Dear JNF Campaign Leaders: 

I hope your Passover was meaningful.

Last Shabbat, once again, our Jewish community was victimized by terror in our own backyard. The shooting at Chabad of Poway, California, shocked us all.  We mourn with the family of Lori Gilbert-Kaye, a long-time JNF donor, and pray for a fast and full recovery for Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, Almog Peretz and eight-year-old, Noya Dahan.

JNF-USA President Dr. Sol Lizerbram did several interviews.  Here are two from the local Fox and CBS affiliates.

Fox 5 San Diego: https://youtu.be/2KSill51bug 

CBS 8 San Diego: https://youtu.be/Op9MNsoZ2Zg

WOMEN’S MONTH

May is Women’s Month at Jewish National Fund. This month, we will focus on the power of women as well as tie in with Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 12th. Our goal is to increase women’s giving and inspire women to take an active role in leadership positions, not just in the women’s campaign but throughout the organization.

The focus will be on women solicitations, multi-generational gifts, email blasts throughout the month and a significant social media campaign. For Mother’s Day, we produced a postcard which hit homes the 3rd week in April to encourage people to buy trees to celebrate/honor/remember their mother.   

We have secured a generous donor match of $1 million from Shelly Shor Gerson in Cincinnati and Lynne Merriam in Tampa from May 1st until May 31st. Therefore, all donations to the women’s campaign throughout the WHOLE of May will be matched, the matching funds will go to the general campaign. Please announce this match at every event, even if it isn’t a women’s specific event.  Shelly and Lynne…. on behalf of your entire JNF family, thank you for your generosity and your leadership! 

SPRING CAMPAIGN, or… WIN DINNER WITH RUSSELL F. ROBINSON!!

Please watch the recording of the recent Community Campaign Conference call with important information about the Spring Campaign.

https://zoom.us/recording/share/FC3nc63kimzbPHqM_B1OpKHaGFoKAObEPG0JKBzkxwCwIumekTziMw

What is Spring Campaign? Spring Campaign is our critical Q3 campaign targeting our donors at $500+ and JNFuture’s at $360+ who have given in any of the previous 3 fiscal years, but not in FY2019. Knowing that July & August are our slowest months, how we perform during Spring Campaign will forecast how strong our fiscal year will end. This campaign will run May 1 - June 24. We have a very ambitious goal in raising $12 million through Spring Campaign and are confident we can close 75% of our lapsed donors.

Here are some documents with background on the Spring Campaign program:

Spring Campaign Flyer

Regions and Professions

Spring Campaign Script

CAMPAIGN PLANNING SUMMIT AND NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Because this year’s National Conference is taking place so early on the calendar, September 13-15, we have decided to schedule the annual Campaign Planning Summit for the Monday immediately after the conference on September 16. The Summit will be a one-day meeting from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm and is open to any lay leader serving on a JNF board, committee or task force.

Registration for the Campaign Planning Summit is included on the National Conference registration page. Please be sure to register for the National Conference and on the drop-down menu there is a place to indicate you will attend the Campaign Summit. Click here to register for National Conference:  jnf.org/nc

LAY LEADER TRAINING SEMINAR

Mark your calendar for the next training seminar, Anatomy of an Effective Board Meeting, taking place May 15 at 12 Noon eastern time.

If you missed any of the previous training sessions, you can click below to watch the videos.

History of Zionism and Jewish National Fund (9/13/18)  

The Power of the JNF Brand and Brand Management (11/14/18) 

JNF Organizational Overview and Financial Structure (1/16/19)

Peer to Peer Fundraising (3/27/19)

https://zoom.us/recording/play/WXs2nW3sXd8NSFQZTFG2VwgV1FPUnAefT541yOdEDo8FqA_GkdmEzQfd3myd1S_R?continueMode=true

Shabbat Shalom, 

Bruce K. Gould
President Elect and Vice President, Campaign

Did you know that you can support Jewish National Fund while you shop? Amazon Smile will donate a portion of your purchase price to us when you shop through smile.amazon.com. Just look for our name in the list!

Traveling to another city and want to see what JNF events are taking place there? Just visit jnf.org/inyourarea  for a quick look at how to stay engaged while on the road. 

