast forward to the present. During the past few months, the ACHI Team realized once again the merchants on Ben Yehuda in Jerusalem, as well as others all over Israel, have lost much of their business because of COVID-19. With no international tourism in Israel, merchants are suffering. Many have websites, but business is very slow over the past six months.
With the assistance of the experienced technology consultant Stephen Plotsker, the ACHI Team is launching a website - www.ACHI613.org.
One section of the website is ACHI Market, an online market populated with vendors from all over Israel, who can sell and ship to the United States. A digital and social media campaign has begun to direct consumers to the website.
Another section of the online market is the Bernard Muschel z”l Ben Yehuda Fair, in memory of the father of founder Weilgus. The website plans to continue even after coronavirus restrictions have been lifted.
The ACHI Market will feature a category devoted to Buy Israeli -- Deliver in Israel, which will afford consumers both in the US and in Israel the ability to purchase Israeli goods from Israeli vendors and have the goods delivered to recipients in Israel.
After the original Ben Yehuda Fairs, Suzanne said, “we cannot stop here”. She invited two YUHS friends and neighbors, Rochelle Zupnik and Gloria Gordon to join her in a fledgling grassroots organization named ACHI. “Think Israel – Buy Israeli.” They encouraged their receptive audiences to make the lateral change to buy products made in Israel. It was not limited only to food or consumables, but they planted the idea to buy Israeli when buying artwork for your home or wedding and bar/bat mitzvah gifts, or for any occasion.
A few years later, the ACHI Team grew with the addition of Lynda Zentman and from Baltimore Tova Taragin. Taragin brought the ACHI concept of KLEE, to have a container of Israeli products on your Shabbos and Yom Tov table, to the Baltimore community. There is a website section devoted to the KLEE, with instructions on how to make your own KLEE, videos describing KLEE crafting, and contests for children featuring what they make, and more.
