Isaiah 5:7 “for the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the House of Israel”.
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Glimpses of Israel
Tel Aviv
Memorial, Tel Aviv beachfront
2 Doubts Doleful Dowry • 5 The Mission of Spies • 10 ‘When we see Him…’ 12 Lending a hand to those in need • 14 Go the distance with Israel’s revolutionary MUV-e scooter Published by David House Fellowship Inc.
The Vineyard June 2013
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Dowry
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MY DEAR FRIENDS, one has only to read the Biblical narrative of events and experiences in the great Sinai peninsula and, if addition be necessary, follow with gripping interest the attempt to retrace the paths trodden by Moses of old, as recounted in Louis Golding’s magnificent book entitled In the Steps of Moses, to realize that there are better environments than the Wilderness in which to seek the solace of the “green pastures,” or the fruit and verdure of the trees “planted by the streams of water.” Israel had been delivered from the harsh hands of Pharaoh and was being conveyed, under Divine Escort, to the Land of Canaan.
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God’s Power had been the revelation upon Egypt; God’s Light had been the revelation upon Sinai; and God’s love had been the second Sinaitic revelation through the Divinely-ordained ordinances of the Tabernacle. Power, Light, and Love. This was the triune base upon which God invited His people to plant their feet in Faith’s firm footing.
Between the six dietary delicacies and pungencies of Egypt (Numbers 11:5) and the seven sun-kissed provisions of the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 8:8) lay the meagreness and rigors of the Wilderness.
Yet that generation failed through faithlessness! Is this not the greatest wonder of all? Would not the waters of the Red Sea re-part and stand, abashed, before such unbelief? Would not the plagues of Egypt renounce the title before so paralyzing a plague as doubt?
Yet, in the beneficent willingness of God, for Israel the Wilderness was to be but a brief corridor from burden to bounty.
“Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win,” cries Shakespeare.
Nevertheless, it was to be a corridor packed with purpose — with Divine purpose! It was to be a test-tube for the trial of Israel’s faith. How well geared for Faith’s triumph was that generation that had just left Egypt! Garrisoned by all the indisputable evidences of Divine Power which their every faculty had experienced when God shook the Land of Pharaoh to its very foundations, and with assurance made doubly sure by the devastating deliverance at Yam Suph (Red Sea) surely doubt could find no fateful foothold in that new nation.
Dowry Doubts Doleful
This time, as I believe, not so much a Revelation of the Power of God as a Revelation of the Person of God. I am so convinced that Israel errs if he limits the Great Revelation of Mount Sinai merely to the giving of the Torah (Law). The Great Revelation of Sinai par excellence is the Great Revelation of the Holy One, Himself, blessed be He!
Here indeed was a Revelation of the Power of God and now Israel is being led, under Divine Escort, to Mount Sinai for yet another Revelation.
Both the attitude and the outcome of that traitor, Doubt, are graphically illustrated by that fourth book of Moses known in English as Numbers, and in Hebrew by the appropriate title Bemidbar which means “in the wilderness.” If I were asked to depict the three major divisions of the Book of Numbers in diagram form, I think I would draw an oblique stroke, then a circle, then a horizontal line. I would attach to the oblique stroke the word ANTICIPATION, for surely the record up to the tenth chapter would show Israel’s rising anticipation of possessing his promised possessions! In this section of Scripture, the warriors are numbered (chapter 1); the camp organized (chapter 2); the Levites regulated (chapter 3, 4); the people ceremonially purified (chapter 5; 6:1-21); their blessing
