June 24: Jewish National Fund

The Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemeth) was launched on this date in 1901 at the Fifth Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. It began purchasing land in Palestine, and in a little over a century the JNF owned 13 percent of Israel’s acreage and had planted close to 250 million trees and established over 1,000 parks. The JNF has also participated in land development activities that discriminate against Arabs and obscure the historical Arab presence in the land, and the organization has been criticized for overuse of pesticides and other environmental abuses. The JNF’s famous blue and white “pushkes” (tsedoke boxes) were in more than a million Jewish homes between the world wars. These boxes now have a disclaimer printed on them: “Funds contributed to the Jewish National Fund of America are used only for projects within the Green Line.” Also on this date, in 2007, the first game of Israel’s six-team professional baseball league was played, with JNF sponsorship, between the Modi’in Miracle (managed by Art Shamsky) and the Petach Tikva Pioneers (managed by Ken Holtzman). The league lasted only one season.

“The coin the child contributes or collects for the redemption of the land is not important in itself; it is not the child that gives to the Keren Kayemeth, but rather the Fund that gives to the child . . .” --Menahem Ussishkin