Nostalgia Sunday – Blue Box Redux

February 8, 2009 - 4:23 PM by Rachel Neiman

Here’s a fun fact: Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with more trees than it had at the beginning of the 20th century. For years, tree-planting in Israel was synonymous with the Jewish National Fund, which itself was synonymous with the small blue coin collection tin. Some of these are now on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, as part of an exhibit entitled The Map of Israel as Illustration, Artwork, and Icon.

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The exhibit, curated by Orna Granot, looks at the map not in geopolitical terms but as a graphic element used “to increase the viewer’s familiarity with the land [of Israel] and to strengthen love of the land in experiential, educational, and aesthetic ways”.

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Etzleinu be-Khitah Alef (In Our First Grade) by Shlomo Kadesh, Illustrations: Shlomo Cohen; Ever Publishers, Jerusalem, 1952. Courtesy of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Of course, the Blue Box is a wonderful icon in itself. So much so that Keren Kayemet-JNF, has re-launched the beloved “pushke” after a 30-year absence. This time though, says KKL-JNF world chairman Efi Stenzler, rather than land acquisition, the coins collected will go to furthering Israeli environmental conservation projects. As part of the relaunch, Stenzler has been distributing Blue Boxes to dignitaries of note, including Pope Benedict XVI, who plans to visit Israel in May.

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Given the season – political, not meteorological – Israeli party candidates have been also been getting on the KKL-JNF bandwagon. Benjamin Netanyahu today planted one of 7 million saplings KKL-JNF has planned for the next several years. And here’s Ehud Barak with his 2009 model pushke.

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The KKL-JNF website has a lovely timeline of Blue Boxes throughout history – it’s in Hebrew only but definitely worth a look.

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It’s also a good opportunity to plant a tree in honor of Tu B’Shvat and to take a moment to consider Israel’s green future and how to best “strengthen love of the land”.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , • Category: Environment, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Nostalgia Sunday, Politics, Pop Culture 

Comments

2 Comments on Nostalgia Sunday – Blue Box Redux

  1. David-Joe on Sun, Feb 8th 2009 5:52 PM

    2. Strengthening the Love of the Land is easy. Zionism is teh concrete outcome of Judaism. They are not seperable. It was only after teh fall of the second temple that Judaism became rabbinical because the Jews had to survive without their land.

    So by teaching Judaism is one way. And this can be done by including God or secuarly by teaching Judaism as where the Jewish People originated.

    Israel is one great big history lesson and there is no part that the deeper one digs, the more Jewish is becomes. Not Arab, or Muslim, or Christian or anything else. And field trips were always wonderful.

    It is called Zionism and unless it us taught, there can be no love for then land and the blue boxes will remain xomething of the past.

  2. ruth katz on Thu, Feb 19th 2009 11:35 PM

    3. The Blue Box has been in our home and always near the Shabbat candlesticks ever since I can recall…. They were first brought home by my beloved Mother when we lived in Montreal. Whatever change was still in our pockets before Shabbat candle-lighting, ‘had’ to be emptied into the Box.

    I continue my Mother’s tradition, and a Blue Box still holds prime place near the candlesticks.; each Shabbat some coins are added to the Box.

    The Box is made of plastic; that’s the only available model for now.
    It would please me to have one of those ‘new’ boxes; please let me know how? where? to obtain one.

    …. and let’s not ever stop planting trees………..
    With sincere wishes for peace in Israel, Ruth Katz

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