prescribed (chapter 6:22-27). Then the Altar was dedicated (chapter 7); the Levites consecrated (chapter 8); Pesach Sheni (2nd Passover) celebrated (chapter 9:1-14); and, as a final and colorful anticipation, laws were given regarding the mysterious cloud, the visible evidence of the Divine Escort (chapter 9:15-23); and the memorial silver trumpets, reminder of God Himself and His quick availability in times of peril (chapter 10:1-10). Such were the preparations in anticipation of the departure from Sinai to the land of the seven sun-kissed provisions — “the land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey.” (Deuteronomy 8:8) Eleven brief days (Deuteronomy 1:2) and the Divine pledges would be fulfilled; eleven brief days and the Wilderness would be no more! But did I not say that this Wilderness was to be a test tube for the Divine trial of that generation’s faith? My friends, sorrowfully, I must admit that we did not follow the oblique stroke upwards to an eleven day termination in the Promised Land. Alas, on the contrary, we reach the symbolic circle of the long second section. A circle has no end. So far as destination is concerned it is aimless. And that is the designation I am constrained to attach to this symbol of the second section — AIMLESSNESS. Merciful heaven! What a tragedy! Not eleven days in the Wilderness, but FORTY YEARS! Forty years! How did this amazing failure happen? Well, if you’ll read from the eleventh verse of chapter 10 right through chapter 19 I feel sure you will uncover the sorry secret. The sad sequence, I think, could be set out something like this — Movement; Murmuring; Mistrust; Mutiny; Meandering. True, that generation moved from Sinai towards the Land of Promise (chapter 10:11-36); but they began to murmur, and to mistrust God, the very God Whose Power, Person and Purpose
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they had so recently and so intimately known! This unhappy state broke out into active mutiny (chapter 11 - chapter 14) and resulted in 37 and a one half years of aimless meandering in that same weary Wilderness. Yet this wasteful period was not devoid of events, even if it saw a victory of Israel’s enemies (chapter 14:39-45), for it was harboring a precious seed implanted in the bosom of two men; the precious seed was FAITH and the two men were Caleb and Joshua and that was sufficient to ensure the precious purposes of God! A little doubt can be extremely damaging; a little faith exceedingly powerful. It was Hayyim Hazaz (1897 - 1973), the Israeli novelist, who wrote: That’s also a Jewish characteristic, very, very Jewish: to believe with absolute faith, with glowing faith, with all their hearts and souls, and all the same just very slightly not believe, the tiniest little bit, and that tiny little bit is the decisive thing. (“The Sermon,” Abanim Rothot, 1946) I am unable to say whether the doubt that dogged that amazing generation was “the tiniest little bit” or whether it was a considerably large bit. Whatever its magnitude or otherwise it certainly was “the decisive thing” for their doubt brought Disqualification and Death!
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Not one of the doubters of that generation found the Promised Land, but all died in the Wilderness! I find this is a fact realized by far too few. In the Book of Numbers we are dealing with two distinct generations of people. The first generation were those who came out of Egypt and should have reached Canaan in eleven days from Sinai. Their unjustified doubt of God disqualified their entry and doomed them to remain in
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the wilderness during which period of some forty years the new generation grew up. It was the new generation, not the old, that entered the Promised Land. (Numbers 14) It is such a relief to turn, at chapter 20, to the horizontal line denoting the third section, ADVANCE, yet in these chapters we have many sad reminders of our human frailties. The sin of Moses and Aaron is one such, for even to Moses and to Aaron God declared: “Because ye believed not in Me, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” (Numbers 20:12) My friends, loss is the legacy of unbelief; let us be careful not to doubt God and the One Whom He sent to redeem us and lead us into the Promised Land. Dr Lawrence Duff-Forbes (1900-1964) Founding Director of David House Fellowship Inc. This article is an extract from the very popular radio series, “Treasures From Tenach”, which are also transcribed. Both audio (click MP3 tab, then “108DoubtsDolefulDowry.mp3”, and transcriptions are available for free download at www.thevineyard.org.au .
