In a country with 1.5 million American charities, Charity Navigator, America’s leading independent charity evaluator, this month bestowed its seventh consecutive 4-star rating on Jewish National Fund (JNF-USA) for the organization’s strong financial health and a perfect score of 100.00 for commitment to accountability and transparency, placing it in the top 5% in the country.
These remarks were originally delivered by Steven London, President of the Jewish National Fund in Boston, at the Jewish National Fund Breakfast in Boston on December 3rd.
At the beginning of this program, we all stood and sang two national anthems, the Star Spangled Banner and Hatikvah. Hatikvah is a song of hope -- the Jewish people’s 2,000 year old hope to return to the land of Israel.
Last night, we started our Chanukah celebration. Chanukah is about a miracle. When the Maccabees reclaimed our Temple in Jerusalem. And the oil we found for our Menorah burned for eight days, not just one. Eight crazy days, as Adam Sandler sings in his Chanukah song.
By Doran Arik Miller
In relative terms, I’m a Jewish National Fund baby. In the span of just a few months, I made my first charitable contribution to JNF, joined my local JNFuture board, and attended my first JNF National Conference. I jumped into the proverbial JNF deep end without really knowing what I was getting myself into -- I just knew I was supporting Israel, and that was enough to convince me to dip a toe in.
Now, here I am, sitting on the other side of JNF National Conference 2018, and I feel engaged, affirmed, optimistic, motivated, moved, and so much more. But let me back up.
I grew up proudly Jewish and strongly affiliated with Israel. My mom was born there, and my maternal grandmother was too. My maternal grandfather fled Germany as a young child with his parents in the early 1930s to then-Palestine. My family members were the early Zionist pioneers, settling the land and fighting in the wars that made it a state. It is literally true that without Israel, I would not be here.
