Jewish National Fund Collection Box
date: label: date made
content: mid 1900s
notes: label: Description
content: This collection box for the Jewish National Fund is typical of collection boxes, known in Yiddish as pushke, that were common in American Jewish homes in the mid-1900s. Members of Jewish families dropped coins into the box to support the Jewish National Fund, founded in 1901, which has worked to buy land and plant trees to build a Jewish state. The boxes were sent periodically to organizations, such as synagogues, that forwarded the funds onto the Jewish National Fund. In addition to helping fundraise for the JNF, the boxes helped inculcate philanthropic values. They reminded Jews that giving tzedakah was an everyday obligation and encouraged a sense of belonging to the Jewish community. (Tzedakah is Hebrew for “righteous behavior.” By the early 2000s, many understood the word to refer to charitable giving). The sticker on the side of the box is likely from the organization that distributed boxes.
label: Description
content: This box belonged to Sylvia Zarrow Saragovitz (1917-1998). Her parents, Bernard Zarrow (oringally Barnet Zarachovitz) and Yetta Liscowitz Zarrow, had immigrated to the United States from Eastern Europe around the turn of the twentieth century. As an adult, Sylvia and her husband, Harry Saragovitz, and their three daughters, lived in Washington, DC. Sylvia had aspired to be a nurse, but would have been required to live at the hospital so instead, became a homemaker. When her children grew up, she worked as a salesperson in various stores. Sylvia was active in the Jewish community and her family belonged to various synagogues in Washington. She raised funds for the State of Israel through Israel bonds and belonged to the US labor Zionist group known as Pioneer Women, meeting Golda Meir at one of the club meetings. Her philanthropic activity also included volunteering at the National Museum of Natural History.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Associated Place
content: China
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Philanthropy
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Jill Barkan
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2018.0116.01
label: accession number
content: 2018.0116
label: catalog number
content: 2018.0116.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: box
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: lid: .5 cm x 8.7 cm x 4 cm; 3/16 in x 3 7/16 in x 1 9/16 in
label: Measurements
content: box: 11.4 cm x 8.7 cm x 4 cm; 4 1/2 in x 3 7/16 in x 1 9/16 in