This certificate was given by Keren Kayemet LeYisrael (KKL), also known as the Jewish National Fund (JNF), to the Egged Transport Company on January 11, 1978 in honour of their donation of 100 trees commemorating David Elazar, “Dado.” In the middle of the certificate is an illustration of a tree, presumably a eucalyptus tree. Surrounding the image are texts describing the fact that this is a certificate for tree donations honouring Theodor Herzl for the purpose of planting forests in Israel.
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David Elazar – David (Dado) Elazar was the ninth IDF chief of staff. Elazar served in the army from 1942 to 1973. He fought in many important battles in the War of Independence, became the commander of the armoured corps, was the commander of the Northern Command, and was appointed chief of staff in 1972. During his service as chief of staff, the Yom Kippur War broke out. Even though the IDF was victorious in the war, the high casualty rate and Israel’s unpreparedness for the war led to a wave of public protest. A commission was set up to investigate why Israel had not been prepared and found that: “Elazar bears personal responsibility for the assessment of the situation and the preparedness of the IDF.” As a result, David Elazar resigned from the IDF, although many in Israel did not feel that he was personally responsible and held the government, particularly Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan, responsible for the events of the Yom Kippur War. Elazar died of a heart attack a few years later.
Tu B’Shvat - TuB’Shvat, the 15th day of the month of Shvat, is first mentioned in the Mishnah as one of the Jewish New Years, the date that marked the beginning of the tax year for fruits and trees. At the time of the Temple, this meant taking a portion of one’s crops and giving it to the Levites. This special day evolved into the New Year for trees, fruit, and nature that we know today. The tradition of planting trees slowly developed, not as a halachic ritual, but as a Zionist, nationalistic one. In 1884 the pioneers of the village of YesudHama’alah planted 1,500 fruit trees on TuB’Shvat, and in 1890 Rabbi Ze’ev Yaavitz planted seeds with his students in Zichron Yaakov. By doing this, Yaavitz and the YesudHama’alah farmers gave a Zionist interpretation to this mishnaic date by planting trees to make the Land of Israel flourish. In 1908, the teachers union in Jerusalem adopted this new tradition and made TuB’Shvat the “Festival of Planting” that was later adopted by the JNF-KKL and has since been celebrated by planting trees and promoting environmental concerns. Another traditional way of celebrating TuB’Shvat is conducting a TuB’Shvat Seder, a ritual first conducted in Tzfat (Safed) in the seventeenth century. This includes eating fruit of the Land of Israel and reading special passages that relate to fruit and the Land of Israel.
Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael/Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) – KKL-JNF was founded in 1901 at the Fifth Zionist Congress for the purpose of raising money to purchase land in Israel, which would become the Jewish homeland. The well-known “blue boxes” were used by Jews all over the world to collect this money. The work of KKL-JNF can be divided into three phases. The first 50 years were dedicated to purchasing land. During the next 50 years KKL-JNF developed the land including planting over 220 million trees, building infrastructure such as roads and parks, and helping new immigrants to settle. In the current phase KKL-JNF is putting its emphasis on caring for the environment and solving the perennial problem of water scarcity.