My dear friends, it has been my good fortune to have travelled extensively in many countries of the world and naturally this has brought me into numerous large and important cities such as New York, London, Calcutta, Athens, Edinburgh, Rome, Paris, Jerusalem ... Invariably, it has been my pleasure to visit the great art galleries wherein hang the large and imposing portraits of the great men of history. I recall a visit to the Hotel de Ville in Brussels. There, adorning the walls of a great gallery, suspended side by side in impressive sequence, hung the immortal likenesses of Belgium’s notables, their illustrious faces having the appearance of scanning in retrospect the scenes and circumstances which had made them famous. Have you ever thought what a wonderful gallery of illustrious individuals our Jewish Holy Scriptures would provide? Suppose we had a hall of honour wherein hung genuine, authoritative portraits of the notables of the Bible. Adam, Eve, Seth, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon ... How we would gaze transfixed with interest into their faces. Just think of it — a Biblical Hall of Honour! My friends, do you know that there really exists just such a Hall of Honour? Yes, indeed, a Biblical Hall of Honour! However, it isn’t in a building; it is in a Book. Moreover, the portraits are not painted on canvas and framed in wood; they are painted in words and framed in faith. Indeed, it is faith that has made them famous. Now, you are curious to know whose portraits
appear! Very well. Shall we walk round the gallery? Why! The very first portrait is that of Abel. Let us read the inscription beneath the picture. Here it is: “In faith Abel offered to God a greater sacrifice than Cain ...” How remarkable, not the achievements of force but the attitude of faith secured for Abel the honoured position of being first in this Biblical cavalcade of celebrities. Whose portrait is this displayed alongside that of Abel? My friends, we are looking into a very wonderful face. It is that of Enoch, of whom it is written: “In faith Enoch was translated without experiencing death ...” What a stupendous experience! Just think of it. What power in faith to cheat death of its prey! Beneath Enoch’s portrait, inscribed by the hand of the Divine Spirit, are these words: “Now without faith it is not possible to please God ...” Well, that’s a lesson worth learning, isn’t it? Ah! Here are some august individuals more familiar to us! The patriarch Noah; then our father Abraham. Of course, we would expect to find his portrait here for our great teacher Moses declares of Abraham that Abraham believed in the Eternal and the Eternal accounted this faith shown by Abraham as righteousness. (See Rashi and Sforno on that particular theme. Genesis 15:6) The impressive likenesses of Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses follow in sublime sequence. Beneath Moses’ portrait are these words: “In faith he kept Pesach (Passover)
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and the daubing of blood ...” (See Exodus 12:22) Ah! This is interesting! Here follows the picture of a woman! I wonder who it could be among this galaxy of the great. Perhaps Deborah or Hannah. Come! Let us identify her. Is it possible? It seems incredible! But there is no mistaking the designation. It is clear and emphatic: “In faith Rahab did not perish with the disobedient, because she received the spies peaceably.” Will you grant me your gracious indulgence to enable me to employ — well — a rather indelicate word? Without the liberty of frankness it would be impossible either to measure the magnitude of this unexpected inclusion or to assess the circumstances giving it warrant. My friends, Rahab was a harlot! Here, included among these honourable ones is Rahab the harlot! A harlot in the Hall of Honour! How did she gain inclusion in such distinguished company and her memory thus honoured in a Scripture volume which has been rightly entitled a “Homily to the Hebrews”? Well, if we are to find out how the harlot got into the hall of honour we must first discover her as she originally was in the house of dishonour about 3,500 years ago. You will remember that in my last two messages I had left you standing with Moses’ successor Joshua in the plain of Shittim, east of Jordan. Joshua, now happily possessed of his Divine mandate, faces toward his first military objective, the city of Jericho, the most important Canaanite fortress commanding the chief approaches to Central Palestine. It had double walls. An inner wall about twelve
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feet thick, then a space of about twelve feet, then an outer wall about six feet thick and the two walls were intermittently connected by houses built on the top. In one such house dwelt Rahab the harlot, and her house was a house of shame. Archaeological discoveries at Jericho reveal traces of the most revolting heathen practices. In addition, the pagan shrines of Astarte had their retinues of sanctified prostitutes and the fortresscity abounded in women of the courtesan type. Rahab was of this unhallowed company. News of the approach of the Israelites had spread like wildfire and Rahab was well acquainted with their chronicles of conquest even so early as the parting of the Red Sea for the Exodus out of Egypt. It was to this city wherein resided this woman of unenviable reputation that General Yeshua (Joshua), unknown to the people (for such is the meaning of the Hebrew text of Joshua 2:1), dispatched two spies upon a preliminary reconnaissance. It was a very dangerous mission involving a stealthy journey of some eight miles. The setting sun was just splashing the surrounding limestone mountains with daring darts of splendour as the two spies passed through the gates of the city. Wisely, they avoided proceeding to any public hostelry but, disguising their true objective under the cloak of an unworthy purpose that would nevertheless win speedy sympathy and understanding in so degraded a city, they found their way to the house of Rahab the harlot as the gates of the fortress closed behind them.
But a light was beginning to dawn upon the darkened spiritual horizon of this heathen woman. Although safe behind the apparently impregnable walls of perhaps the strongest fortified city in Canaan, and in dire personal peril should she fail to deliver up her two — ah — “guests,” she nevertheless made a momentous decision. Ignoring immediate natural appearances apparently so favourable to herself, she decided to take her stand with the servants of the Living God, Whom she had now come to acknowledge.
