Camp B'nai Brith

"On behalf of myself, the Board of Directors and staff, I would like to take this opportunity to thank-you for your generous donation of T-shirts."

Crazy Richard Store staff's in '93

Certificate from the Ministry of Tourisim

Thanks from the IDF

This is a Merit Certificate from Israel Army Unit called "Nahshon"

Hello from American Soldier in Iraq

Thanks from the Brithish Crew

Memories from 1996

The Famous Crazy Richard shop window

The picture was taken in 1996 at the door standing : Andy, Talia & Anat.

A letter from Florian Bertgets

Dear Andrew

Thanks a lot for your sending of the Israeli
Para Jump wings. I was very proud to be one of the small number
of german soldiers who got the Israeli wings. Every time other
soldiers (germans,french,americans) see the "strange" wings I
wear on my uniform they are very impressed to hear about our
trip to Israel.
When I came back to my unit, the 5th company of the
Paratrooper battalion 262, we had to do many maneuvers in
Germany itself.So please excuse my late answer.

Nevertheless I want to thank you and if I ever will return to
Tel-Aviv - and be sure, I will! - I will visit again Crazy
Richard!!!

Operation Desert Storm

Let it be known that Israel Military Products
Served with distinction to achieve freedom from Tyranny
in support of operation Desert Storm

Late Night at Crazy Richard

Andy's top 10 Lines of Summer 1994

10. "Okay Lets work backwards.."
9. "Where's my tik?!!?"
8. "Anat!!!Anat!!!Anat!!!"
7. "Mitch!??!"
6. "This is a star of David Bullet! it took me 1 2 3 year to perfet..."
5. "If you behave nicely, you can have one of our new Toronto Raptors shirts - in hebrew!"
4. "Wait, you're from Montreal, you're not getting away so quickly..."
3. "This Printer; He gives me shit!"
2. "This is a highly secret reconninsainnce unit, very special in the Israeli Army."
1. "...give me my glasses; give me my keys - get me outta here!!!"

From your addoring staff, We love you Andy!
David, Anat, Tammar, Mitch

Andy Hauerstock, Immigrant Success Story, Dies In Israel

A n d y H a u e r s t o c k

Jerusalem----October 8......The phone rang as I was eating lunch with one of my children. It was a good friend from Netanya, Bat Sheva Hauerstock, who operates one of Israel's most popular Internet Web stores. "Bat Sheva, let me call you back in a short while," I told her, thinking it was another telephone call for Internet marketing consultation.

"Joel, Andy died last night." I was stunned. And with good reason.

I had first met Andy Hauerstock in 1982, while on a business trip to Israel. This tall, thin, long black haired Canadian owned a t-shirt and army navy surplus gift store in Kikar Atarim, in Tel Aviv. His was the first inspirational image I ever had of a North American immigrant who was successfully making it in Israel. Andy was a fighter. And he sold to the world IDF fighting souvenirs and gifts. For the last ten years Andy had been fighting cancer. Each and every time his wife would call me I would get a fright, thinking the worst. But Andy never dies. He fights and wins. All the same I finally had no fright answering this one phone call. And this one phone call was the very one I had dreaded for years.

Andy or Andrew Hauerstock was born in Budapest in 1946. His parents escaped the Communist revolution and arrived in Montreal, Canada in 1956. He attended McGill university earning a number of degrees including a MBA in mathematics, physics and economics.

He made aliya to Israel in 1978. As a walking encyclopedia, he arrived with over 5,000 books with subjects related to Jewish and army history. At first he worked as an aviation consultant flying off to build airports in Peru and Thailand. He then worked for some time as a salesperson with Arkia, until they cut several of their routes. He served in the Israel Defense Forces as an artillery and anti-aircraft sergeant.

Andy opened his first store in Israel in 1979. As one who spoke fluent French, English, Hungarian, Yiddish, Hebrew and German, his prospects looked good as he opened a second store in Tel Aviv's prestigious Dizengoff Center.

Every time I was in the area of Dizengoff Center we would share a meal and a few cups of coffee. Andy always made time for his friends. He never failed to greet me in the most caring, charming of ways. Always asking with sincere interest about my family or work. He always admired my contact with the IDF, first with the combat engineers and then with the IDF Spokesperson's Office. Before leaving his store he would always give me an IDF army pin, an "I Love Israel" support t-shirt or a baseball hat. I would return the favor by buying him a Casio watch from the States where he would be able to store dozens of telephone numbers.

