MERCAZ USA Newsletter — Winter 2008-2009

President's Column — Dr. Stephen S. Wolnek

[Ed: We are happy to present highlights from "M&M: The Symbiotic Relationship of MERCAZ and Masorti" by Dr. David Breakstone, International Vice–President, MERCAZ/Masorti Olami]

"Over the weekend of September 12–14, 57 members of Masorti kehillot from 8 countries throughout Europe convened in London to participate in a leadership development seminar. Five years ago, such a gathering would not only have been unimaginable, it would have been impossible. Many of the participants came from congregations that simply did not exist then. Nor did the funding that enabled them to come together and that supports their efforts throughout the year.

There is no better illustration of the importance of MERCAZ than this. While it is the incredibly dedicated individuals who built these communities from scratch, the financial assistance that is now available to them from the World Zionist Organization is entirely a function of MERCAZ political clout. The more than 125 Masorti congregations throughout the world (outside of Israel and North America) now have access to $650,000 a year from the WZO, in addition to the funds raised by Masorti Olami, all because of MERCAZ.

The presence of Conservative congregations in Melbourne, Johannesburg, Nice, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, Valencia, Guadalajara, Budapest, Prague, Kiev, Paris, London and Delhi (to name but a few) might not appear to be a major achievement to North American Jews for whom Conservative Judaism is normative. But everywhere else, they have emerged only if a handful of locals were able to overcome the entrenched secularism, Orthodoxy, or Jewish illiteracy characterizing the mainstream.

Where they have been able to do this, it has been with the support and assistance of MERCAZ, and its world headquarters in Jerusalem. Funds generated by MERCAZ have enabled the Jerusalem office to send rabbis to the congregations to teach and officiate at services, offer support to rabbinical students committed to serving them, provide seed money for numerous educational initiatives, purchase siddurim, train shlichei tzibur, and send Israeli shlichim (educational emissaries) to work within these new communities, in particular with NOAM, our burgeoning youth movement.

No less significant is that as a consequence of our presence within the WZO, MERCAZ has also been able to secure appointments to the Executive, Board of Governors, and standing committees of the Jewish Agency (JAFI), as well as assure an annual allocation of nearly $1.7 million from the JAFI budget for the institutions of Masorti Judaism within Israel–Schechter Institute, Masorti Movement and Fuchsberg Center, to name a few – without which we would be crippled.

MERCAZ, however, is not only about generating funding; it is also about impacting the agenda and influencing policy of world Jewry. One outstanding contribution in this regard is within Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (the Jewish National Fund). It is with great pride that we can point to our three exceptional candidates – all professionally engaged in environmental issues – who are utilizing their posts to make real and tangible contributions to eco–Zionism.

In parallel bodies, we are also impacting on Israeli government policy and the Jewish Agency regarding such matters as conversion, "Who is a Jew", "Aliya by choice" and the development of Jewish life in the countries of the former Soviet Union and Iron Curtain. In addition to the official channels of influence open to us, we also have easy and ongoing contact with prominent members of the Knesset as a result of our formal alliance with the Kadima Party within the WZO. Accordingly, our opinions and needs are regularly heard within the Prime Minister's office, and as we look to the 2010 World Zionist Congress, we know that the larger the number of our mandates, the stronger our voice.

MERCAZ is the voice of Conservative Judaism in the one and only international arena – the framework of the World Zionist Organization, Jewish Agency and Keren Kayemeth – where the entire political and religious spectrum of world Jewry convenes. How loudly we are able to speak there, with what moral authority and to what effect depends on you."

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