Happy is the Jew or Gentile whose individual faith in the efficacy of Messiah’s blood atonement appears in the eyes of Heaven like the crimson cord of mutual pledge granting eternal immunity from Judgement and inclusion in the gallery of honour of Divine grace.
Accordingly, she misdirected the counter-spies and aided the escape of Joshua’s two scouts. For this she was promised immunity from destruction, provided she exhibited upon her house the same scarlet cord with which she had let the twain down over the fortress wall.
This article is an extract from the very popular radio series, “Treasures From Tenach”, which are also transcribed. Both audio (click MP3 tab, then “155MissionOfTheSpies.mp3”, and transcriptions are available for free download at www.thevineyard.org.au .
Dr Lawrence Duff-Forbes (1900-1964) Founding Director of David House Fellowship Inc.
The pledge was kept on both sides and Rahab and her household were saved and her moral faith won her fame where her immoral frailty had once earned her shame. She is not praised for her falsehood but for her faith. And not just faith as a quality, but rather faith in the Eternal God and Yeshua (Joshua), the One whom He sent upon the Divine mission rendered necessary by sin’s dark stain. My friends, we would commit a great folly if we did not see the rich symbolism behind this historic event. As I have already indicated Joshua is also named Yeshua, Jesus, and Rahab’s visible token of her inward faith was a scarlet cord. Scarlet is the colour of blood, and blood is the token of redemption. Just as surely as God sent Moses’ successor, Yeshua, to deal with the sins of Canaan, so surely did God send Moses’ greater Successor, Yeshua, to atone for the sins of Israel and all the world.
However, their entry into Jericho had not passed undetected, neither had their identity and intention been unsuspected, and counter-spies were soon set upon the spies and they were tracked down to Rahab’s domicile of degradation.
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glimpses of ISRAEL glimpses of ISRAEL glimpses of ISRAEL glimpses of ISRAEL
Background photo: Surviving the Holocaust, escaping home to Israel, a memorial Tel Aviv beachfront Inset top: the story retold Inset right: the memory lives Inset far right: Tel Aviv beachfront
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“And when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53:2) As the Chosen Nation, Israel is waiting for the Chosen One, the King who will rule over the nations. The prophets declare that the King will establish God’s Kingdom on earth, an everlasting reign where righteousness and justice will prosper. Israel is destined to be a Holy Nation, and will function as priests for the nations.
shall take an oath. He shall say, ‘Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength. To Him men shall come, and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against Him. In the LORD all the descendants of Israel shall be justified, and shall glory.” (Isaiah 45:22-25) And so, the people of Israel await the arrival of this great and glorious King.
As the King, He will champion Israel’s cause by bringing deliverance to Israel and by dispensing punishment on all those who have abused His people. Israel will be saved, and their enemies finally defeated.
But the prophets also speak of a time when Israel will not recognize the Chosen One, though they see him. Despite being the Chosen Nation, the children of Israel will be blind to the Chosen One, for a season.
As the Deliverer of Israel and Judge of the Nations, the victorious conquering King will be obvious to all nations. Every eye will see Him, and be moved by His powerful presence. None will mistake the King’s appearance.
But it is not the celebratory aspects, the joy of a long-awaited Redeemer, or the victory rewards of a conquering King that alludes the Chosen Nation.
“Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue
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It is not the King who they do not see, but the King within the man. A man, who as a young boy grew from a simple life, destined to be the King Messiah, the Hope of Israel. As a man he is seen by many, but only a few know His destiny. His majestic qualities are hidden from the eyes of Israel.
