MERCAZ USA Newsletter — Winter 2009-2010

President's Column — Dr. Stephen S. Wolnek

It's hard to believe but less than seven months from the next World Zionist Congress, we still don't know how the delegates to the international gathering of world Jewry will be selected. As reported in the last MERCAZ newsletter, there are a number of proposals being circulated about how to distribute the 310 delegate positions from the various Zionist federations outside of Israel (Israel's Knesset election of earlier this year counts as well for the Zionist Congress).

Will there be Zionist elections as for previous congresses? Will there be a "freeze" by which the delegations would be maintained with the exact same distribution between the different Zionist parties as they were in 2006? To date, we still have no final decision, so, paraphrasing our country's founding fathers, MERCAZ is keeping its powder dry and its muskets at hand.

However, we should not forget that getting to the Congress, however we do so, is only a means to an end and that end is to maximize the benefits that MERCAZ, as the Zionist arm of the Conservative Movement, secures from the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency on behalf of the rest of our movement in Israel and around the world.

Of course there are the "spiritual" benefits that Conservative Judaism enjoys from participating in the Zionist enterprise. For example, because of our involvement, the Jerusalem Program, the defining statement of what Zionism stands for, was modified a couple of years ago to include an explicit acknowledgment of, and support for, pluralism and diversity in Judaism: "[Zionism means] Strengthening Israel as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state . . . marked by mutual respect for the multi-faceted Jewish people . . . "

And then there are the material benefits. These benefits translate into an annual net equivalency of cash and services in excess of $2.5 million, as well as significant influence in decision-making that impact on the global Jewish agenda and the Jewish Agency budget of more than $320,000,000.

Here are some of the highlights:

$1,500,000 of allocations to Masorti institutions in Israel every year, divided primarily between the Masorti Movement, on the one hand, and the Schechter Institute and TALI Educational Fund, on the other.
An annual allocation of some $100,000 for activities of MAROM Olami, our young adult Zionist association.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to Masorti/Conservative educational projects around the world.
Shlichim for our youth movements and kehillot in the Diaspora, including Naomi Freedman, the Aliyah Shlicha to the Conservative Movement in North America.
Nearly $400,000 annually to meet the spiritual and educational needs of Masorti/Conservative Jews in Europe and South America.
Nearly $100,000 per year of support for MERCAZ Olami to serve our constituency throughout the world.
Official representation on the Executive and other major decision-making bodies of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization.
Membership on the Board of Directors and key committees of Keren Kayemet LeYisrael-Jewish National Fund.
Control of the Department for Zionist Activities, the primary department of the WZO.
Support for a variety of activities to promote aliyah.

These benefits are a direct result of the size of our delegation at the Zionist Congress, which is itself a direct outcome of the annual MERCAZ membership campaign. As we await the final determination about how we get to the 36th World Zionist Congress, I urge you to take this opportunity to (re)join MERCAZ USA for the current 2009/2010 membership year.

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