Generating commerce in the Five Towns

Jewish Business Network kicks off in Hewlett

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Business networking is booming in the Five Towns, and the Chabad of Hewlett hosted the first meeting of the Jewish Business Network of Hewlett on Jan. 18 — eight days after the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, a Manhattan-based organization, launched a Five Towns chapter of its Small Business Alliance in Lawrence.

Duvi Honig, founder and chief executive officer of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, said that networking and information are keys to success in the contemporary business world. “The most efficient way to make contacts and connections, and grow your client base, and create a deal, or find a job, is through networking,” he said. “Many times, the connections or information you gain are used [a few] years later, and open big doors and accounts for you.”

More than 40 Five Towns residents attended the meeting in Hewlett, and indulged in a kosher buffet and a selection of beer and wine while mingling and networking. “We’re trying to get people who are involved in the community and involved in different businesses to get together and try to help each other,” said Rabbi Nochem Tenenboim, the spiritual leader of the Hewlett Chabad.

Some of the attendees had sat together in Tenenboim’s sermons without ever thinking to ask one another what they did. “There may be two people who come to the temple sitting next to each other, but with no idea that they could benefit one another,” Tenenboim said. “And actually we’ve had such stories . . . A member was looking all over for a mortgage broker, and there was one sitting right next to him.”

Tenenboim said he was a bit concerned that the meeting may have sounded too general to draw many people, but his worries proved to be unfounded as the room filled with local businesspeople. He also said that the meeting wasn’t only for Hewlett businesses, but rather was for anyone who lives in Hewlett who was looking to network and learn.

The idea was generated at one of the Chabad’s Tefilin Club meetings, at which men come together for prayer and discussion. Mitchell Nakhmanovich, a member and a real estate agent, said that the gathering was something they had been trying to organize for a while.

“I think every community should do something like this,” he said. “It’s not a question of why now, more just getting everyone ready to do it. I know it drives traffic, it’ll drive capital, it will help the rabbi do what he does best and help the community.”

Tenenboim acted as a networking facilitator, helping to ensure that attendees introduced themselves all around before a few gave brief presentations. Pinella Kogan Tajcher, a real estate agent; Marina Lerner, an accountant; and Russell Morgan, an attorney, spoke about local real estate prices and the effects of the overhauled federal tax plan.

While it was impossible for her to adequately explain the entire plan in her allotted time, Lerner gave an overview, and joked about her and her son’s unfortunate timing in becoming accountants.

“The whole system is entirely new — this is the first time in 30 years,” she said. “Last time it happened, I started a business and was doing the ’85 tax returns under the old law in ’86 when the new law just started. Now my younger son Nathan . . . he’s joining the firm this year when we have the same problem.”

Other speakers addressed the crowd, but most attendees said the opportunity to network was their primary motivation. Devin Itzkowitz, 19, a Nassau Community College student studying marketing, said he had heard about the event from his mother and was looking for a learning experience. “I’m open-minded about this,” he said, referring to career opportunities. “[I] just want to get a feel for everything and decide from there.”

As of now there are no plans for another meeting, Tenenboim said, but he added that he hoped there would be more, and that future meetings would focus on specific issues such as taxes, real estate and investments. “Our idea,” he said, “is really to teach people that when you’re looking for a professional or a business investor or anything in life, whatever it is, first look around you, and you’ll benefit.”