Dear Friends,

Many people talk about the "Matzav", the situation in Israel, and the bad economic situation without really understanding what it means to us actually living here in Israel. Let me try to explain it simply.

We live in a Dollar Linked economy. This means that all major expenses are charged according to the exchange rate for the Shekel against the U.S. Dollar.

I owned a very busy flower and houseplant shop in a good part of Jerusalem, right near to the Presidents official residence. For over 5 years it was hard work, but I managed to establish a good business, with a good name, and my turnover every month was approximately 80,000 shekels. My rent was $1600 per month, linked to the dollar of course.

At the start of the last wave of terror about 18 months ago the Dollar exchange rate was about 4 shekels to the dollar so my rent paid every month was 6400.00 shekels, which was only 8% of my turnover. However during the last 18 months the reign of terror has caused business to dramatically drop here in Jerusalem by over 60%, and at the same time as the economy is in tatters and things are just getting worse the dollar exchange rate has leapt to almost 5 shekels to the dollar. For me this meant that my sales every month dropped to about 35000 shekels a month and my rent rose to 8000 shekels a month--almost 25% of sales and that is without city taxes, wages, electricity etc.

I have closed my lovely shop and now am working from a storage room to save rent and somehow survive. I am working by phone orders and by e-mail and can supply the same quality of service that I had before when I worked from my shop. Thankfully I have had some business from The States from people ordering by credit card and sending flowers, fruit baskets, wine and gifts to their friends and family to show them that they are thinking of them in such difficult times. I have also had people asking me to send flowers to soldiers and people injured in different terror attacks.

Please help my business to survive! If you want to order flowers to be sent anywhere in Israel I can be reached until midnight Israel time at 972 53 722470 or by e-mail simikov@zahav.net.il. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Richard Kovler