Gene Bass, along with his late wife Shirley, began investing in Israel Bonds in 1960, he said, and he now gives them as gifts every year to each of his seven grandchildren on their birthdays.
But he said he felt “especially rewarded this year” to see his granddaughter Samantha take a youth group trip to Israel. For him that trip was evidence of the connection he has always hoped to establish by giving his grandchildren an Israel Bond each year, he said.
“We thought that by giving [each grandchild] a material stake in Israel that could be reinforced each year, we would be supplementing their spiritual connection that they would develop through their family, synagogue and schooling,” Bass said.
This year, as Israel Bonds embarks on its annual High Holidays synagogue campaign, purchasing bonds is even more accessible with the introduction of the new Mazel Tov Bond, a bond in the amount of $100 that matures five years from the issue date, and comes with a certificate suitable for framing.
According to Marty Matsoff, campaign chairman for Israel Bonds, this new bond “is affordable for everyone to invest in. It is the perfect option for most people.” Other Israel Bonds are available in amounts of $500 and up.
Sheri Levin has been investing in Israel Bonds for more than 30 years and has recently purchased several new Mazel Tov bonds that she gave as gifts.
She agreed that they “give a connection to the recipient to Israel. I think it’s very special for a child to have this connection” and “hopefully this child someday will be purchasing his own bonds.
“They make very special gifts,” Levin said, and they “work out well for bar mitzvahs” in particular, because they are eligible for redemption in five years — right when the child turns 18.
In addition, the bonds are “easy to purchase,” Levin said.
Bass agreed. His grandchildren are “now living in Milwaukee, New Jersey and Illinois,” so the Mazel Tov bonds are a “convenient gift to give them no matter where they are.”
Plus, “when kids have so many material items” as they do today, said Bass, a bond is able “to give them something that has a lasting value…as opposed to something that gets used for a short amount of time.”
Increased goals
By investing in any type of Israel Bond, according to Rabbi Jacob Herber of Congregation Beth Israel, who serves as the associate vice chair of the National Rabbinate Cabinet for State of Israel Bonds, “Every single Jew has an opportunity to support the state of Israel and to support the building of all of the institutions that make us so proud of what Israel represents, from museums, to hospitals, universities, libraries, schools, highways, rail systems, and a beautiful state-of-the-art airport terminal.”
“The only way these institutions can become a reality,” he added, “is because of the investment we make when we buy a bond.”
Herber, who has served on the National Rabbinate Cabinet for more than five years, says he does so because it is the only “national rabbinic body where rabbis from every stream of Judaism work together because of our shared love and commitment to the state of Israel.”
According to Bonnie Malofsky Jacobson, Wisconsin’s State of Israel Bonds executive director, “This year, a primary objective of Israel’s Finance Ministry and the Bond organization is a dramatic increase in the number of Bond purchasers.”
“The continued participation of our veteran bond purchasers is greatly appreciated, but we want to reach out to new purchasers in our effort to energize worldwide Jewish identity and pride,” Jacobson said, and the Mazel Tov Bond will allow that to happen.
Matsoff agreed. [Now] everyone will feel a part of Israel.”
“The bond campaign, unaffected by political considerations,” Jacobson said, “unites the Jewish people in support of and protection of the birthplace of our heritage.
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