As sophomore Tayden Gerstenblith sat in advisory after a presentation from a spokesman of the Israeli website SparkIL, Gerstenblith wasn’t just a student; he was an investor in promising small Israeli businesses. Thanks to a special grant, CESJDS high school students were given $36 to donate to an Israeli business through the website SparkIL.
SparkIL is a website that allows people to donate or lend money to small businesses in Israel that have been impacted by the war. The purpose of the loan is for people to stay connected long-term with the business they lent to, and then receive that money back to donate to another business. These businesses range from food trucks to boutique shops, and each business has a goal of how much money the need to be lent to them.
On their website, SparkIL states that they “Empower Israeli entrepreneurs through interest-free loans. By connecting global lenders with local businesses, we SparkIL economic growth and community resilience.”
After KabShab, students were given the opportunity to donate to small Israeli businesses through SparkIL. Each student was given $36 to donate to a business of their choosing. Each donation was meant to help businesses that were struggling due to the war in Israel. Sophomore Tayden Gerstenblith felt inspired to donate to help kickstart businesses so they could eventually thrive.
“Helping out small businesses is very important to me because my two uncles … started small businesses, and they’ve been thriving,” Gerstenblith said. “I wanted to help out small Israeli businesses specifically to help get them off the ground so that they can help out other small businesses along the way.”
Gerstenblith appreciated the variety of businesses to donate to on the SparkIL website and donated to a business he was drawn to.
“I donated to Agam from Ashdod who runs a schnitzel shop called A Perfect Balance of Sweet and Savory, and I wanted to help him rebuild his business after a long reserve duty in the war,” Gerstenblith said.
Gerstenblith also appreciated that SparkIL allows its lenders to give a zero-interest loan, and said that this makes it more helpful for people to donate and lend money. A zero-interest loan is a loan with no additional interest added to the borrowed amount.
When high school Hebrew teacher and Israel Engagement Coordinator Anat Kaufman saw the SparkIL team at the Israeli-American Council summit (IAC) which took place Sept. 19-21, she knew she had to bring a speaker to JDS. Kaufman wanted the students at JDS to see how SparkIL provided the opportunity to donate to small Israeli businesses after Oct. 7.
“It was a great opportunity for our students to connect with Israel because one of JDS’ core values is ‘Ahavat Yisrael’ [Love of Israel], and when I saw what SparkIL was doing, I wanted to involve our students in their project,” Kaufman said.
Another reason that Kaufman liked SparkIL’s mission is because of their attention to businesses in smaller areas, rather than only the big cities in Israel. Some of the businesses displayed on SparkIL work out of trucks and other small venues because they are in smaller areas.
Na’ama Ore, CEO of SparkIL, and one of Kaufman’s close friends, said that before Oct. 7 SparkIL’s mission was to help out businesses in marginalized communities that were struggling to receive support because of their situation. After the war broke out, SparkIL shifted its focus due to the circumstances and the amount of requests it received from businesses affected by the war.
“Post Oct. 7 there was a flood of loan requests from SparkIL because we also opened an emergency loan fund for businesses that were affected by the war, people that were on IDF reserve and people that were evacuated from their homes, and these people didn’t have an opportunity or a way to deal with their business, and we wanted to help them,” Ore said.
Connecting with the youth and younger people is very important to Ore and SparkIL. Ore wants young people who lend money to businesses through SparkIL to feel a long-term connection with that business and to foster the relationship between the youth and Israeli culture.
“You learn about the people, and you learn about their stories,” Ore said. “What’s unique and exciting about Spark is that you can learn about different people from different places in Israel and different parts of society and choose who you want to support. And that’s why it’s important for us to introduce Spark to schools, youth groups and colleges because our mission is to connect the next generation of young Jews to Israel in a new, exciting and personal way.”
When Kaufman decided to bring SparkIL to JDS, she wanted the students to be able to have this connection with small businesses in Israel, and following SparkIL and Ore’s vision, she also loved that students were able to become a part of these Israeli businesses and help them grow.
“We are talking about businesses on the periphery of Israel,” Kaufman said. … A small bakery, a woman making chocolate, an agricultural guy, I love the connection you get with these small businesses when you donate to them, and even though we live in America, I love how we can become a part of their businesses and their growth.”
