One of the American Jewish community’s most iconic charities appears to have broken New York state law by loaning its CEO over $500,000 to help him buy property. Known for its ubiquitous blue-and-white charity boxes, present in virtually every American synagogue and Hebrew school for generations, Jewish National Fund is a major American Zionist organization…
I used to think of Tu B’Shvat, the Jewish “new year” for trees, as somewhere between a children’s holiday and a faux holiday. Give a child some dirt in a plastic cup, plant a seed, and move on. Call the Jewish National Fund, plant a tree in Israel in someone’s honor, and don’t think about…
After fires burned more than 32,000 acres of Israeli forest and open land in late November, the Jewish National Fund promised to “Rebuild. Replant. Restore.” in a fundraising pitch to disapora Jews which raised $6 million. But according to the Times of Israel, JNF won’t be planting many trees in the forest recovery. Ecologists agree…
The Jewish National Fund’s American fundraising arm gave $530,000 to a visitor’s center in a West Bank settlement, according to a new disclosure by the JNF, which has been under pressure from the left-wing rabbis’ group T’ruah to list its donations to the West Bank. The $530,000 grant to a museum and visitor’s center in…
JNF issued a statement Thursday explaining its stance, a day after Israel’s embassy in Ottawa and its consulate in Toronto and Western Canada announced they would step in and help sponsor the Yom Ha’atzmaut event in May. Though JNF did not cite the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign specifically, its decision to pull its sponsorship…
Baruch she-p’tarani m’eytz zeh! Blessed is the One who has freed me from the responsibility of this tree!” This time last year, I exclaimed this improvised blessing under the starry skies in the Jerusalem forest — as I burned branches of pine. What was a Jewish environmentalist doing burning branches on Tu B’Shvat, the holiday…
Arab Israeli MK and Joint List leader Ayman Odeh’s decision not to meet with the Conference of Presidents this week in New York — because the meeting was to be held in Jewish Agency offices — was the right move. As Odeh , “I came here to represent the Arab public in Israel to American…
A sneak peek into revealed two things: 1) He enjoys seeing pictures of himself — preferably in the company of Jesus. 2) He has a plaque from the Jewish National Fund prominently displayed on what looks like the Ben Carson basement Hall of Fame. The inscription reads: “Jewish National Fund Tree of Life Award presented…
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