A large and comprehensive collection of telegrams used for raising funds for the Jewish National Fund alongside sketches and proofs of Palestinian telegrams and additional paper items issued by the JNF. Europe, Mandatory Palestine and Israel, the USA and elsewhere, ca. 1903 to 1989; most items are from the first half of the 20th century.
Approx. 95 telegrams (many of them were designed by Emil Ranzenhofer and Joseph Budko) and several stationery papers, envelopes and sketches.
In ca. 1903, in an effort to raise funds and introduce the Zionist idea to every Jewish household, and alongside the use of boxes, stamps and other means, the Jewish National Fund started selling greeting telegrams. Alongside the "official" telegrams, telegrams for the JNF were printed and sold by other Zionist organizations, which transferred some of their revenues to the JNF. The price was noted on some of the telegrams, in local currency, and often JNF stamps were affixed to them, increasing the sum of the donation. After the establishment of the State of Israel, the word "Igeret" (letter) replaced the word "telegram" on the Hebrew telegrams; at the same time, the use of telegrams began to decline.
The telegrams in this collection belong to various categories and various periods in the history of the JNF and their artistic design varies in accordance with the spirit of the times.
The collection includes: · JNF telegrams from the early days of the JNF in Germany, Poland and Russia, including two telegrams bearing the illustration that appeared on the postcards of the second Zionist Congress that took place in 1898 (Ladani A1 and A2. Both with affixed "Zion" stamps. On one of them appears a handwritten greeting, in honor of the delegates of the sixth Zionist Congress and Theodor Herzl, by the members of "Agudat Zion" of Wilki). · Telegrams designed by Emil Ranzenhofer, printed to be used in various countries – USA, Germany, Poland, England, France, Austro-Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and more. The earliest of these was sent in 1911 and the latest in 1937. · Telegrams designed by Joseph Budko, 1919 to 1939. · Various types of JNF telegrams printed in Poland. · Telegrams printed in Palestine since 1930, including a telegram that was used in Romania as well. · Regular postal telegrams to which JNF stamps were affixed. · Late telegrams (1950s to 1980s) which were printed by the JNF branches in Israel, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, and elsewhere. · And more.
Some of the telegrams in the collection, including early telegrams, do not appear in the Ladani catalog (1995); a few are variants of telegrams listed in the catalog and others are unknown.
Several telegrams bear paper seals which were also printed by the Jewish National Fund, and others bear inked stamps of JNF branches and of various Zionist organizations; many of them bear stamps, JNF stamps and handwritten or typewritten greetings.
In addition to the telegrams, the collection also contains two early stationery papers of the Russian branch of the JNF calling the public to donate to the redemption of the land (printed in 1907; their design is attributed to E.M. Lilien; Ladani, illustration 18); sketches and proofs of Palestinian telegrams, some presumably never printed; envelopes for mailing JNF telegrams, most of them Palestinian; and more.
A total of approx. 105 items. Size and condition vary. Good to good-fair overall condition. Small holes, tears and several open tears. Several filing holes. Some of the tears are restored or reinforced with tape. Several tears reinforced with paper. Stains. Creases.
Literature: Greeting Telegrams of the Jewish National Fund, by Prof. Shaul Ladani (1995).
Provenance: The Rimon Family Collection.

"The Child's Box" – a miniature JNF charity "Blue Box". Jerusalem, [ca. mid-1930s].
A miniature charity box made for children, designed to impart Zionist values and the importance of the Jewish National Fund, instill love for the task of collecting donations for the JNF and encourage the custom of donating money to the JNF through the box.
A single box of this type is documented in the catalog "The Blue Box" (Hebrew), p. 175, which notes that the identity of the box's designer and manufacturer remains unknown. Embossed at bottom: "Made in Jerusalem, Palestine-Eretz Israel" (Hebrew).
6.5X4X3 cm. Good condition. Stains and rust. Suspension loop to back.
Literature: The Blue Box (Hebrew), by Shaul Ladany and Dotan Schulman. Jerusalem: JNF, 2014. p 175.

Approx. 110 stamp sheets, telegrams, certificates, receipts for donations, propaganda leaves and booklets, letters and additional items, issued by the Tel-Chai Fund for promoting the activity of the Revisionist Movement. Palestine, England, Poland, Austria, Latvia and elsewhere, the 1930s and 1940s (several later items).
The collection contains a variety of paper items reflecting the activity of the Tel-Chai Fund, the fundraising arm of the Revisionist Movement, established in 1929, in Palestine and abroad. Among them: · Certificates for inscription in the fund's "Shai LaLe'om" and "Luchot Habarzel" books. · Telegram forms for the Tel-Chai Fund. Poland, Latvia and Palestine. · Booklets and informational leaves for spreading the ideas of the fund and the movement. · Receipts for donations to the fundraising campaign of "Volunteer Days for the Establishment of 'Metzudat Ze'ev' – Jabotinsky's House", "The 11th of Adar Enterprise in Memory of Joseph Trumpeldor", the "Iron Fund" and more. · Letters on the official stationery of the fund. · Visitor cards to the International Conference and the National Conference of the Tel-Chai Fund. · Donation cards for donating to the Fund on Sabbath and Jewish Holidays. · Letters with the stamp of "Tel-Chai Fund Tax". · Stamp sheets in memory of Sarah Aharonson and Ze'ev Jabotinsky and for the occasion of interring Jabotinsky's remains in Israel. · And more.
The Tel-Chai Fund was established subsequent to the 1929 Palestine Riots, serving as a fundraising arm of the Revisionist Movement; its declared objectives were to support Jewish defense in Palestine and to teach Jewish youth self-defense. The members of the Betar youth movement were involved in fundraising activities for the fund, which led to competition between the Tel-Chai Fund and the Jewish National Fund over fundraising.
Size and condition vary. Good overall condition.
Provenance: The Rimon Family Collection.

Protocols of the meetings of the Palestine Zionist Executive, booklets nos. 1-179. [Jerusalem], 1921-1922.
Collection of mimeographed typescript protocol booklets documenting the activity of the Palestine Zionist Executive in its first year: the establishment of the first synagogue in Tel-Aviv, attempts to have the Governor of Jerusalem Ronald Storrs removed, the response of the Yishuv to the 1921 Jaffa riots, the purchase of new lands in the vicinity of Kfar Saba, Haifa, the Kishon Valley, the Patriarchate's lands in Jerusalem and elsewhere, the establishment of immigrant training camps abroad, the establishment of new institutions and committees, and more.
Most of the meetings were directed by Menachem Ussishkin and attended by senior members of the Zionist Movement: Yosef Sprinzak, Arthur Ruppin, Ozjasz (Yehoshua) Thon, Yitzchak Ben-Zvi and others. Some of the meetings were also attended by representatives of the "new generation" of the Zionist leadership, Histadrut members David Ben-Gurion, David Remez, Eliyahu Golomb and others.
The booklets are bound together. Handwritten corrections and additions on several leaves.
383 pp. (mispagination, more than 383), approx. 29.5 cm. Good overall condition. Stains. Creases (mainly to first and last leaves). Closed and open tears to margins of several leaves. Bound together. Cloth spine, worn and damaged.