Thou Shalt innovate: How Israeli ingenuity Repairs the World by Avi Jorisch; © 2018; Gefen Publishing; ISBN 9789652-299345; 176 pages with 90 additional pages of acknowledgments, notes, bibliography, and index.
By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – Discover a problem; figure out how to fix it; create a company to market your solution; and in the process, carry out the mandate of tikkun olam – repair of the world.
This is the pattern typifying 15 Israeli inventions which author Avi Jorisch, an entrepreneur who has worked for the U.S. Departments of Treasury and Defense, chronicles in this upbeat book which celebrates not only Jewish inventors in Israel, but also Arab ones as well.
The inventions highlighted in this easy-to-read book are:
1. The Ambucycle — Part ambulance,part motorcycle, this invention was designed to enable quicker responses to medical emergencies wherever they may occur.
2. Netafim – Perforated plastic tubing that delivers water to the base of the plant, increasing yields, while reducing water usage.
3. Iron Dome– Able to shoot down short-range rockets fired from across borders, this portable system makes safer Israeli areas close to Gaza and to Lebanon.
4. Grain Cocoon – Tons of grain are wrapped up in air-tight plastic, killing any bugs that might have invaded the storage facility, while keeping the grain fresh.
5. Solar Heating – Today solar heating is commonplace, but Israelis developed the technology to make practical using the suns rays to heat water.
6. ReWalk – An exoskeleton that permits paraplegics to walk again.
7. Brain targeting – Devices to permit neurosurgeons to target a precise area of the brain for deep stimulation.
8. Computer Firewalls – Technology for keeping the bad guys from taking over your computer.
9. Micro Camera – A camera so small it can be swallowed in a pill, and take medical-quality photographs through the alimentary canal.
10. Robotic spine surgery – A device to precisely guide the surgeon’s hand to the area of the spine it needs to be, and away from the area it should avoid.
11. Pressure bandages – A bar affixed to a bandage, enabling users to wrap a wound, then twist the bar to apply pressure.
12. Interferon – A pharmaceutical that triggers the body’s immune system, partially developed with the use of foreskins.
13. Medical marijuana – Isolating and synthesizing the properties of marijuana that help in the treatment of disease.
14. Bird Migration Mapping – A predictive system for avoiding midair collisions between aircraft and migrating birds.
15. Seed revival –- Growing plants from the archaeologically recovered seeds of species believed long extinct.
Before and after these 15 case studies, Jorisch discusses religious ethics that command us to aid our fellow humans.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com