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The Blue Box: Connect to the past, shape the future

From its humble beginnings in 1902, the Blue Box has long since become a Jewish cultural icon. The simple collection tin inspired Jews everywhere and united them around a shared dream – to establish a strong Jewish homeland in Eretz Yisrael. 

Now it’s your turn to continue this incredible legacy and make it your own.

In 1902, mere months after the establishment of the Jewish National Fund at the 5th Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, Haim Kleinman, an inspired Jewish banker in Galicia, set up an “Eretz Yisrael” collection box in his office, and wrote to the Fund to inform them of his idea.  The rest, as they say, is history. The Blue Box quickly became a common fixture in Jewish homes and institutions around the world.

It was those pennies, lovingly dropped in Blue Boxes by children and adults over the decades, that helped establish the foundation for a Jewish homeland – what would later become the State of Israel.

With those precious Blue Box pennies, KKL-JNF purchased degraded lands and transformed them into verdant green landscapes with thriving agricultural communities.  It has built critical national infrastructure, developed sustainable water sources and united Jews in Israel and the diaspora around a Jewish- Zionist education and shared values.

At critical junctures in Israel’s development, the little Blue Box was there – providing the backbone for KKL-JNF to implement creative solutions to nation-wide challenges and provide immediate relief in times of crisis.

Though the Blue Box has since given way to online donations, its 120 year-old legacy lives on – in you and others like you, who love Israel and want to share in its destiny.

Be a link in a long, illustrious chain. Donate today!

250,000 acres of land for agriculture & development

Educational activities that benefit 50,000 children & youth each year

300,000 acres of planted forests & natural woodlands

400 parks and green spaces in cities and towns

230 reservoirs supplying 300 million m3 of recycled water each year 

1,400 forest picnic and recreation sites (300 are accessible)

Stories from the Blue Box

Got a Blue Box story to tell? Share it here!

The coin that the child gives or collects for redemption of the land is not important in itself […} it’s the educational principle that is important. The child is not giving to the Jewish National Fund, The Jewish National Fund is giving the child […] and inspiring ideal that he can hold on to for the rest of his life.”

Menachem Ussishkin (1863-1941),

Zionist leader and head of the Jewish National Fund.
In my grandmother’s home in Rosario the blue box stands on the central shelf in the living room. It symbolized for my grandmother the direct connection to Israel. Every month, the representatives of the Jewish community would come and empty the box and transfer the money to the offices of the Jewish National Fund and from then to Israel. In return, children who had a bar mitzvah/bat Mitzvah would receive a tree certificate from JNF.

Yanina Cozacov,

Rosario, Argentina
My grandfather told me that when he began to work at odd jobs as a teenager in the 1940’s, he would donate some of this money to Eretz Yisrael. The Blue Box was at the local Hebrew School, and he would go by there once a week and drop a few coins. He said it made him so proud to know that he was able to help. Then, in 2006, I was visiting Israel and there was an exhibit of some twenty huge blue boxes on Rothschild Street made by artists as part of a campaign top raise funds to restore forests destroyed by the Lebanon War. I felt so connected to my family history and to Israel at that moment.

David,

New York, USA
My grandmother came to Israel as a young girl the early 1930’s, and after the State was established in 1948, she became a primary school teacher. Even then, there would be a weekly ceremony in the class where the children would drop their donations into the Blue Box. She told me that she would tell her pupils that Jews all over the world were connected through this act of building the State.

Shira,

Tel Aviv, Israel

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Then, Now, and Into the Future

Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael–Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) has been developing the land of Israel and strengthening the bond between the Jewish people and its homeland since 1901. KKL-JNF continues to meet the State of Israel’s changing needs and, together with friends like you, create a better Israel through projects in Forestry & Environment, Combating Desertification, Climate Change, Community Development, Water Management, Green Living, Agricultural Research & Development, Education and more.

KKL-JNF shares its knowledge and know-how with countries that face resource challenges like those of Israel, helping ensure a greener and healthier world.

Now, with your contribution, you can impact Israel’s future.

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