Among those telephone numbers would be friends and relatives but he also entered the names of many international diplomatic, military and media personnel in that watch. Andy's Israel army navy stores became Israel landmarks. He supplied the IDF, the US Armed Forces and became the source of local treats during the first Gulf War for CNN and several other news networks which covered the war. His store is decorated with dozens of thank you letters including one from Israel's Chief of Staff. Andy may have done more for Israel's PR than any Ministry in this tiny, Jewish democratic nation.

It was a joy to witness Andy greet each and every person who walked into his stores. He would always ask or guess where they came from, made whatever warm comment that would place them at ease. He treated his employees no different. Andy defined all that was good, understanding and giving in a human being. He was the definition of a friend and would never have money come between us.

On the home front, Andy created a baseball league in Israel, and sponsored his own team named after his two stores - Crazy Richards. The US Ambassador and several other celebrities became regulars coming to the games to relax and getaway from the everyday stress.

When Dizengoff Center became the target of Islamic suicide bombers he was only feet away when they detonated their lethal bombs. Many storekeepers picked up and left, relocating to areas which were less high profile. But Andy refused to give ground to those "idiots."

But the subsequent and dramatic drop in tourism eventually took its financial impact on Israel and her tourist hot spots.
Dizengoff Center, once the jewel of Tel Aviv quickly became a ghost town with dozens of empty stores, their lights now turned off. Andy was forced to sell his Israel Army and Navy t-shirt souvenir gift store in Kikar Atarim.

In 1996, I tried to convince Andy to put all that he had onto the Internet and sell his goods over the Web. After about two years, Andy established what was to become one of the first commercial Internet marketing and SEO (search engine optimization) success stories. Whatever knowledge I had about Internet marketing was turned over to his wife Bat Sheva. Andy and I would spend hours across the street at an Internet cafe, discussing new areas for him to branch off into.

Within a year, one would see stores come and go at Dizengoff Center, but Crazy Richards held fast. Hundreds of pro-Israel t-shirts, hats, videos, army uniforms, US and Israel flag pins, maps, and bumper stickers saying: "Support the IDF," and "US and Israel Together Against Terrorism" would fill the many white envelopes with destinations to New York, Miami, Chicago, Ohio, California, Toronto, Italy, France, Spain, Turkey and the UK.

Andy would spend hours proudly talking about his son Jonathan and his adventures in the IDF's Spokesperson's Office. Jonathan was always positioned where the hazardous action was taking place and performing a shining job for the IDF. Andy spent days agonizing over whether to send him off to university in Canada, the States or to a nearby college.

His daughter Anushka could be seen helping out at the store or visiting her father on one of his many stays at the hospital. Aways there for her father who was sweating literally to make and keep a living. Her constant kind and easy smile was hard to miss for she came from the same quality merchandise that her dad had come from.

Andy was always the eternal optimist. But on one visit to Israel's Tel Hashomer hospital where Andy was again fighting for his life he started to express doubt. "Joel, you know I really hate making the train ride between Netanya and Tel Aviv he remarked." I looked and smiled at him. As if we were now in the same combat unit and said: "Andy, think of the alternative." I was alluding to death. Something that Andy would wrestle with on a daily basis. His body suffered, twisted and turned as he went from steroids to other experimental drugs to stay alive. He would use the Internet to search for the latest drugs and treatment. He never gave up. He never stopped talking about his love for his wife and two children.

Andy's body was ravaged by cancer and cancer treatment drugs, drugs which destroyed his fragile immune system. Yet, Andy went to work each and every day exposing himself as he greeted tourists from every country in the world in his store. This working class hero refused to become a recluse. Rather he was determined to make a living for his family and get the word out that Israel was and is a beautiful, fun and romantic place to visit.

Tomorrow we will bury Andy in Netanya. But the warm smile and the words: "how ya doin buddy" will never leave many of the thousands who had the opportunity and pleasure to have walked into his store, into his world called Israel.

Andy Hauerstock is survived by his wife Bat Sheva, his son Jonathan and daughter Anushka.

Below is a letter that Andy wrote just a few weeks ago to his global customers as the second Lebanon war drew to a close. You can feel Andy's sincerity and spirit of Zionism with each and every word.

