| Below is some interesting information about the Jewish National Fund, an organization that raises funds to plant trees in Israel. I have recently learned about some controversy with the JNF's work. This group, Save the Negev (http://savethenegev.org) is working to hold the JNF accountable to the mission of their
Israeli counterpart, encouraging them to act in keeping with Jewish ethics and with respect for ecological and humanitarian values. Here's a letter from their founder.
*The Giving Tree: A Way to Honor
Our Vision for Israel*
In this season, when Jewish tradition teaches us
to bless the fruit trees, when in North America and in Israel the trees are
in full flower, so many of us are inspired to plant trees. As we come
upon Israel's 60th anniversary, planting a Jewish National Fund tree
for the future sounds like second nature, a wise investment for
both Israel and the planet.
I'm writing to ask you to do something a
little different, something that will do much more for Israel: wait to send
money to JNF. Wait until you can make sure your money will do more, more for
the land, more for the people, and more for the planet. Instead of giving
money now, make a pledge in honor of Israel's 60th, and with it send
a message of sustainability and hope.
Savethenegev.org, along with
other Jewish and Israeli environmental organizations, is helping the JNF look
at ways to devote more "tree" money to sustainable forests and to good
renewable energy. Right now if you give $18 for a tree, eight of those
dollars go toward getting your paper certificate. The alternative is to give
JNF $10 for a tree through the "Go Neutral" campaign and forgo the paper. The
problem is this: "Go Neutral" isn't neutral: many of the forests that
Keren Kayemet LeYisrael (KKL-JNF in Israel) has planted are
unsustainable single-species plantations, providing little habitat for native
plants or animals, and no meaningful offset for your carbon footprint.
And there's no way to make sure your money goes to the best forests
for the earth.
The great news is that JNF in the US is open to
re-creating its "Go Neutral" campaign. I hope we can soon share news with you
about how to give a tree through JNF-US and make sure that gift goes toward
two excellent purposes: 1) creating a real forest habitat, one that
can sustain native and diverse species for generations, and 2)
financing good clean energy that actually removes carbon from the waste
stream. Instead of giving $10 for a less-than-full JNF experience, you'll
be able to give $18 -- $10 for a new tree, and $8 for new energy, such
as replacing diesel generators with solar power in Bedouin villages living
off the grid.
We are also working with JNF-US to focus a bigger slice of
money being sent to the Negev on sustainable, equitable projects that will
help all the Bedouin, along with all the Jews, living in the Negev.
That means you will soon be able to give not only to the best forests,
but also to the best projects to help the poorest in Israel, Jewish
and Bedouin -- both the Bedouin in the government-planned townships,
and the Bedouin in traditional villages.
Let's be aware that no matter
when you give, the money JNF sends to KKL this year won't be used to plant
trees until next year, after the Sabbatical year ends. So making a pledge to
JNF, and letting them know why you're waiting to pay it, will have no
negative impact on the growth of Israel's forests. But you will help
strengthen JNF's confidence to make this new initiative a bigger part of
their plan.
You will also help deliver a bigger message to Israel's
government and to KKL, not just to JNF. Right now Israel's Goldberg
Commission is deciding whether to continue the failed government policy to
force the Bedouin off the land and out of their traditional way of life, and
to "suburbanize" the desert for Jewish Israelis, or to go in a
new direction which renews the covenant Israel made with the Bedouin
and with all non-Jewish citizens when it was founded, a covenant which
the Bedouin embraced as soldiers and officers in the IDF, a covenant
which is essential to Israel's democracy.
American Jews, and Jews
around the world, want to support an Israel that lives up to its best
promises and highest ideals, to treat the land as holy and to treat all
citizens as belonging. Please join us in making this dream the reality. To
learn more and do more, go to savethenegev.org.
Choni, one of the
great sages and miracle workers in the Talmud, wondered at an old man who
planted a carob tree that would not bear fruit for seventy years. That man
taught Honi a true lesson: we plant for the generations that follow
us.
Let us, then, restore the ancient forests, even though it
takes lifetimes, even if you wait a little longer to make it last
lifetimes. Make a pledge to give a tree that will give for generations, that
will seed its own descendants, shelter animals, and nurture people.
Tell JNF you want more: more green for Israel and more life for all
of Israel's inhabitants, both for human beings, and for all the
other species that make the holy land what it should be. That's one good
way we can celebrate such a big milestone in the history of the
Jewish people.
Let our planting, and our Israel, be one which survives
generations. Let us plant not just for 60 years but for the next seventy, for
a hundred and twenty, and more.
Sincerely,
Rabbi David
Seidenberg
on behalf of Save the Negev, http://www.savethenegev.org
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