JNF Announces Professional Society for Physicians and Dentists

Contact: Jodi Bodner • JNF Director of Communications • 212-879-9305 ext. 221 • jbodner@jnf.org

June 9, 2009 -- New York, NY -- Understanding it’s important to provide everyone with a sense of belonging, Jewish National Fund (JNF) is proud to announce the JNF Doctors for Israel Society created for physicians and dentists who are looking to forge an enduring commitment to Israel and JNF.

“We have learned, from speaking to many of our donors,” said Russell F. Robinson, chief executive officer of JNF, “that as health care professionals, they deal with life, death and healing. Doctors for Israel is an opportunity to do something beyond medicine. It provides the forum to engage in the survival of the Jewish people through a commitment to the Jewish homeland."

“As a physician, I care for people everyday; this is my joy, and yet it’s my profession,” said Dr. Melinda Wolf of Rockville, MD, chair of the society. “But as a volunteer and donor with Jewish National Fund, I experience a different kind of joy and satisfaction by caring for my brethren in Israel. I'm excited to be working as a team with peers, to build Doctors for Israel. Through our collective efforts, and as medical professionals, we can make a strong impact on Israel.”

The annual contribution of $1,000 (many have given in excess of that amount) comes with privileges reserved only for Doctors for Israel Society members, including invitations to quarterly national conference calls with residents of Sderot, journalists, and high level officials, as well as a listing on the JNF website and in medical journals.

Doctors can designate their donations to any JNF action area: water, security, tourism and recreation, community development, research and development, education, and forestry and ecology.

Membership enables JNF to keep its promise to Israel—a promise made more than a century ago. For more information, visit www.jnf.org/doctorsforisrael.

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JEWISH NATIONAL FUND (JNF) began in 1901 as a dream and vision to reestablish a homeland in Israel for Jewish people everywhere. Jews the world over collected coins in iconic JNF Blue Boxes, purchasing land and planting trees until ultimately, their dream of a Jewish homeland was a reality. JNF gives all generations of Jews a unique voice in building a prosperous future for the land of Israel and its people.

JNF embodies both heart and action; our work is varied in scope but singular in benefit. We strive to bring an enhanced quality of life to all of Israel’s residents, and translate these advancements to the world beyond. JNF is greening the desert with millions of trees, building thousands of parks, creating new communities and cities for generations of Israelis to call home, bolstering Israel’s water supply, helping develop innovative arid-agriculture techniques, and educating both young and old about the founding and importance of Israel and Zionism.

JNF is a registered 501(c)(3) organization and United Nations NGO, which continuously earns top ratings from charity overseers.

For more information on JNF, call 888-JNF-0099 or visit www.jnf.org.