Jewelry for a Cause: Torah Fund

by Rita Wertlieb

While it may not be politically correct to say that diamonds are a girl’s best friend, the Women’s League Torah Fund Campaign has proven that a little bling, tasteful and worn for a good cause, does fill the coffers as it provides the women of the Conservative movement with a unique way to help preserve, promote, and perpetuate Jewish tradition.

Lest we stand accused of undervaluing monetary donations to ensure institutional longevity, we can look to historical precedent. At the beginning of parashat Terumah, Moses instructs the people to “bring gifts…from every person whose heart moves him” that they may build God a sanctuary. It was the collective responsibility of every member of the people Israel to provide for Jewish continuity, not only through the performance of mitzvot, but through the more mundane – but hardly less sacred – act of giving. Women as well as men participated through their gifts of gold and silver, precious stones and fabrics, skins and wood to the building of the mishkan, the Tabernacle.

The Women’s League Torah Fund is in no small way a continuation of this mandate, which goes back to the founding days of our people. When it was first launched, Torah Fund offered scholarships to Jewish Theological Seminary students. Today, having raised $78,453,800 over its 65- year history, Torah Fund also supports the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles, the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, and Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires.

In an ironic but nevertheless effective twist to this fundraising principle, beginning in 1957 as both thank you and incentive, contributors to a special Torah Fund category were presented with elegant custom-designed pins. That first pin, crafted by noted silversmith Ludwig Wolpert, depicted the Seminary’s logo of the Burning Bush. Mr. Wolpert went on to design beautiful silver pins through 1981, usually illustrating a Jewish ritual object or image from JTS. Since then, Bernard Bernstein, a student of Mr. Wolpert’s, and Israeli artists Michael Katz and Eytan Brandes created the eagerly anticipated pins on specific themes. This year, you can see women in every community proudly wearing the 2008 pin illustrating Kol Ishah-A Woman’s Voice, created by another Israeli artist, Eric Naor.

In 1957, the campaign raised $285,176; in 2007, 10,000 women were presented with pins in a campaign that raised over two and a half million dollars. Whether worn on the lapels of their jackets or displayed in their homes, Torah Fund pins have been a cherished tradition for 50 years, acknowledging the financial contributions of the women of the Conservative movement to its most important educational institutions.

For information, call (212) 678-8876 or go to www.wlcj.org/TorahFund.