JNF CANCELS PLAYBOY MANSION TRIP AUCTION

JNF passes on Playboy mansion trip (JTA)
Bidders in a Jewish National Fund auction cannot win a trip to the Playboy mansion after all. The JNF of Greater New York has removed from the list of items up for auction next month an all-expenses-paid trip to a VIP party at the Playboy mansion in Holmby Hills, Calif. The JNF rescinded the trip, which was set to be auctioned off at a sports trivia night in Manhattan on Oct. 11, following a JTA story in which some interviewees described it as tasteless. On Monday, the JNF issued a statement to staff and lay leaders apologizing for accepting the trip, which was a gift from anonymous lay leaders.

SEE: JNF AUCTIONS OFF TRIP TO PLAYBOY MANSION

JNF AUCTIONS OFF TRIP TO PLAYBOY MANSION

Going once, going twice: JNF to auction off trip to Hefner's Playboy mansion (JTA)
NEW YORK (JTA) -- One of the Jewish community's most storied charities is turning to the Playboy brand name to help raise funds.

The Jewish National Fund sent out a mass e-mail this month announcing that it would be auctioning off a one-year subscription to Playboy and an all-expenses-paid trip to a VIP party at the legendary mansion of the magazine's founder, Hugh Hefner, in Holmby Hills, Calif.

The bidding will take place Oct. 11 in Manhattan at what is being billed as the first "JNF Sports Bonanza."

JNF's decision to include a Playboy prize package comes just months after Israel's tourism ministry launched an ad campaign featuring bikini-clad women and the Israeli Consulate in New York placed a sexy spread of female soldiers in the men's magazine Maxim.

BAT MITZVAH GIRL DONATES $100,000 TO JNF

Bat mitzva girl donates $100,000 to JNF (JPost)
Samantha Resnick had only one item on her bat mitzva wish list. Unlike most girls her age, who cross their fingers for anything in a powder-blue Tiffany's box, Resnick set her sights on something a bit bigger than a ribbon fit around: $100,000 worth of donations to build a brand-new playground in Israel.

About a year-and-a-half before Resnick's bat mitzva, her father, Josh, sat his precocious, curly-haired daughter down for a talk. "I said 'You've always had everything you've needed and you've also had everything you've ever wanted. Do you really want people to buy gifts for you or do you want to do something special for kids in Israel?'" Without a moment's pause, Resnick agreed to the idea. "I was really proud of her," said Josh.

Over 500 friends and relatives received an unusual invitation for Resnick's bat mitzva last September: Included in the envelope was a small card requesting that donations be made to the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in lieu of gifts. Every family invited to the event contributed to assemble one of the largest bar or bat mitzva donations the JNF has ever received.

On Monday, in Israel for the first time, Resnick and her parents formally opened the playground that is attached to Sapir Park in the Arava Valley. The playground is designed to accommodate children who have special needs alongside those who do not. ...

Resnick's parents are both deeply involved in the JNF; her father is president of his region in Pittsburgh and her mother is an active member of the Sapphire Society, the ladies' division of the JNF. They said the idea of a bat mitzva was being lost in contemporary American society, and they did not want their only child to miss out on learning actual values at this critical point in her life.

"She said 'You know what, I don't need the gifts,' which just told us how much she understood the b'nei mitzva," said Josh, noting that many b'nei mitzvot have become increasingly materialistic. "It's always disturbed me that these children of families of wealth and of higher networks have people attending their affairs trying to figure out what to buy them... I think it was meaningful to a lot of the attendees that Samantha would choose to go down this path."

"It was important for our family to know what a bat mitzva really was," echoed Debbie.

U.N. DENIES STATUS TO JEWISH NATIONAL FUND

REMEMBER WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE AND YOU COLLECTED PENNIES IN A TZEDAKAH BOX FOR THE JEWISH NATIONAL FUND TO PLANT TREES IN ISRAEL? PERHAPS YOUR PARENTS PLEDGED TREES TO ISRAEL. PERHAPS YOU DONATED TO THE JNF TO PLAN TREES IN THE CORETTA SCOTT KING FOREST OR IN THE GROVE DEDICATED TO THE ISRAELI ASTRONAUT WHO WAS KILLED IN THE U.S. SPACE SHUTTLE DISASTER. WELL YOU'RE BAD!!!!! AT LEAST ACCORDING TO THE UNITED NATIONS.

Jewish NGO denied U.N. status (JTA)
A United Nations committee denied the Jewish National Fund accreditation within the U.N. Economic and Social Council.

The 19-member committee on non-governmental organizations voted last Friday to deny consultative status to JNF, which would have allowed the organization to participate in the council meetings without voting rights. The vote was 8-7, with three abstentions. Two Israeli non-profits seeking accreditation were approved.

An Israeli official said the Palestinian and Syrian delegations led the effort to block JNF’s application, though neither is a committee member with the right to vote on the matter.

In explaining their opposition, both the Syrian and the Palestinian representatives referred to Keren Kayemeth L’Yisrael’s work in the territories, which they contend runs counter to the Geneva conventions and the principles of the U.N. charter. JNF maintains that it is distinct from KKL, its Israeli partner.

Rabbi Eric Lankin, JNF’s chief of institutional advancement and education, vigorously disputed that charge, calling it a "smokescreen" aimed at delegitimizing the Jewish connection to Israel.

"It’s not about the territories," said Lankin, who led the JNF accreditation effort. "It’s literally about the Jewish connection to the land of Israel."

Israel, which is a member of the committee, voted in favor of the accreditation, along with the United States, the United Kingdom, Colombia, Peru, Romania and Turkey. Voting against were Burundi, China, Cuba, Egypt, Guinea, Russia, Qatar and Sudan. JNF's application was backed as well by 57 members of the U.S. Congress who wrote personal letters of support, according to a JNF spokesperson.