Notes & News
NOTES & NEWS Ail the Outreach Fit to Print Jewish organizations are using full-page advertisements in the general media to get their messages across and to drum up new members. MOMENT noticed that...
...Low birth rates and a high degree of intermarriage and assimilation mean that Hadassah si ill has to reach oul to Jewish women...
...The ad campaign was a success, according to Novick...
...Novick says the returns on that effort cannot be calculated yet, but are sure to be positive...
...Increasing numbers of women are returning to the work force or remaining in the work force even if they marry and have kids...
...B'nai B'rith takes this stand...
...More than 250 people responded...
...We are worried about continuity, as all Jews are, both for our organization and the community...
...I would even say one day we must help the Arabs...
...half of those signed up to be new members...
...But this didn't come close to paying for the ad...
...Despite Hadassah's impressive membership lists, executive director Aileen Novick says her organization wants to attract a new type of member...
...Through ads in the general and Jewish media, public service announcements on television and educational programs in synagogues throughout the country, AJWS amasses supporters and communicates its vision...
...Israel today is a nation under siege—by Palestinian Arabs, by a hostile press, by hypocrite governments...
...Elie Wiesel, in a statement explaining why he joined the board, said: "When I needed people to come and help, nobody came, and therefore I must come...
...AJWS is funded by foundations and individuals including Phillips-Van Heusen, Mazon, The Spitzer Foundation, The Altschul Foundation, The Pritzker Foundation, American Express, television producer Norman Lear and philanthropists Samuel Belzburg and Arnold Glimcher...
...We understand the situation much better now.' " B'nai B'rith has run ads in the past to express opinions, and will continue to do so in the future, according to Neuman...
...It was meant to put the Middle East issue into context since the media's focus has been sensational and leaves out the important historical perspective...
...AJWS spends its money on development projects and emergency relief in third-world countries...
...Clothe the naked and never hide yourself from those in need" (Isaiah 58:7), one ad said...
...Perhaps this wave of recruits won't have as much time to volunteer as the previous generation, but these women will still be a resource lor their Local chapters, will swell the ranks or Hadassah, and will be participating in a Jewish-identified organization...
...For instance, when a volcano erupted and killed 20,000 people in Armero, Colombia, in 1985, the Jewish community of Colombia contacted AJWS and asked for guidance in offering aid to the stricken...
...we say: There is more to the Middle East than what the networks show and the cartoonists draw...
...The most exciting ones were from non-Jews who said, 'Thank you for sharing your perspective with us...
...The ad was meant to elucidate a perspective," said B'nai B'rith executive vice president Thomas Neuman...
...B'nai B'rith's full-page ad hardly reads like a solicitation for membership or funds...
...The ad was not meant as a membership drive, but was meant to be an image statement that would appeal to the New Woman," Novick told MOMENT...
...But the organization's philosophy is that you cannot judge advertising by the number of new members that join, or by the money it brings in...
...We must show them that although suffering could numb a person and numb a people, our suffering has produced the opposite: an awareness and a tremendous call against numbness, against moral numbness, against moral insensitivity...
...These women have a limited amount of time and usually don't want to make a commitment to an organization...
...We've been waiting a long time for a message like this, for someone to say what you've said.' Others who wrote disagreed, and there were a certain amount of hard-line anti-Semitic responses from non-Jews...
...We're Very Good," reads Hadas-sah's advertisement, "You Can Make Us Better...
...The notion of Jews giving charity to non-Jewish projects disturbs some Jews, who feel that we should be helping our own people first...
...Hadassah has no plans for running more ads in the future...
...Hadassah hopes that women will see the benefits of associating with a civic organization and will realize that it will strengthen their resumes in the working world...
...The organizers and members of the AJWS board (including prominent community leaders) say that they view giving charity to non-Jews as a part of their commitment to tikun olam, the repair of the world...
...The Jewish community of San Salvador, EI Salvador, is working with AJWS to rebuild some of the poorest sections of the city, which were devastated after an earthquake...
...in fact, about 20 percent of those who wrote wanted to join or contribute to the organization...
...Hadassah's national office was so pleased with the success of the Timei ad that they sent copies of it to Hadassah chapters nationwide and encouraged each one to place the ad in its local media...
...The overwhelming response was supportive," said Neuman...
...No Other Organization in the World Has Our Kind of Clout . . . 385,000 Women...
...Jews Don't Only Help Jews," read another...
...The ad paid for itself and gave the organization excellent exposure, she explained...
...New members pulled in by the three ads now total 9.5 percent of their membership, according to AJWS president Laurence R. Simon...
...The ad goes on in passionate defense of' 'the free and democratic State of Israel," reminding the reader about the PLO's history of aggression, the betterment of social conditions for the Arabs since the occupation and the failure of other Arabs to aid the Palestinians...
...Some of those contributors may contribute again...
...Many of the others requested further information that could lead to new memberships in the future, and some sent in contributions...
...Jewish demography is not very encouraging...
...For the American Jewish World Service (AJWS), the first Jewish international development organization, the full-page ads in The New York Times have been so successful that they have run three of them...
...The most common contribution was a S200 donation to the Cardiac Surgical Suite at Hadassah's medical center in Israel, making the contributors ' 'Hadassah Associates...
...Together they planned the construction of a brick-making facility that now employs more than 100 people and has produced more than 1.5 million bricks for rebuilding destroyed homes...
...We must continue to help Jews and non-Jews...
...It is time for American friends of the Jewish state to stand up and be counted, to assert proudly our identification with her government and her cause...
...Advertising is not fundraising, but it complements fund-raising efforts," said Dena Wortzel, AJWS director of outreach and education...
...Nearly 1,000 letters poured in within two days of the ad's appearance...
...To the people of Israel, we say: We are with you . . . To our fellow-Americans...
...A Message from B'nai B'rith," announces the ad's headline...
...We will make whatever investment we have to in order to tell the public what we feel is important," he says...
...The words most frequently used in support of our ad," said Neuman, "were 'Bravo...
...In fact, it was written as a statement to the public, clarifying B'nai B'rith's position on the West Bank hostilities...
...MOMENT noticed that Hadassah, B'nai B'rith and the American Jewish World Service took out full-page ads recently in The New York Times, and we wondered what kinds of responses they were getting and whether this type of general advertisement was worth S30,000 a page...
...Share your bread with the hungry...
Vol. 13 • May 1988 • No. 3
