Purely Commentary
Tree-planting has became a tradition- in Jewish communities and
the Jewish National Fund—the Keren Kayemet—became a very popular
name among the Jewish masses throughout the world. The beginning, how-
ever, -- was not the tree, but the pushka—the Blue-White Box. And its
emergence as 'a symbol in Jewish homes was the creation of the great
scholar and academician, Prof. Hermann Schapira, who advocated the
idea of the fund for redemption of Eretz Israel: His proposal was adopted
at the Fifth Zionist Congress in Basle. Switzerland, and in the very hall
in which the JNF was born, its 70th anniversary will be celebrated in mid-
Keren Kayemet—Jewish NationaI Fund—Magic
Term That Won Affection of Jewish- MasSe_i,:-
_Pk Philip
Womovitz
people, that the redeemed soil shall be a means for labor:to-re create the
national ideals which make Zion a citadel of _ renewed strength for the
_
_
• •
reborn Israel.
Detroit's role in JNF work has set high standards for our=emmnunity.
There is a proud record of achievement here one that has been -carried
into the philanthropic efforts on a much larger scale. These are traditions
of glory for a community with an historic sense...
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October.
Many great names are linked with the Keren Kayemet. Menahem
Ussishkin, Jacob Netter, Joshua Hankin—scores of notables in the Zionist
movement—contributed toward the movement's advancement. Dr. Scha-
pira was its founding father. -
And the Blue-White Box started the fund on its way from pennies
into state-building.
There is a truly fascinating story about Dr. 'Schapira, the eminent
Student of the Talmud and the Heidelberg University professor of mathe-
matics, and the manner in which he.evaluated the Blue-White Box as an
instrument for redemption. His idea was adopted by the Congress; a Golden
Book was instituted and his was the first name to • be inscribed in it.
One day he went in search of a tinsmith. He conceived the idea of a
metal box for fundraising for- his people.-
He asked the tinsmith to make him a box and, to Imprint' on it
the words Keren . Kayemet—Jewish 'National d. Fun
He explained:
"We dream of Zion, and y_e complain that our pOor people have not
the energy to redeem the soil of Eretz Israel -. But, is that true?, If of
the 16,000,000 Jews in the world each would give ii.plennig a d4, it
would amount each year to 365 times 16,000 marks--sir enormous
fortune that would solve the problem withOitt any difficulty.'-'
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This is how the slogan a penny a day is the JNF way came into
being. It was only a beginning ! The pennies of the early :years. grew into
dollars and into pounds. The pennies became a mere introduction to the
vast sums that are needed to this very day. But the beginnitig marked
the development of a great national romance—redemption by the people
themselves.
The Golden Book, the Forests and a number of.-other means of
gathering funds for land redemption became traditional for JNF.
The fund was introductory to-the greater tasks—the Karen Havesiid,
the vast proiects of the United Jewish Appear ...that -- includes
_ the United
Israel Appeal-Keren Hayesod.
A tremendous partnership has developed with the Joint Distribu-
tion Committee and other movements—including ORT and organizations
in lands of freedom where Jews are able to labor for redemption.
Without land redemption there could not have been a people's re-
demption. .Now the fund observes its three-score and ten birthday: It is
an occasion for rededication to assure that the land shall belong- to 'the
BIRTH OF THE BOX
Top: Schapiro visits o tinsmith.
Bottom: The JNF Blue White Box of todoy.
Greet Jewish National Fund's 70th Anniversary
' By ZALMAN SHAZAR -
By JACOB TSUR-
By GOLDA MEIR
By ABRAM SALOMON
By .HEBlligltf 1,..WEIDbabi
President of Israel
World Chairman,
i Prime Minister, State of- Israel
Executive Vice President,
Keren
Kayemet,
Jerusalem
•
Jewish
Nafional
Fund
of
America
Jewish- National yuia. of Anterica
From its very beginning, the Ka-
A great moment in the history of
.
