What Can We Do to Help Israel and the Masorti Movement?
Participate in the World Zionist Congress Elections!

(Based on a sermon by Rabbi Arthur Lavinsky, Temple Beth El, Phoenix AZ)

Several years ago, Dr. Ismar Schorsch, Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, wrote a short tractate entitled The Sacred Cluster in which he defined the core values of Conservative Judaism as he saw them. As he wrote, "Conservative Judaism is best understood as a sacred cluster of core values . . . seven such core values, to my mind, that imprint Conservative Judaism with a principled receptivity to modernity balanced by a deep reverence for tradition. . . The centrality of modern Israel heads our list of core values. For Conservative Jews, as for their ancestors, Israel is not only the birthplace of the Jewish people. But also its final destiny."

Dr. Schorsch poses the following challenge: What can we, who live in the comfort of the Diaspora, do to help Israel? How can we make a difference?

In so many ways, Israel is a wonderful place. It is a place replete with history and tradition. It is the Jewish homeland, which serves as a safe haven for Jews throughout the world in times of trouble.

Yet there is one very important element that is often missing in Israel, and that has to do with the day-to-day spirituality of most Israelis. As you probably know, only about 15-20% of Israelis identify themselves as religious, most of whom are Orthodox. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Israelis are turned off to religion, much of which is due to the heavy, coercive hand of the Orthodox rabbinate. Israel, as you know, has no "wall of separation" as we do (between religion and state), and sadly, many Israelis are repulsed by the corrupt official Israeli rabbinate. Our Conservative Movement in Israel (known as "Masorti" which means "traditional") offers wonderful educational and spiritual opportunities for our brothers and sisters in Israel. Israel has often seen religion as an "all or nothing" equation, and the Conservative Movement offers a way for Israelis to bridge their love for modernity with their love for Judaism.

Last year, a poll was taken of Israeli attitudes towards attending services for the High Holidays. As you may know, most Israelis historically have defined "authentic" religion with Orthodoxy. Even if they were not religious, they would joke that the synagogue that they don't attend is Orthodox. Yet, surprisingly, the survey should that not only were many Israelis planning to attend Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services at a non-Orthodox congregation, Masorti or Progressive, but even more would be happy to attend such services were such a synagogue to be built in their neighborhood. Yet, in the current situation, where the Israeli government provides funding only for Orthodox synagogues to be established, it falls to us in the Diaspora to secure the resources needed to build and develop the Masorti Movement.

One important source of such funding is the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for Israel. Annually the WZO and Jewish Agency allocate more than $300 million in support of aliyah, Jewish education and key affirmative action programs for non-Orthodox Judaism to provide as religious alternative to Israelis between the extremes of Orthodoxy, on the one hand, and secularism, on the other. But how can we in the Diaspora influence how these communal funds are allocated?

As the unofficial parliament of the Jewish people, the WZO and Jewish Agency reflect the values of the different religious and ideological groups that compete in the World Zionist Congress elections that take place every four years. Similarly, funds are distributed in proportion with the number of votes each group gets. Therefore, the more votes an organization receives, the greater the amount of communal funding it can secure for its programs and institutions. Hence for the Conservative Movement, it becomes imperative to secure a large vote in order to direct more money to our movement in Israel.

As a result, if we in the Diaspora want to make a difference in Israel, each and every one of us should register to vote for the upcoming elections in the World Zionist Congress. While the cost to register and vote is only $7, or $5 if you are a student, the benefits to our movement and to the spirituality in Israel can be many, many times that.

MERCAZ USA is the Zionist arm of our movement and has been working tirelessly to register Conservative Jews to vote in the upcoming WZO election. Won't you please consider registering and voting for MERCAZ USA when your ballots arrive? The funds that will distributed as a result will support Conservative programs for North Americans in Israel which include USY Pilgrimage, the Ramah Seminar, the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem and the NATIV Year Course. Your vote will help strengthen the Conservative/Masorti Movement and the cause of religious pluralism in Israel, which is sorely needed.

You can register for these elections at the MERCAZ website at www.mercazusa.org. Please invest just a little bit of your time to insure the spiritual well being of the Jewish State. You can do this by registering for the WZO elections. Thank you, in advance. I know that I can count on you!

Shabbat Shalom,

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