This week, IsraelCast kicks off Women’s Month with a conversation between host Steven Shalowitz and Michal Shiloah, the prominent female CEO of JNF partner Western Galilee Now, a chamber of commerce for Western Galilee businesses, many of which are operated by women. Get a taste of the flavor of this area through her descriptions of wineries, breweries, culinary options, hiking trails, dance companies, and more. Tune in at jnf.org/israelcast, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

We welcomed our April mini-mester and American Hebrew Academy students to our Hod HaSharon campus this week, and the rest of our student and day school groups are back after the Passover break. The Spring Semester group is taking a two-day trip up to the Golan, visiting a border kibbutz, learning of the peace process with Syria and related security issues, and taking two different nature walks. Stateside, our spring recruitment season is in full swing, with events and parlor meetings taking place in Denver, Northern New Jersey, Seattle, Dallas, Charlotte, and South Florida. Are you interested in hosting a parlor meeting? Contact Rabbi Greg Litcofsky, National Director of Recruitment, at 212.472.9300 x250.

Please take a moment to read two recent articles featuring Jewish National Fund:

https://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/what-the-money-in-those-blue-boxes-bought/

During the week of Passover, Jewish National Fund partner The Society for Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites hosted thousands of visitors at the 2019 “Maps, Matzah, and More” Festival to celebrate Passover. Families with children of all ages enjoyed the festival which took place at 12 different heritage sites around Israel, including Atlit Detention Camp near Haifa, Kibbutz Yad Mordechai in the northern Negev, and Mikveh Israel, the country’s first agricultural school located just south of Tel Aviv. Each site held a wide variety of activities, such as arts and crafts, mind puzzles, and conservation workshops, as well as plays, movies, and live musical performances for all to enjoy! The annual festival is a great way for families to experience Israel’s heritage sites and celebrate Passover together.

Mazal Tov to Tal Taiar, on receiving the IDF Home Front Command award. It’s tradition: before Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, the IDF honor exceptional soldiers, selected through the commanders of each base. One of them is Tal, who was born with Down Syndrome. Over the past year Tal has been wearing a uniform, serving in the Home Front command base, obeying orders from her commanders, just like every IDF soldier. But more than that, “Tal is one big soul, she is a great soldier, very dedicated, everyone in the base loves her, she brings so much to the spirit of the base,” says her commander. Tal, congratulations on your accomplishments. We are very proud of you.

As they concluded their Passover celebrations, Yedidya Harush of the Halutza Communities commented, "In Hebrew when someone does something tht is very hard to do, we say "it was hard like the splitting of the sea...Today, when everything is so much easier, it's a different challenge to attract young families to leave the comfort of the center and move to the north and south. It's in a way like splitting the sea (or maybe the desert), but yet we do it successfully everyday and will continue to do so." 

I’m writing this D’var Torah on Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah), and I’m thinking of the passionate remarks that Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein said this week after Lori Kaye was murdered and the Rabbi, Almog Peretz, and Noya Dayan were injured in a shooting at the Chabad of Poway. “We are a Jewish nation that will stand tall. We will not let anyone or anything take us down. We are all equally created in God’s image, no matter what race or religion, we are all one people. We must do better to make this world a better place…We are going to stand tall, we are going to stand proud of our heritage. If a little light can dispel a lot of darkness, then many lights can truly illuminate the whole world.”

It has been said that the menorah is a symbol of the nation of Israel and its mission is to be "a light unto the nations.” The sages emphasize that light is not a violent force; Israel is to accomplish its mission by setting an example, not by using force. The menorah of the Temple evokes the image of a tree—a tree of life, a tree of light and a tree of fire, while the oil with which its kindled represents the constancy of the light.

Many generations after the destruction of the Temple, the prophet Zechariah saw a vision of a menorah. It was flanked on either side by olive trees feeding it directly with oil, while the voice of an angel explained that the Temple would be rebuilt, "Not by might, not by power but by the spirit of G d". Even after the Temple was destroyed the menorah remains a symbol of bringing this "spirit of light" to the world.

Dr. Sol Lizerbram, President, JNF-USA said just after the attack: “My wife, Lauren, and I are taking the first step to ensure that Lori’s name and spirit live on in perpetuity as we plant a forest in Israel in her loving memory, and we ask our friends across the nation to join us. May her name and memory be for a blessing.”

The idea of planting trees brings new life to the ancient words of the Midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 25:3):  Rabbi Yehuda ben Shimon began, “You shall emulate the Lord your God.’ Is it possible for flesh and blood to emulate the Almighty?... What this means is that in the beginning [of creation], God engaged in planting; similarly “You shall come into the Land, and you shall plant.”

The prophet Isaiah wrote long ago that one day, "The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom" (Isaiah 35:1). Our generation has been privileged to witness not only the miracle of the blooming of Israel’s deserts, but the emergence of the Jewish State as a global leader in environmental innovation. Concern for the environment helps bring the Torah to life and, to paraphrase Isaiah, casts the Jewish people as a “renewable” light unto the nations.

A Little Light Dispels A Lot of Darkness!

Shabbat Shalom,

Yossi