“And when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53:2) At some point in time, when the people of Israel see Him, they will not recognize Him as the Chosen One. The glory of this great King will not be obvious to those who were expecting Him. The people of Israel will be blind to His majestic beauty, and will not see their future King in Him. During this period of time, when they see Him, rather than seeing a King they will see a man who, like anyone else, is seemingly caught in the Oppressor’s grip. ”… there is no beauty that we should desire him.” He will not appear to be the long-awaited King, coming to deliver His people. However, Israel is not permanently blind to the beauty of the King. Moreover, Israel is not abandoned by the God of Israel. The blindness will be removed. The prophets declare that God will pour His Presence on the house of David, and on those who live in Jerusalem, and then “they will look …” (Zechariah 12:10)
With the help of their Heavenly Father, the Chosen Nation will undertake a closer inspection of the One whom they previously suspected of having no majestic-beauty. With a much deeper appreciation, the eyes of Israel will look unto Him “whom they have pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one who grieves for a firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10) The blindness removed, the Chosen People will mourn for their King. The prophets declare that “‘The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,’ says the LORD, ‘as for Me,’ says the LORD, ‘this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,’ says the LORD, ‘from this time and forevermore.’ (Isaiah 59:20-21) Mark Warren
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show the family.” Founded by an extraordinary person Yad Sarah was started in 1976 by Uri Lupolianski, a past mayor of Jerusalem, when he was a young teacher who’d moved to the country’s capital city from Haifa. Lupolianski noticed a strange phenomenon: Every winter, ambulances were coming to pick up children to take them to the hospital. After a day or so the children returned home. He asked a neighbor what was going on. A Yad Sarah “Life Story” volunteer works with an elderly client to make a book for her family.
A Yad Sarah ’angel’ teaching a pensioner how to use the Internet.
Lending a Hand to those in Need Founded to provide respirators to children in Jerusalem, the voluntary organization Yad Sarah has become the world’s largest lender of medical devices Unlike Charlie’s Angels, the fictional TV detectives, “Sarah’s angels” are a band of Israelis – 6,000 strong — who are part of a uniquely Jewish organization founded to do acts of kindness for Jews and non-Jews in Israel. Sarah’s angels volunteer for Yad Sarah, an Israeli NGO that has grown to be the world’s largest lender of goods free of charge, and Israel’s largest voluntary organization. But it’s much more than a regular gemach, a Hebrew acronym for “acts of kindness” that denotes a place that lends items to the community. The organization has more than 100 branches around the country, including Arab municipalities. By lending medical equipment and providing free services such as day rehabilitation centers, information for parents of children with special needs, and geriatric dental clinics, the organization is able to save the Israeli economy an estimated $400 million a year in hospital expenses thanks to its focus on homecare.
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About 80 percent of Yad Sarah’s donations come from Israelis. A recognized UNESCO advisory body, Yad Sarah has become a model for countries like Turkey, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Angola, Cameroon, China, El Salvador and Hungary. “There is no one country in the world that has this kind of service with everything together, a onestop station,” says Meir Hendelsman, volunteer director for international cooperation. In contrast to other volunteer-run homecare services around the world, Yad Sarah also offers meals on wheels, sheet washing for the bedbound, free home repairs, legal aid for the elderly and transportation for people with disabilities. Home care is more than medical “The core of Yad Sarah is about Jewish people. There is something in our soul,” says Hendelsman, a religious Jew. He tells ISRAEL21c that the heart of the organization’s success is its 6,000 volunteers, mostly pensioners, who staff the branches that lend out thousands of articles of medical equipment in return for a small security deposit. Popular items for loan from Yad Sarah include
He learned that when the central heating systems in Jerusalem apartments were working at full force, the dry air would cause or exacerbate breathing problems in children. They could be treated at home with respirators or simple humidifiers, but this kind of equipment was out of most parents’ reach at the time.
wheelchairs, crutches, oxygen tanks, breast pumps, cribs, medical alert systems and hospital beds. At any given time, about 18,000 wheelchairs are in circulation.
Lupolianski, who was living in a religious community, had an idea to establish a gemach out of his own apartment that would lend out humidifiers and respirators for free.
Anyone can make use of the non-profit’s services, no questions asked: “You can come to our offices driving a Cadillac, or riding a donkey. Walking even,” says Handelsman, who was previously a director at the Israeli Health Ministry and was asked to join Yad Sarah a few years ago. “We don’t discriminate between wealthy or poor, Jewish or Arab,” he says.
This continued for some years, and after Lupiolianski’s dad sold his shoe business in Haifa he offered his son a large sum of money to expand the gemach. He asked that the organization be named after his mother Sarah, Lupolianski’s grandmother who was killed in the Holocaust. “Yad” in Hebrew means hand, but also help, or charity.
