|
 The
Blue Box is a symbol of JNF and its efforts to develop the land, plant parks and
forests, prepare the ground for communities and agriculture, and build roads and
water reservoirs. It is a symbol of the bond between man and country. It is also
a vehicle for educating youngsters and involving them in these efforts in order
to foster their identification with the Zionist enterprise and the State of Israel.
JNF's
collection box, the "Blue Box" (so called because of its blue and white
colors) has been part and parcel of the Zionist Movement since its inception.
Professor Zvi Hermann Schapira, whose concepts and suggestions led to the inception
of the JNF at the 5th Zionist Congress in Basle on 19 Tevet, 5662 (December 18,
1901), had unveiled a tin collection box a "pushke" as early as 1884.
Calling it the "Keren Kayemeth Le'Israel" box, he invited colleagues
at a gathering of the "Zion Association" to contribute to the redemption
of the land and Jewish settlementin Eretz Israel.
Upon
JNF's establishment, a bank clerk by the name of Haim Kleinman from Nadvorna,
Galicia placed a Blue Box marked "Keren Le'umit" (National Fund) in
his office. He suggested that such a box be placed in every Jewish home and that
everyone contribute to the newly created national fund at every possible opportunity.
The idea had been well rooted in Jewish tradition for hundreds of years. Many
Jewish homes contained a "Rabbi Meir Baal Ha'Ness" box, the proceeds
of which helped support Jews living in the Land of Israel. The proceeds of the
Blue Box, however, were slated for the redemption of the land itself, and it was
distributed in Jewish communities throughout the world. The
very act of collecting funds in a special box aroused in Jews everywhere a longing
for the tastes and fragrances of Eretz Israel, and strengthened their yearning
for the homeland.  The
first Blue Boxes were produced in 1904. One of these was placed by Theodor Herzl
in his study (and can still be seen in "Herzl's Room" in Jerusalem).
Their impact was immediate, not only in terms of the money they generated but
as an expression of the deep bond between the Diaspora Jewry and the small Jewish
community and the soil of Eretz Israel. In the 'Thirties, for example, about one
million JNF Blue Boxes were to be found in Jewish homes around the world.
Kleinman
was to appreciate the fruit of his labors when he visited pre-state Israel some
30 years after placing the first box in his office, and was gratified to learn
that the idea had become reality. Unfortunately, he perished in the Holocaust
before he was able to come on aliya. The Blue Box, however, which he had conceived
together with Prof. Schapira, lives on to this day. At
a festive assembly marking JNF's 80th anniversary, Israel's fifth president, Mr.
Itzhak Navon responded and, as we approach its 90th anniversary, we find pupils
again learning through the Blue Box the meaning of "You shall redeem the
land." The Blue Box has also returned to its rightful place in the Diaspora.
In Australia, for example, it is once more a common sight in most Jewish homes,
symbolizing their support for the Zionist enterprise. The
late Menhahem Ussishkin, one of JNF's predominant leaders, described the Blue
Box's educational value succinctly: "The coin the
child contributes or collects for the redemption of the land is not important
in itself...but as an element of education: It is not the child that gives to
Keren Kayemeth, but, rather, the Fund that gives to the child...a foothold and
lofty ideal for all the days of his life." The Many
Faces of the Box The Blue Box has changed form many times
over the years and in many cases was not even blue for the most part. The first
boxes, such as Theodor Herzl's, were in fact whitish. Ornamental boxes, manufactured
in Austria in 1920, were copper-colored. Leather-bound boxes, produced in Germany,
were sometimes black. Indeed, the standard "Blue Box' widely distributed
for the past 50 years, is both blue and white but mostly white. Nor
was the Blue Box always a box. Its original shape was first changed in the United
States, where it was replaced for a while by a round tin container. In Germany
boxes were made in the form of a leather-bound book, and other sites in Central
Europe adopted paper "boxes" resembling an envelope, which could be
folded and pocketed. These envelopes were apparently distributed at Zionist Congresses
so that should a delegate be overcome by an irresistible urge to contribute, all
he had to do was pull the envelop out of his pocket, drop a coin inside and replace
it. Such boxes were primarily common in Jewish schools in Germany in the 'Twenties
and early 'Thirties. Some of the boxes could only hold
a few coins. The smallest box, made in Jerusalem during the Mandate, measured
28x58x35 mm., approximately the size of a matchbox. Even when full it hardly promised
a sum that could redeem any significant tract of land... The
largest known "Blue Box" has no money opening at all. In every other
way, however, it does resemble a collection box, although it is not meant for
canvassing; it is a monument, in the shape of a Blue Box, which stands two meters
high in JNF's Australia Park in the Segev District of Galilee. For
many people the Blue Box is bound up with childhood memories from home and the
traditional contribution made in kindergarten and school. Author
and poetess Yemina Tchernowitz-Avidar described her experience with the Blue Box
thus: "I came upon the Blue Box by chance: I don't
know how it came to be among the papers I was sorting in search of a document.
The box, of course, was empty.
JNF
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