An Israeli Startup Sells Panic Buttons to U.S. Synagogues

Yoni Sherizen’s startup has grown from two employees to seven in the past three years, he’s close to sealing his biggest deal to date, and investors value the business at $13 million. Yet every time he signs up a customer, he worries about the tragic cost of success.

His company, Gabriel—named after the horn-blowing archangel—helps protect places such as community centers and synagogues from attackers. “Unfortunately, bad news brings a lot of attention to a product like ours,” says Sherizen, a 41-year-old American-born rabbi who lives on a kibbutz in central Israel. So far, all of Gabriel’s customers are Jewish groups in Florida, Michigan, and New Jersey concerned about anti-Semitic violence, and Sherizen hates the idea of profiting from shootings and the fear they spawn. “I wrestle with that all the time,” he says.