Page 106 - ISRAEL'S CRADLE

Over various decades, the "Herzl Room" – a recreation of Herzl's original study in Vienna – resided in the KKL-JNF Wing of the National Institutions Building. Upon the establishment of the Herzl Museum on Mount Herzl, it was transferred there in its entirety.
Over the years, KKL-JNF has dedicated efforts and resources to reaching the broadest audiences possible via booklets, books, posters, pictures and films. It operates in Israel and in dozens of countries around the world, where it is known by its initials – JNF (Jewish National Fund).
Keren Hayesod
Keren Hayesod is the second national fund which operated alongside KKL-JNF since the early 20th century. It was established at the World Zionist Conference that convened in London in 1920, and the first section on the resolution establishing it stated: "to found a fund for immigration and settlement named 'Keren Hayesod'. The fund is organized as a legal entity." The purpose of the fund from its inception was to finance the execution of the Zionist idea to establish a national home and afterwards a state in the Land of Israel.
But how to gather the large sums of money required to that end? During the first period, a new-old idea was raised: "Keren Hayesod, as a fundamental example of fulfilling the self-work, shall impose the historic and national tax of the 'tithe', which existed and operated in the life of the nation in each generation."
This brilliant idea failed and within a very short time a special mechanism of Keren Hayesod was established, which dealt with raising funds in more acceptable ways – All for the purpose of establishing a Jewish Land of Israel. And indeed, within a few years, Keren Hayesod became the primary financial tool of the World Zionist Organization, and its funds enabled the establishment of settlements, industrial enterprises, infrastructure development and even assistance to educational and cultural institutions. Large sums were directly and indirectly transferred for security goals. Few know this but the first delegation of Keren Hayesod to the United States in 19221, focused upon raising funds for the establishment of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and among its active members was the renowned scientist and Nobel Prize laureate, Albert Einstein.
During its first six years, Keren Hayesod was centered in London. In 1926, its executive decided that the time had come to prove in practice that Keren Hayesod's center of activity was the Land of Israel.
In October of that year, the London office was moved lock, stock and barrel to Jerusalem, and with it arrived the heads of Keren Hayesod, Leib Yaffe and Arthur Hantke. In the meantime, Keren Hayesod did not have a home of its own, and upon the decision to erect the National Institutions Building in the late Twenties, it joined the other institutions and it was determined that it would reside in the building's left wing. In 1932, Keren Hayesod secured a loan from the "Phoenix" Insurance Company.
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