A Jew with vision

One of the world’s richest men, Warren Buffett, recently unveiled his annual letter to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate he heads. In the letter he listed the company’s achievements and heralded an expected profit of 10 billion dollars in 2012.

When Warren Buffett lauds a company, he knows what he is talking about. At the very start of his career, in the 1960s, Buffett purchased a failing textile company called Berkshire Hathaway and turned it into a holding company worth approximately $150 billion today. This holding company oversees and manages more than 100 subsidiary companies from a wide range of industries like food, telecommunications and electronics. Israeli company Iscar is one of Berkshire Hathaway’s crown jewels.

Iscar, founded in 1952 in a tiny shack in Nahariya, is a success story that has everything: talent, determination, daring and Israeli chutzpah. When the company started out it had one employee – a former Palmach fighter who was looking for his professional calling following the 1948 War of Independence. Today, the company has 7,000 employees all over the world. The company that started out buying rusty garbage heaps and turning them into metalworking cutting tools is now at the cutting edge of global technology. There are not many factories in the world that deal in metal and do not use Iscar products. One example of Iscar’s innovation and development is a product with which one can cut a steel pipe in three hours, a task that would take three and a half days without Iscar’s tool.

During 2,000 years in exile, the Jews did not focus on manufacturing and industry. Many studied Torah, others were loan sharks and many provided services and acted as mediators. Christians and Muslims prevented Jews from entering the manufacturing industry. Therefore, Jewish creativity was channeled into writing and renewing the Torah.

Modern Zionism sought to bring Jews back into a normal existence. The redemption of the land and the agricultural endeavor were central pursuits in the beginning of the return to Zion. In many places communities and kibbutzim were established and, after 2,000 years of separation, Jews resumed working the land. Within a short time this dry, arid and brown land blossomed into a magnificent Garden of Eden. Land that was considered infertile ended up giving limitless fruits and the seven species that the land of Israel was blessed with flourished anew.

On the heels of the agricultural revolution came the industrial revolution. New immigrants from Poland and Germany started building factories. Gentle Jewish hands learned how to operate a mill and a lathe. The War of Independence and the sudden urgent demand for weapons (which were difficult to procure from other countries) forced hidden Jewish talents out in search of solutions. Improvised weapons were built quickly and contributed to our victory.

Since then, industry in Israel has skyrocketed. A country with few natural resources but filled with human resources has created a magnificent industry, ranging from pharmaceuticals to weapons. Who would have believed that a non-manufacturing nation could become a world leader in sophistication, invention and creativity within two generations?

But we have already proven that, throughout history, the Jews can achieve any goal. The talent is there – all that is required is vision and desire. Iscar embodies the realization of the vision and desire of one incredible individual: Stef Wertheimer, a son of German immigrants who fled Germany before the Holocaust, in 1937. Thanks to his talent and tenacity, Israel now stands at the forefront of advanced global industry.

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