_
ren Kayemet has symbolized and - In the same way ,that_Zionism Israel and the Keren Kayemet was
In the past seven decades the
In our tuna concept has been
realized the value of popular sup- has been a challenge to history, marked some years ago in the JNF blazed many a trail that led
more brilliantly realized than the
port. It does not turn primarily to which, to all appearances, con, signing "of, a 'covenant between the
large individual donors but rather demned . the Jewish people to ex- state of Israel and the Jewish Na- - to new life in all corners of the regeneratiOn of thesoil of Israel to
appeals to the entire nation, all the tinction, the Jewish National Fund tional Fund. The ageement - be homeland. Through JNF ideology sustain a nation. The Bible, which
way down to children in the has been our challenge in- geo-- tween the :Keren- Kayemet - and the we have- implemented through the envisaged the .iredemption of - .the
schools. Never has mass support graphy, the poor geography of a, Israel government amplifies and years a way of life and new ideals
people througK the redeniption
been so absolutely vital to the land impoverished and exhausted extends the fundamental princi-
of the /aid, .was.-the guiding star
future, to the very existence, of through centuries of war and neg- ple of the inalienability of the soil of social justice. =
Israel.
As
we
celebrate
the
70th,
anni-
lect.
of,the founders of the Jewish Na-
which shall never be -sold in per-
Important as is the Keren Kaye- - What was created when the JNF petuity and shall remain the prop- versary of the Fund throughout tional Fund: -Let us join now in
met's political relevance, its chief was founded in 1901 was an ex- erty of the nation-L-to serve as- the free world, we- honor the many saluting the JNF on its 70th birth-
mission remains what it has al- periment in land reform and so- the foundation of the entire agra-
ways been—the redemption of the cial justice that is still going on rian regime of Israel. I. am Op- who are still with. and those day as the most beloved of world
soil. That our national independ- in our tiny country. What has been posed to any proposals that would who are gone, who established Jewish institutions. , me JNF
ence is, in the first place, depend- accomplished in these past seven tend - to diminish- or 'modify this the foundation for the Jewish Na- touches the .beart o the Zionist
•ent upon our return to our soil, decades by Jewish National Fund Sacred principle which has served tional Home, tilled the soil, clear- idea by binding the-Jewish love
we have always known. Indeed, pioneers has been a beacon of our people and mit-atate:-so well ed the swamps and irrigated the
of Zion to the-land of /.sriel._,
our ancient and revered prayers light to the rest of the free world. in paSt .decides. '
:..As president ot,
spoke of it: "Because of our sins Jewish National Fund activity
The covenant opened .before the land. The Jewish people will ever and- alsi of the jNF
World..Coun-
lastingly
remember
-them and those
we were exiled from our soil." Be- throughout the length and breadth JNF a vast field of activity and the
ing separated from the soil is of Israel has demonstrated, in the work- was greatly stimulated by who _pioneered and labored for the sil;:r call upon ull Arkierilline to
participate
in
the
hititeria
and'ex-
exile, and the end of exile can most tangible manner possible, the sublime ideal- of the conquest rebirth .of the Jewish-Homeland. citing
atiniverSanitqw01-
only come through the-reversal of that land can be created for peo- of our.' country's desert which shall
The first 23 years Of Lsrael's . ect, the -reclamation-et the. Arava •
the process—through the return ple to live upon in a manner that be transformed into cultivable, fer-
desert,--: stretching llS
to the soil. • gives man dignity and stature; tile and smiling fields. We corn- statehood' have been' highlighted .the
Dead. Sea to the.Red -Sea, nn-
land not for profit and speculation, 'mend and salute the Jewish. Na- by.': many a J/0 achievement. The inhabi ted - throughout: all timer.now-
TIE DETROIT JEWISIt NEWS but for the benefit of the entire tional Fund far its vital role in•the tasks that-lie ahead are formidable - springing to life Arough
theinallic
2-Fridey, Oct
ober 1, 1971
people. _ , . , 413i11/
9.11T .J949744404
enci.challenging.'
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