Refugees and tourists to Israel can also enjoy the organization’s services, with a larger deposit required. Yad Sarah also offers “Life Story,” an opportunity especiallymeaningfultoHolocaustsurvivors,says Handelsman, but it’s available in Arabic and other languages too. “Elderly people want their life story told,” he explains. “So we’ll send a volunteer who is qualified at this. They will meet 10 or 15 times or as many meetings as it takes. He cries. The volunteer cries. They both cry, and finally the person will get a book of their life story to
In 1994, Lupolianski received the Israel Prize for his Yad Sarah initiative. Today the organization employs 200 staff members who work hand in hand with the thousands of volunteers running the organization that has become a worldwide model to emulate. Karin Kloosterman (1 April 2013) Courtesy Israel 21C (www.israel21c.org) A new fast, environmentally friendly and convenient solution for those last few miles between the commuter bus, car park or train to the office and home.
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Neat and easy to drive.
When folded, the scooter looks like a suitcase on wheels.
GO THE DISTANCE WITH ISRAEL’S REVOLUTIONARY MUV-e SCOOTER Commuters who face the daily grind of getting to work on time will be happy to hear about a new invention from Israel: an all-electric scooter called the MUV-e that helps people go the distance between the commuter bus, car park or train to the office and home again. It was those last five miles commuting inside cities where he worked — congested cities like Tel Aviv, Milan, Rome and Torino — that put a strain on Amir Zaid when he was working for Fiat and Ferrari as an interior and 3D automobile designer. The problem was not commuting between cities, as many Israelis and Italians do, but slogging through the traffic jams once inside the city, he tells ISRAEL21c. His industrial engineering wheels started turning, and with partner Benny Shimon, he formulated a new way of moving around the city — one that was fast, relatively safe, environmentally friendly and convenient. They aimed for no less than creating a new kind of ride. “We didn’t want it to be awkward or force people to get used to gyroscopes or strange mechanisms,” says Zaid. He knows about hightech, as part of the team that designed the interior of the latest ultra Ferrari model, yet to
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be unveiled. But he wanted to create something mechanically low-tech so that the broadest range of people could take advantage of it. The gyroscopes used in the two-wheeled Segway, though impressive, take a considerable amount of time getting used to, he tells ISRAEL21c. The Segway and other mobile scooters are too heavy and large to carry up stairs or onto a bus, and storage and security are other issues in city settings. Simple and smart What emerged from Zaid’s fantasy form of transport is the MUV-e scooter. It’s a foldable, all-electric sporty three-wheeler that can connect with your smartphone, turning it into an odometer, gas gauge, speedometer and navigator. The phone can control the folding and opening of the scooter, and sits on the handlebars during the ride. Users legs are positioned side by side, rather than one behind the other. “It’s so simple, really. I am speaking with a lot of people and they are all saying, ‘Let me have one.’ That’s because public transportation doesn’t work even in big cities like in Italy. Or it works, but it’s not so great,” says Zaid.
by themselves while not depending on anyone else. I was watching commuters arriving to work with those small suitcases on wheels after the weekend and thought, why not combine this trolley concept with transport?” relates Zaid. “We searched for a simple solution with some folding capabilities — something that anyone can use within two minutes of trying it. What results is that every user will know how to drive the MUV-e in two minutes.” That was a year and a half ago, and now the MUV-e prototype is ready for production pending a $500,000 investment. Remote controlled, skateboarder versions The MUV-e will be sold at an attractive price of about $2,000 for the basic version or $3,000 for a “souped-up” version with a bigger battery pack, customized skins and e-connectivity. Other accessories, such as seats, will be available too.
With a total weight of about 25 to 30 pounds depending on the model, the MUV-e is made to fold and carry so that the stable three-wheel design doesn’t take up much space in the office, on the bus or in the micro-apartment closet. When folded, it resembles a folded suitcase trolley with handle. Zaid hopes his first ride will launch a platform of new kinds of trolleys and scooters — an expanded base of products for every age under the sun. Karin Kloosterman (3 April 2013) Courtesy Israel 21C (www.israel21c.org)
When fully charged, the MUV-e can go about 10 miles before needing to plug in. The battery pack will be fitted with a standard 110- or 220-volt plug, depending on the country where it’s sold. Estimated driving speeds peak at about 20 miles per hour, subject to local laws.
“Everyone needs the freedom to move around
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The Vineyard Vol 55, No 5 June 2013
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