Touch his kippah and Blue Boy Box nods

ANT KATZ

The Jewish National Fund (JNF) in South Africa celebrated Tu B’Shvat by making and donating a beautifully-crafted “Blue Boy Box” – a replica of their world-famous square tin for donations to plant new trees in Israel, to King David Linksfield Pre-Primary School.

“The importance of the Blue Box was described to the children for each generation,” explained JNF Director Amber Cummings, showing how the tzedakah (charity or welfare) tin explains exactly what it is about. On one side is the map of Israel as the fund supports Israel and on the other the flag, representing the Jewish people globally.

RIGHT: Lee Murgatroid (artist and sculptor who made the Blue Box Boy); Sharon Sack; and Amber Cummins of the JNF; and Sheva Messias, principal of the King David Linksfield Pre-Primary School, with children from the school admiring the Blue Boy Box.

“I explained that G-d gave us the Land of Israel, but it is the responsibility of Jews all over the world to build it, develop it and nurture it as the home of the Jewish nation,” Cummins told Jewish Report.

She says that the explanation was kept simple because of the age of the children, who were “very taken with their new life-size friend who has a spring neck so he nods it you tap his kippah”.