The Changing Landscape of Jewish Organizations


Israel bonds fund-raising dinner, Bangor, ca. 1970

Israel bonds fund-raising dinner, Bangor, ca. 1970
Item 56734   info
Bangor Public Library

Bangor has a long history of Zionist activity. Through the 1920s and 1930s, the Jewish community there hosted a parade of Zionist spokesmen raising money for Jewish settlements in Palestine.

Myer Minsky, a Bangor resident, drove around Aroostook County collecting money from potato farmers; Bessie Motiuk raised $1500 a year in $10 and $15 donations from Jews in Bangor. Bangor's Jewish community celebrated the creation of Israel in 1948.

As American Jewish philanthropy became more focused on causes within Israel in the 1960s, organizations like the United Jewish Appeal and the Jewish National Fund grew in Jewish communities nationwide.

Supporting Israel became very important for American ideological Zionists who now had a state in part because of their efforts earlier in the 20th century.

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