When M. Larry Lawrence, the now deceased owner of the Hotel del Coronado, suggested to Dr. Sol Lizerbram that he might consider becoming involved with the Jewish National Fund, Lizerbram had a  flashback to his grandmother's kitchen.

He remembered how every Friday night, just before lighting the Shabbos candles, his immigrant grandmother, Minnie Cutler, would put "money for Israel" into a blue box.  Sometimes she would let little Sol put a few coins into the pushke as well.

Lizerbram's parents, Esther and Joseph Lizerbram, also kept a blue box prominently displayed in their kitchen, and, it later turned out, so too did Ida Flan and Rachel Cohen, the grandmothers of his future wife, Lauren, who hailed from Brooklyn.

Asked if they associated any aromas with their grandmothers' kitchens, Lauren laughed  and exclaimed, "we like to get away from those aromas now; we're on a fat-free diet!"  Sol said he can remember the smell of chicken soup-and picture the kreplach floating in it.

For the Lizerbrams and countless other families, mention of the Jewish National Fund brings pleasant memories not only of the blue coin boxes but also of the certificates certifying that a tree had been planted in Israel in the bearer's name.

Lizerbram-whose unique last name is believed to be a contraction of Eliezer and Abraham-remembers that when he was going to Hebrew school in Philadelphia, "we had some kind of coin card, and every time you came to school you would bring a quarter with you, and you would put it into the card, and when the card was filled, you would turn it in and get a certificate back."

After they became active with JNF as adults, the Lizerbrams went on a mission to Israel and visited a moshav called Kohav Mikhael, located near Ashkelon. They were shocked that the children of the moshav, having no real playground, rollicked in an old rusting army jeep.  

At the suggestion of JNF, they decided to donate to the moshav the equipment for a playground - swings, slides, other play equipment, picnic tables and benches.  All of it was placed in a small grove.

In 1989, after the playground was set up, the Lizerbram family went to the moshav for a short dedication ceremony.  They took along their two children, David and Marci, who are today 25 and 21 respectively, as well as three parentst, who since have died.  

A few speeches preceded the unveiling of a plaque naming the playground after the Lizerbrams, and a reception followed.  But neither the ceremony nor the food were the highlights of the occasion, the Lizerbrams recalled to HERITAGE.  "It was one of the most exciting times of our 30-year marriage to watch these kids playing in a brightly colored, well-designed playground," Sol said. "It was very colorful, heavy plastic equipment, very durable, and the kids were thrilled," commented Lauren.  "It was just a great experience.  It really was."

Sol Lizerbram said one of the reasons he was drawn as a contributor to the Jewish National Fund is that one can earmark one's contributions for specific projects such as the playground, rather than contribute to a general fund.

He described the playground project as an investment which instead of providing a financial return gave instead a large "emotional return."

The ceremony at the playground, he said, "was a typical dedication, but our kids seemed to absorb all this, probably more than we realized, because later on, when my daughter was asked to write  an essay in high school regarding one of her fondest moments, she wrote the essay about the dedication of this playground," Sol said.  "We didn't really discuss the dedication of the playground, but somewhere it was embedded."

Today a student at the University of Arizona, Marci said although she was still a pre-teen at the time of the dedication, she still can "remember driving somewhere really far in a van and having the whole family there."  She said she has remained involved in Jewish life ever since, including participation in 1998 in the March of the Living program which takes Jews from the Diaspora on a visit to the concentration camps of Poland in time for Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) and then to Israel in time for its Independence Day (Yom Ha'Atzma'ut).

By participating in the march, Marci literally followed in her brother David's footsteps, who made the emotional trek in 1994 as part of a delegation representing the Jewish National Fund. The Lizerbrams have a photograph in their Fairbanks Ranch home of David with an intense reflective expression on his face shortly after visiting the Auschwitz death camp.  He is sitting on the ground, wrapped in a JNF banner, as if for comfort.

Today a third-year law student at Loyola University in Los Angeles, said he remembers how the playground dedication had a big impact on him and made him want to become involved in the march and other JNF projects.

"I felt really happy and proud that my parents were taking the time and energy and working on this sort of project," he told HERITAGE.   He said he especially liked the idea that the playground was benefiting people who had no social, geographic or business connection to his family-but were simply fellow Jews in need.   "It's not like our friends or neighbors would be walking by this Lizerbram playground; that was impressive to me," David said.

A couple of years after the playground dedication, Sol Lizerbram was elected to a two year term as president of the San Diego chapter of the Jewish National Fund .  He now is in his fifth term as president, but there have been some far-reaching organizational changes in the JNF in the interim.

The previous national executive director of the organization resigned after controversy erupted over the percentage of dollars that went to administration and local American projects as opposed to going directly to the support of projects in Israel.

A new team came in to direct the Jewish National Fund, led by Ronald Lauder, the heir to the Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune and a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel,  who became the lay president; and Russell F. Robinson, who became the national executive director.

Lauder and Robinson promptly went about cutting the organization's domestic budget, consolidating regional offices around the country.  Among the offices closed was the JNF regional office in San Diego County.  Thereafter, San Diego became part of a Southern California region, which also included Los Angeles County and Orange County.  A regional staff kept offices in Orange County, in the middle of the Southern California region.

Although San Diego County is well represented in the JNF structure, with Lizerbram serving on both the regional board and as a member of the national executive committee, the organization in the last few years has had a very low profile locally.

Large, public events are largely things of the past; with emphasis now placed on small "parlor parties" where San Diego County contributors can hear from various Israeli officials about JNF's new programs.  There also are blue box distribution programs through synagogues and day schools; speakers on Tu B'Shevat (which because it marks the birthday of the trees is considered a JNF holiday), and an annual "Green Sunday" phone-athon, scheduled this year for Feb. 10.

While JNF still is involved in planting trees, and building large and small recreational areas; it also has become deeply involved in the building of reservoirs and dams in an attempt to avert Israel's ever increasing fresh water crisis.  It also participates in the construction of security roads to enable Israeli travelers to skirt areas of sectarian violence.

Having programs coordinated regionally rather than locally, in Lizerbram's view, makes for a more efficient operation.  "Instead of spending a lot of time on meetings on matters that are less than substantive, it streamlines the process," he says.

Lauder and other national leaders including Lizerbram tend to focus their attention on attracting large donors to JNF, given the pressing needs in Israel.  Nevertheless, Lizerbram said the organization never will lose sight of its roots. JNF always will have pushkes and tree certificates  to help people develop the same kind of emotional attachment to Israel that his grandmother had, Lizerbram said.

As the pushkes of his grandmother and mother led to his own and Lauren's involvement with JNF, so too were the Lizerbram children inspired by the playground dedication to participate in the Jewish life of their generation.

Marci says she attends services at the University of Arizona campus, and enjoys returning to Congregation Beth Am for services whenever she's back in San Diego.  She said she "absolutely" plans to be involved in Jewish life after her graduation from university.

Involvement in Jewish life "comes naturally to me," David Lizerbram told HERITAGE. "It's not so much a plan as a reflex for me."

And so, the sense of commitment passes from generation to generation.  For the Lizerbrams, that feeling began its journey with blue boxes occupying prominent locations in their bubbes' kitchens.