Wednesday, January 26, 2011

BEYOND PATRONIZING

Somewhere from within the bowels of JFNA has emerged a sense that you market Jewish life as one would market toilet paper. Patronizing and pandering have trumped the Jewish values that always...always...characterized our work. One of the Friends of the Blog, a great professional, forwarded on to me a JFNA invitation to the national Women's Heart to Heart 2 Mission. Here is how it read:


"See this necklace?

(A reproduction of a large necklace appeared here)

In the United States, it could cost $400.

When you join us on the
H2H2 mission, you could buy it at the Michal Negrin Factory for a fraction of that.

While you're there, you can also meet Michal Negrin, who is not only a talented jewelry designer but also a leading philanthropist who helps children worldwide.

Register today and meet Michal Negrin and other inspiring women like her on
Heart to Heart 2: A Women's Mission to Israel, February 12-17."


Then, if you link to the H2H2 site you will read this: "Find new meaning to your Jewish values." Uh huh.


Rwexler

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, "JFNA knows what it is and is now just haggling over the price".

Anonymous said...

Actually I think that what has happened is that the women saw the way that Tribefest was marketed: Come to LV, have fun and by the way you might learn about Jewish values and as some federations have offered - we will also pay you to do so. They decided they could try a similar technique with some of the same success rate. What's next - a few possible ideas: Early bird incentive: You will receive a 20% discount toward your purchase of any necklace, or the first fifty to register will be able to qualify for their Lion pin at a 10% smaller donation.

paul jeser said...

Can you imagine this type of mission in the days of Bernstein-Bloom-Pearlman-Friedman-Peppercorn?

NOT!

Think: "KOACH", "This Year In Jerusalem"