"Dear Valued Customer, Israel Military products would like to extend its infinite appreciation and gratification for your support for Israel and the Israeli population over the past month. Although it was a difficult time for many of us here and stressful, we were very heart-warmed and grateful for the number of emails, letters, faxes, prayers, etc. expressing support and solidarity for us from those of you around the world.

For us, there is nothing more powerful than knowing that beyond our immediate surroundings there are people who care for us and hope for our well being. As many you know already, the UN called for a cease-fire between Israel and Hizbollah on August 14th. , thus ending a nearly 40 day conflict. Throughout the conflict Israel experienced a great deal of criticism from the rest of the world, condemning the army for conducting missions which endangered the lives of Lebanese civilians. Of course, for those of us here, we know these are preposterous claims. There was nothing more reassuring for us to receive a daily influx of positive feedback from our customers.

At the moment, we hope for a durable and fair resolution to the problem with Hizbollah that will place the Israeli population out of harm’s way. In addition, we would like to inform our customers that we know personally that Israeli soldiers have expressed their utmost appreciation for the overwhelming support they have received in terms of prayers and concerns for their well-being. World-wide support contributed greatly to boosting their morale through the complicated and emotional times over the past month.

For us here at Israel Military Products we understand the value and importance of every individual that contributes to the military effort and we made sure to tell the Israeli soldiers, who are also our customers, of all the support we have been receiving from our customers. Their reaction was something beyond words. Once again, we would like to thank our customers the world over for your continued support for those us here in Israel and we hope to continue to help you with you shopping needs in the near future."

By Joel Leyden

My Meaningful Learning Experience

“Asya- always try to put yourself in the customer’s position- and form their work backwards” was one of the many words of advice I received from my former boss and good friend Andrew (Andy) Hauerstock. “An Important Lesson I Learned in School” was neither one lesson, nor did it take place in a school building: instead, it was a period of time while working with Andy during the two years that I studied at Tel Aviv University. Upon recently finishing my job at Andy’s retail store, it began to dawn on me the magnitude and impact he had on my life - on several levels. Prior to being his employee, I had known Andy for a few years through my boyfriend; because of his friendship with my boyfriend I never felt comfortable with the idea of working for him as a sales manager in his store. Further, I always believed that I was too naïve to be a salesperson. However, Andy influenced and encouraged me both on professional and on personal level. Indeed, as I left Israel to study in San Francisco, he was one of the people that it was most hard for me to leave.

Andy owns a retail business in Israel and for a long time we have been debating should I work there or not. The business is directed mostly towards tourists and consists of a store and a web site that sell Israeli-oriented t-shirts and memorabilia. Andy’s store has been an icon for generations of tourists, since its opening in the late seventies. The business had gone through many changes, adapting to political and economical situation in Israel, yet retaining its patriotic core. When I started working there I had only a vague idea of what I was really getting into.

While working with Andy in his store, I encountered and serviced a variety of people that I could never imagine I would meet: people from different religions and cultures, tough customers as well as “too nice” ones. With Andy’s “hands-on” guidance I learned the basics of business not only through a loss and profit tables, but also by knowing how to approach each person in the best way. Andy taught me that not only price matters, but more importantly - attitude. Some customers like to be asked about themselves, others like to hear your own personal story, while some simply prefer to be left alone. Reading people and their characters is one of the most important features that a salesperson must posses and implement. Watching and learning from Andy- as to how he addressed and read customers, I began to gain the confidence to employ such sale tactics. Even more importantly, over time, I created my own style and found my own selling methods that resulted in an unexpected success. Andy had taught me the essence of sales and work better then any business school.

On a personal level Andy essentially became both a role model and symbol of hope as I saw him battling a fatal and rare form of cancer- while at the same time remaining a family man and dedicated business owner. Having lost my own mother to cancer a few years ago, I was not sure if I could deal with watching someone else for whom I deeply cared about also fall victim. But actually Andy’s approach towards his disease was unique- he refused at any cost to let the cancer beat him. When I met Andy, he was already more than 5 years with the disease and explained to me how he had done research on the internet, had gotten involved with support and medical communities and had essentially created his own roadmap for various experimental and cutting edge cures. Instead of letting other people- doctors included, to decide his own fate, Andy took his fate into his own hands. By all medical statistics, he has lived many years beyond what anyone would have predicted and continues to remain vibrant and healthy. Seeing such hope and determination has taught me an important lesson for life: to be less fatalist and pessimistic, never to give up and to enjoy life as much as you can.

by Gelfand Asya