Are you a social-media star? Get sent to Israel and help make a difference!

Last year, Vivian Grossman, a member of the Jewish National Fund's national board of directors, had a vision. What if JNF were to convene a team of creative, committed, forward-thinking social-media professionals to help tell the stories of the many people JNF touches and accelerate the organization into the juggernaut for Israel it was meant to be? 

Photo: Anne Taillandier

In the summer of 2014, Social Media Executive Committee Member 
Alicia Yaffe gets up close with plants at a Be'er Sheva community garden 
farmed mostly by new Ethiopian immigrants. 

With the help of Abigail Leviss, JNF's director of grants and foundations, and the blessing of CEO Russell Robinson, the social-media executive committee was born.

The inaugural committee featured an incredible group of volunteers -- employees of Saatchi & Saatchi, R/GA Advertising, The Huffington Post, CNET, and a startup that represents major clients including the estates of Janis Joplin and Michael Jackson. The group traveled to Israel last summer, heading north to south and east to west to visit JNF partners and see firsthand how the JNF is making an impact in areas like infrastructure, water, historical preservation, tourism, and care for the disabled. Upon their return, the group began working closely with JNF professionals to increase the JNF's visibility and sharing social-media tips with the JNF-loving masses.  

Then we started hearing from all corners of the globe from people who wanted the chance to be on the committee. That opportunity is now open to everyone.

Fear not, the younger generation gets it

Photo: Alicia Yaffe

JNF Social Media Executive Committee member Anne Taillandier samples the crop at Earth's Promise, a cooperative community garden farmed mostly by new immigrants from Ethiopia. 

By Vivian Grossman

I've often wondered whether generations to come will continue to fan the flame of Zionism. Will they understand the importance of how and why a strong Israel is critical to the quality of their lives in America? I've wondered how, with Holocaust survivors leaving us daily, the next generation will connect the dots and understand how Jews have survived for centuries despite countless attempts to rid us from the earth.

 

After recently returning from another amazing trip to Israel, I fear not. I spent a week with a group of rock-star social-media professionals from around the country who represent the leaders of tomorrow. They gave up their very valuable time to travel to Israel with the JNF and keep the message going. They're delightful, bright, funny, and serious, and they get that Zionism has a capital Z and is something to embrace. It's a word to be held in the highest esteem, not one to be disgraced.