Dear JNF Campaign Leaders:

CAMPAIGN PLANNING SUMMIT AND NATIONAL CONFERENCE

As a reminder, this year’s Campaign Planning Summit will take place in conjunction with the National Conference in Washington, D.C.  The National Conference is Friday through Sunday, September 13 – 15, and the Campaign Planning Summit will be Monday the 16th from 8:30 am – 3:30 pm.  In addition, an open meeting of the Board of Trustees will take place as part of the agenda of the Campaign Summit.   If you have not already, please register for National Conference now and plan to stay Monday for the Campaign Summit and Board of Trustees meeting.  You can still catch a 6:00 pm flight home.

You can register for the National Conference and the Campaign Planning Summit by clicking here: jnf.org/nc

SPRING CAMPAIGN

As we wind down our final week of Spring Campaign, that means - summer is finally here! As a reminder, Spring Campaign officially concludes on Friday, June 21st, however, the continued effort to re-engage our lapsed donors will continue well into the summer months through our upcoming Summer Blitz, where Makor members will travel across the country to support our community campaign efforts.

For Spring Campaign, we are excited to report another fantastic week in fundraising.

To date, we have renewed 498 lapsed gifts for $1,393,290. As of this week, we met our national goal of closing 20% or more of the total outstanding pledge cards! In addition, we brought in 1,833 new gifts at $250 or more for $7,855,529. This brings our Spring Campaign total to $9,248,819. With gifts still being processed this week we are confident we will exceed our 2018 numbers!  We will be announcing our 2019 Spring Campaign Winners next week, however, I would like to acknowledge an outstanding effort from the following communities:

·        Mountain States continues to set the pace nationally and has closed the highest percentage of lapsed donors 32.94% AND raised the most money of all the regions at $2,214,198!

·        San Diego renewed a $125,000 lapsed donor- the single largest renewed gift of Spring Campaign!

·        Greater Los Angeles nearly doubled their pledge card income in one week.

BE INSCRIBED

We are excited to announce the launch of Be Inscribed, the JNF project to write Torah scrolls on Masada. This is the ideal gift for births, bar/bat mitzvahs, weddings, anniversaries and other milestones in life. The public now has the opportunity to sponsor a letter, word, verse and so on…even the entire Torah. Click on this link to see a great promotional video and to learn more. jnf.org/beinscribed

Check out this video by “Queen of Kosher” Jamie Geller, who is available to come to your community through JNF’s Speaker’s Bureau. Jamie posted this video on her Facebook and Instagram accounts. Watch it now!

Also, check out this article that was in the Jerusalem Post this week.

Please share with family and friends that, in addition to planting trees in Israel, they can also honor a loved one by contributing to the writing of a Torah on Masada.

LAWYERS FOR ISRAEL

Register today for an exclusive call for Lawyers for Israel with Yaakov Katz on Wednesday, July 10 at 4:00 pm. Yaakov will give us "An Insiders Briefing on the Israeli Elections and Coalition 2.0." Don't miss out. Register today.

SPEAKERS BUREAU

Read the latest and greatest from our Speakers Bureau in their June Newsletter. For more information and to book one of our speakers, contact Sarah Cohen at scohen@jnf.org or 212.879.9305 x208.

LAY LEADER TRAINING SEMINAR

Register today for the next Lay Leader Training Seminar on July 17 at 12 noon eastern, featuring JNF CEO Russell F. Robinson and the Chair of the Israel Relations Committee, Ken Segel, who will provide an update on JNF Projects and Partnerships.

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)

Anatomy of an Effective Board Meeting (5/15/19)

Shabbat Shalom,

We welcomed to campus today 216 students for our summer session. They spent their first day getting to know each other and their madrichim as well as taking a tour of campus and Hod HaSharon. Tomorrow they will jump right into their studies with their first class and tiyul to Tel Gezer. Later this week, our summer session will wrap up their first days on campus with their first Shabbat as a group. The energy and excitement is palpable on campus!

The Canadian & American Active Retirees in Israel (CAARI) Tour is a rewarding volunteer experience in Israel for those over the age of 50. There are options available this January. Check them out here.

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

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.

Some of NetGev Dimona's entrepreneurs have started a new ritual of beginning each day with ten minutes of learning, each time taught by someone else. This week, Elchanan shared tips on how to build, grow, and maintain a mailing list. NetGev is a series of high-tech hubs in the Negev operated by the Lauder Employment Center to create entrepreneurship and tech ecosystems in small, remote towns. 

JNF Century Council partners Burt and Rita Tansky arrived to Ramat David Air Force Base, a new home for Special in Uniform soldiers in the north, to announce a new program they are sponsoring for soldiers with hearing impairment. Thank you to the Tanskys!

At the beginning of the 1950s, relations between Israel and Britain, the former mandatory power in Palestine, were still frosty. It was at this time that Lord Edwin Samuel, the son of the first High Commissioner for Palestine Herbert Samuel, and Member of Parliament Clement Davies, leader of the Liberal party, decided to sponsor a project to produce a bronze menorah as a gift from the friends of Israel in Britain to the Knesset. This was an important decision and one that was done right as one of the oldest symbols of the Jewish faith is the menorah, a seven-branched candelabrum used in the Temple.

In this week Parshah, Behaalotecha, the Torah begins with the instruction for Aaron to light the Menorah in the Mishkan. The Menorah had seven branches made out of one lump of solid gold according to the fiery image that G d had shown Moses.

It has been said that the menorah is a symbol of the nation of Israel and its mission 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 it was kindled, represents the constancy of the light.

When a seed is planted, it disintegrates in the ground, losing its puny identity to the nourishing soil and creative potential of mother earth. Soon, a seedling sprouts which will one day grow into a tall tree. In time, the tree will bear fruit, and in turn seeds, which themselves might become an orchard, and ultimately, a vast forest. Likewise, a good deed takes root and sprouts in a nourishing eternity of good deeds and Jewish values. These deeds and values give life to ourselves and our offspring that we, too, might one day grow into tall fruitful trees and our fruits might one day become orchards. Jewish National Fund took this idea and showcases it in its literal sense through the hundreds of millions of trees it has planted to turn Israel’s desert sands into green, lush and bountiful forests.

That's why the Torah is called the "Tree of Life." And the same reason the highest humanitarian award of JNF is called “Tree of Life.” JNF’s Tree of Life Award is presented to one individual or family each year in appreciation of their outstanding community involvement and support for Israel. Each and every single one of you plant seeds with JNF that will lead to a brighter future tomorrow for the Jewish community and for Israel. It is because of your efforts that we are able to grow and continue the great work we do each and every single day.

Shabbat Shalom,

Yossi