New York – Last fall congregations across the US participated in Israel Bonds’ 5773 High Holy Days Campaign. Four hundred congregations conducted appeals during Rosh Hashanah, Kol Nidre or Yom Kippur services where rabbis, Israel Bonds lay leaders, congregational lay leaders, ambassadors, consuls general, and scholars delivered passionate appeals in synagogues of all sizes and denominations.
Some of the appeal givers shared very personal accounts of discovering their love and connection to the ancient Land of Israel. Still others described moments of understanding and bonding with the modern state, including stories about their favorite Israeli innovation or industrial/technological achievement.
“When appeal givers tell personal stories listener response is always very strong,” observed Israel Bonds CEO Izzy Tapoohi, “We can always tell from the tab card count if the speaker opened their heart.” A couple in the Midwest spoke about their son currently serving in the IDF, while another appeal giver talked about growing up in the Ukraine and learning from his older brother how to listen to Israel radio in-between the jamming static of the Soviet government’s efforts to block the broadcast.
One of the many common threads in the remarks was pride in a nation with a heart 100 times bigger than its land mass; a nation that is the first to respond to an earthquake or a tsunami anywhere in the world; a tiny country that shares its digital, environmental, medical, agricultural, desalination, and other technological advancements with the world – to feed, heal, link, and preserve.
Combine the synagogues that host these 400 High Holy Days appeals with the synagogues that conduct Israel Bonds programming at other times of the year and the result is one of the largest retail campaigns (when measured by number of purchasers) in the Israel Bonds universe. It is important to note a growing number of the 15,000 2012 Synagogue Campaign purchasers were customers who went to www.israelbonds.com for the speed and ease of purchasing online.
“Online purchase is very popular with the members of my congregation,” commented Rabbi Craig Scheff, rabbi of the Orangetown Jewish Center in Orangeburg, NY and Chairman of the Israel Bonds Rabbinic Cabinet Board of Directors, “I hear the same thing from other members of the Rabbinic Cabinet.” One of the factors drawing so many purchasers to www.israelbonds.com is the new eMitzvah Bond introduced last August. eMitzvah Bonds ($36, $54, $72 and $90) are a meaningful and convenient gift for life cycle events and other gift giving occasions. eMitzvah Bonds (only available online), Mazel Tov Bonds and all other Israel Bonds investment choices are available online at our website.
Overall in 2012, synagogue members – and a few non-members and other guests too – attending synagogue events, appeals, speaker-brunches, honoree dinners, dessert receptions, and the simchas of family and friends invested $124M in Israel bonds. Israel Bonds welcomes new purchasers and returning purchasers and invites them to join the Synagogue Campaign by purchasing an eMitzvah Bond for a brit-milah, naming or confirmation; investing retirement funds in a Sabra or Jubilee bond or performing a double mitzvah by purchasing a bond for a favorite tzedakah. Go to www.israelbonds.com where you can learn more, set up an account to purchase online, or find the email address/phone number of your local office. We hope to see you soon online at Israelbonds.com or a local Israel Bonds event.
Development Corporation for Israel/Israel Bonds is one of Israel’s most valued and strategic resources, with a record of proven success spanning more than six decades. Praised for consistency and dependability, the Bonds organization has helped build every sector of Israel’s economy. Proceeds from the sale of Israel bonds have played a decisive role in Israel’s rapid evolution into a groundbreaking, global leader in high-tech, clean-tech and biotechnology. Worldwide sales have exceeded $34 billion since the first bonds were issued in 1951.
