ISRAEL DIGEST

Specially compiled by The Jerusalem Post

—$1 EQUALS 2.9940 NIS (shekels) • Close Price 6113194—

Trade Gap Grows Wider

Picture Perfect

Farmington Hills woman says she's found a way to work
motherhood and a fulfilling job into her life.

STEVE STEIN STAFF WRITER

op

Excluding diamonds, the
trade deficit with the United
States grew $290 million be-
cause of the importing of two
civilian aircraft. With the in-
clusion of diamonds, Israel reg-
istered a trade surplus of $170
million with the United States.

Boeing Promises Help

Boeing President Phil Condit promised to direct a contract to
has promised that the giant IAI for hundreds of millions of
American airplane manufac- dollars to convert passenger
turer will help Israel Aircraft planes into cargo carriers.
Industries (IAI) become a re-
The Transport Ministry also
gional center for airplane main- said Mr. Condit reacted favor-
tenance, the Israel Transport ably to Mr. Kessar's request
Ministry announced.
that IAI be involved in the mas-
The announcement followed sive replacement of engine pins
a meeting between Mr. Condit which Boeing ordered follow-
and Israel Transport Minister ing the crash of an El Al cargo
Yisrael Kessar in the United jet in Amsterdam last year.
States. Mr. Condit also

L

ynn Breuer faced a dilem-
ma. She was a career
woman and a new mother.
Both roles were tugging at
her heartstrings. What should
she do?
A sales trainer for the SmithK-
line Beecham pharmaceutical
company in Ann Arbor, Ms.
Breuer's duties included training
the firm's 100 or so reps in Michi-
gan. She traveled extensively,
mostly to the company head-
quarters in Philadelphia.
'Professionally, I had it all," she
said. "I had a good job which paid
well. I had received several pro-
motions since I began working for
the company in 1988. I never
dreamed that I'd ever resign."
But Ms. Breuer did just that
in April of this year. She was off
for four months following the
birth of her son Josh on Aug. 14,
1993, then she worked part-time
until she made her decision.
"Our family (husband Gary, a
CPA, and Josh) lives in Farm-
ington Hills. With the commute
to Ann Arbor, I was gone from
7:30 in the morning to 5:30 in the
afternoon three days a week
when I was working part-time,"
Ms. Breuer said.
"I was going to try part-time
for a year, then my boss and I
would evaluate it. I went on only
one trip while I was part-time,
but I knew that couldn't last for-
ever. I really thought I'd return
to full-time at some point."
With Josh now a part of her
life, Ms. Breuer discovered, "I
wasn't getting the same rush
from work. I found myself wor-
ried about things like babysitting
problems and I missed being with
Josh."
Ms. Breuer doesn't have to
deal with those emotions any
more. She's with her son as often
as she likes and she's working as
a consultant for Creative Memo-
ries. Ms. Breuer conducts two-
hour workshops at her home and

The trade gap in Israel grew
26.8 percent in the first half of
the year to $4.37 billion com-
pared with the same period last
year, the Central Bureau of
Statistics reported. Exports
went up 8.1 percent and im-
ports increased 15.6 percent.

Elbit Makes Sound Investment

Lynn Breuer displays some creative touches for photo albums.

other locations on putting to-
gether family photo albums that
are safe for the pictures, color-
ful and creative.
Even though she's affiliated
with Creative Memories, a Min-
nesota firm founded in 1987, it's
her own business.
She can work as little or as
much as she likes, and she's try-
ing to spend no more than 10
hours a week away from home.
In addition to conducting work-
shops, Ms. Breuer sells Creative
Memories merchandise pur-
chased from the company.
"I've always loved putting to-
gether albums, but they used to
frustrate me because I thought
they often looked awful," she said.
"And the photos would eventual-
ly turn brown because of the
chemicals in the album."
A 1980 graduate of Southfield-
Lathrup High School who earned
a bachelors degree in psychology
from Michigan State University

in 1984 and a masters in social
work from the University of
Michigan in 1985, Ms. Breuer
has been with Creative Memo-
ries since last October.
Thanks to networking and
word-of-mouth, her late summer
and fall schedule is a busy one.
In addition to private groups like
synagogue sisterhoods, she will
be conducting community work-
shops at places like the
Maple/Drake Building of the
Jewish Community Center and
the Applebaum Parenting Cen-
ter, both in West Bloomfield.
Last week, Ms. Breuer pre-
sented a workshop during a
"Kitchen Table" program for
about two dozen mothers and
their babies at the Parenting
Center.
Calmly talking over a sym-
phony of baby noises to an audi-
ence of about 20 women, Ms.
Breuer discussed how to safely

RECHARGE page 46

Elbit, the Israeli electronic and
imaging systems maker, an-
nounced it will acquire Cali-
fornia-based Diasonics
Ultrasound for more than $70
million in cash. The purchase
is expected to be finalized at Di-
asonic's annual shareholders
meeting in September, after
which it will become a wholly-
owned Elbit subsidiary.
"There is a world-wide trend
toward mergers between com-

panies in the ultra-sound field
and those dealing in medical
imaging in order to strengthen
their market position," Elbit
president Emmanuel Gil said.
"The Elbit-Diasonics deal fits
into this trend."
Diasonics registered a net
loss of $8 million last year on a
turnover of about $200 million.
The company's product line in-
cludes radiology and cardiolo-
gy systems.

Sweet Smell Of Success

The Israel Flower Board and
Agrexco Agricultural Export
Co. have celebrated going over
the one billion export mark in
a season for the first time.
Israel is the third largest ex-
porter of flowers in the world
after Holland and Colombia

and the leading exporter to Eu-
rope. Israel expects to export
1.055 billion flowers in the
1993-1994 season, which ends
in September. In the 1992-93
season, Israel exported 980 mil-
lion flowers.

El Al Profitable Again

El Al turned a profit of $9.9 mil- verge of privatization, has
lion last year despite stiff com- shown a profit.
petition and the continuing
El Al's revenues were $947.1
crisis in which most of the million. The number of pas-
world's airlines are losing mil- sengers carried increased by 10
lions of dollars, El Al Director- percent to 2,145,000, while the
General Rafi Harley reported. average annual passenger load
It was the eighth year in a was 72 percent. The company
row that the airline, which is also carried 185,000 tons of car-
still in receivership and on the go.

C•J

-1

45

