From time immemorial, economic crises suffered by the State of Israel have mainly shaken small business owners, who constitute a large share of the economy. But today, in the reality of the "Iron Swords" war, business owners who try to keep their heads above water are far from their businesses - in uniform when the phone is not available and attention is not present.
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Now the reservists are returning, for a limited period of time, to the businesses they left behind on the home front and with a determination to lift them up again. In a conversation with Israel Hayom, reservists talk about the economic difficulties that have been added and the challenging rehabilitation process, in light of the cloud of war hovering over them.
Business Name: "From Bali" / "Cafe73" Business owners: Yahav Ilan (29) and Ben Sasson (29) Address: "Cafe73", Herzl 73 Ramat Gan; "From Bali", Herzl 73 Ramat Gan and Rostild 63 Rishon LeZion
Yahav Ilan and Ben Sasson, owners of Cafe 73, photo: Yehoshua Yosef
"On the one hand, our businesses have suffered a severe economic blow. On the other hand, we business owners have had experiences in the reserves, from which we still need to recover." says Yahav Ilan, a reservist in Battalion 7109 and one of the partners of Cafe 73 and the Malabi chain Mabali. Childhood friends Yahav Ilan and Ben Sasson grew up together in Ramat Gan and later became partners. In normal times, their businesses operate on the street, through the WOLT app or happy hour services for offices – but the reality has changed. "The street is not the same street, and the routine is not the same," Ilan shares. "We opened the café thanks to our strong manager."
Their Malabi network has not yet reopened, as "the operation of the Malabi has been challenging to operate remotely". But Ilan does not lose hope and does not give up. According to him, the current crisis is for the purpose of immigration only. "From every crisis there is growth, and we try to do that in a positive way for the future growth of our businesses."
Business Name: "Tomorrow War" Business owner: Shaharia Loft (26) Address: Eshkolot
Shaharia Loft, owner of a combat fitness training business, photo: Liron Moldovan
The 26-year-old Shacharya Loft's combat-fitness business is called "War Tomorrow," and on days like these, it's hard to ignore the irony. "'Tomorrow War' was the name of the unit I served in as a regular in Magellan," he says, "When I opened the business I had a very difficult first six months. I only ran on three trainees until everything started working. And then the war brought me back to where I started."
Since October 7, Loft has been dealing with both loss of income and severe damage to social media. "In the past, I reached high exposure on TikTok, which significantly increased my business, but since I started uploading pro-Israel videos, TikTok drastically lowered my exposure and my business really suffered financially," he says.
Now, the young coach is returning to his training routine, rebuilding himself and hoping that all plans and dreams will come true in the future.
Business Name: "Astro" – Cafe, Bar and Design Events Business owner: Noam Abergil Address: Employees all over the country (but most events in Tel Aviv)
Noam Abergel, owner of Astro, photo: Yehoshua Yosef
"I jumped into the reserves, the operational manager of the business also, I was injured in Nova, the logistics supervisor was not functioning and the business went down in volume," says Noam Abergel, deputy company commander in the reserves of the Golani cruiser and owner of "Astro" - a business that operates coffee and bar events. Because who does events in wartime?" We tried to do marketing through repeat customer networks, but we don't do big events today and that was most of our business," he explains. "There are days when I come back from the army and there's no desire, or it takes a moment before you go back to being a civilian. Being in the reserves or being in action – that's a different level of attention."
Despite the difficulties, Abergel believes that getting back to normal is actually part of what we need to do to get back to normal life: "I think that's part of the deal of winning – to keep living and trying to hold events and celebrate."
Business Name: "Good Word" Business owner: Dov Lieberman (44) Address: Sitting in Ramat Gan (but the work is virtual)
Dov Lieberman, owner of the business "Good Word", photo: courtesy of the subject
"I want to return to a functioning business and not rebuild it," declares Dov Lieberman, a reservist in the Samaria Regional Defense Unit in Rachelim and owner of the business Mila Tova (Good Word). On October 7, Lieberman was called up to reserve duty and all projects in Abda were shut down. "Some of the projects I lost and some are on hold," Lieberman adds.
"My business employs associate editors, graphic designers and stands, I'm the only one in reserve and we're looking forward to receiving new orders." Lieberman shares that apart from the economic damage that came as a result of his absence from the business, the main difficulty is to continue the business and maintain its relevance. Despite the many difficulties, Lieberman wishes not to fall in the wind and even continues to work on some of the projects while in the reserves.
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