Jewish National Fund history

The first stamp was issued in 1902 and showed the Star of David and the name "Zion."

In the spring of 1903, JNF-KKL purchased its first parcel of land: 50 acres in Hadera with funds given as a gift by the well-known philanthropist Isaac (Yitzhak Leib) Goldberg.

In 1904, JNF-KKL was called upon to carry out its first mission: financing the expenses of Jewish scientists, which was the start of JNF-KKL's work in research and development.

By 1905, JNF-KKL's land holdings had expanded to include land near the Sea of Galilee, and at Ben Shemen in the center of the country.

At the start of the 1920's, the world Jewish population numbered some 15 million people, scattered throughout 76 different countries.

Henry Ellenbogen was born in Vienna, Austria, and immigrated to Pittsburgh in 1921, where he later graduated from Duquesne University Law School.

The Jewish National Fund Pittsburgh Council was organized in 1924, with Max Engelberg as its first president.

In 1927, JNF-KKL purchases totaled 50,000 acres of land on which 50 communities stood.

In 1928, planting began for Balfour Forest near Kibbutz Ginegar, and Mishmar HaEmek Forest.

By 1935, JNF-KKL had planted 1.7 million trees over a total area of 1,750 acres.

The Zionist Congress of August 1939 convened under a shadow of dread for the future of European Jewry.

Land purchase increased steadily in the first three years of war, and by 1942, sixteen new communities had been set up on JNF-KKL land.

Two hundred and thirty three of these towns stood on JNF-KKL land.Upon statehood, JNF-KKL worked on planting forests and reclaiming the land for agricultural purposes, providing employment for thousands of new immigrants. It was also responsible for all the communities of the Negev until the end of 1948.On May 14, 1948, with the withdrawal of the British forces ending the League of Nations-United Nations Mandate, the decision was made to proclaim Israel's independence.

Certificate from the Jewish National Fund, commemorating two trees planted in Israel in honor of Rabbi Aaron M. Ashinsky by students of the Tree of Life Congregation Religious School, c.1950.

In 1951, JNF-KKL celebrated its 50th Anniversary and the realization of its most revered dream—a Jewish state.With Israel's War of Independence over, hundreds of thousands of immigrants began streaming into the newly established nation.

In 1953, the Tri-State Zionist Region voted to plant a forest in Israel in honor of Henry Ellenbogen's years of service to the Jewish National Fund.

In 1960, Israel's Knesset adopted a Basic Land Law based on JNF-KKL's principle of national land, which stated that land owned by the Jewish People and maintained by JNF-KKL cannot be sold, but only leased for periods of 49 years at a time.

In 1963, communities were established in the Galilee during Operation Sus (Hebrew for "at last"). The first community was established at the edge of northern Samaria, and a year later, two communities were established in Wadi Ara.

Photograph of Rebecca and Herman Fineberg, with others, at the dedication of the Herman and Rebecca Fineberg Forest in the Judean Hills outside of Jerusalem, where ten thousand trees were planted in their honor, 1965.

Members of Young Judea collecting donation boxes for the Jewish National Fund, 1967.

Photograph of attendees of a Jewish National Fund "box meeting," 1969.

As the 1970's began, Jewish National Fund began to open its forests to the public.

Some 25% of all tree plantings in the 1980's were carried out in the Negev, bringing its forest area to a total of 45,000 acres.

With the disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005, JNF set to work preparing new homes for evacuees as well as building security bypass roads along the new border to protect residents as they travel to work and school.

To help residents along another volatile border, JNF launched a campaign during the summer of 2008 to take children from Sderot—the target of constant rocket attacks from the neighboring Gaza Strip—to summer camps outside of Jerusalem.