I can’t believe it’s been over 10 years since I started A Blue Thread. In that time, millions and millions (as The Rock would say) of people have read my posts. Okay, that’s not true. But still, shout out to The Rock. What is true is that in that time, so many of my Karaite dreams have come true.
Today, I am issuing a challenge: I am hoping to get 500 people to donate to any of the following causes sponsored by the Karaite Jews of America: The Karaite Press; The KJA’s Campaign for the Future; or The KJA’s Needy Fund.
This isn’t a goal to raise a certain amount of money (really: donate $10, $42, $72 dollars – any amount is great). Instead, I want the most amount of people possible donating money. So I am setting my goal this year at a modest 500 people between now and April 2.
(If you feel inclined, in addition to donating, please share this post with your family and friends asking them to support our work as well.)
First a disclaimer. I am on the board of directors of the Karaite Jews of America. I don’t receive any compensation in my role. But I do help the Karaite Jews of America determine how the money is spent. Let me show you a few things the KJA has done with your amazing donations.
- We are started The Karaite Press: This is a massive undertaking. And I am so incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished. We have published 8 books that had never seen the light of day in the English language and few people had ever had access to them in Hebrew or Arabic or Judeo Arabic. And we have a few more books coming out this year and next. And we offer our books at super low prices in order to make Karaitica as accessible as possible. And you can see why this is a cause worth supporting.
- We are launching this Super Cool Web-Site of Karaite Texts: One of the greatest struggles for anyone interested in Karaitica is the fact that virtually none of our works are available online for people to access in any systematic way. The Karaite Jews of America is changing that with this new web-site. We are having a launch part on March 23 on Zoom. There will be glitches and layout issues and tremendous amounts of work to do after the launch. But we are so excited for this. And we also plan to launch classes through this site. Yes. CLASSES. I hope you can see why this is another worthy cause.
- We support the Needy: Throughout the entire year, and especially during the month preceding Passover, the Karaite Jews of America helps needy individuals here in our local community and also in Israel. This is part of our core. As you can imagine, with the pandemic, the number of people needing support has skyrocketed, and the number of people donating to our needy fund has plummeted. This is not a good combination. You can donate by clicking on this image below – and be sure to choose the needy fund in the drop down menu.
- We started The Karaite Kitchen: This site is beautiful, with absolutely amazing pictures by Ezra Moussa. And we definitely need to do more to bring new recipes up there. With Passover coming up, I want to remind you that there are quite a few passover recipes up there to help you enjoy the holiday. You can support this cause by donating to the KJA’s Campaign for the future.
- We have Launched the KJA’s YouTube Page: We’ve published almost 70 videos online. Most of these contain songs that you can sing during various holidays. We have plans to bring you more and more videos – both of the academic variety, but also more songs. You can also support by donating to the KJA’s campaign for the future.
Before you go, if you are looking for a symbolic number to donate, might I suggest $42 (which is the official number of Karaite giving). Or $72 in honor of my Uncle Amin (actually, first cousin once removed) who turns $72 on March 23 – the day of our launch party for our site. If you like the concept of giving in increments of $18, I’ll note that $72 is quadruple 18.
But really, any number is great.
