Shalom All,

If you didn’t already know, the 39th World Zionist Congress (WZC) will be held in Jerusalem this year starting on October 28th.

The WZC is the only democratically elected global Jewish forum anywhere, and is the direct continuation of The First Zionist Congress, convened by Theodor Herzl in 1897. Today, the WZC, which now meets about every five years, is the overall supreme ideological and policy-making body of the Zionist movement. 

The World Zionist Congress is also known as “The Parliament of the Jewish People.” When it meets this October, The United States’ 152 delegates, along with hundreds of others from Israel and around the world, will set policies regarding Jewish life in Israel, and will allocate nearly $1 Billion in annual funding to support Israel and World Jewry.

This is one of the places where American Jews can help shape Israeli policies to be more inclusive of Progressive Jewish values.

Any Jew, 18 years or older, who is a permanent resident of the United States, can vote in this election. There is a voter registration fee of $5 to cover administrative costs. The official website for your vote can be found at this link here. There is more information about the Congress if you scroll down the page, and links to register and vote.

You can, of course, vote for any one of the 15 slates running. Each of the platforms can be found by following their individual links. Since we are Reform Jews, and ARZA (the American Reform Zionist Association) is part of our Movement I encourage you to “Vote Reform.”

Shalom, and may all our voices be heard.

Rabbi Todd