MERCAZ USA Newsletter — Fall 2009

Mazal Tov

. . . to Dr. Hanan Alexander, who was elected to succeed Dr. Ismar Schorsch as Chair of the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary Board. Alexander, ordained from the Jewish Theological Seminary, is Professor of Philosophy of Education at the University of Haifa where he heads the Center for Jewish Education and the International School for Overseas Students.

MERCAZ USA -- Conservative Jews make aliyah and put it on YouTube.

Conservative Jews making aliyah speak about what motivates them. Hear our new olim, including Rabbi E. Noach Shapiro (the outgoing rabbi of Congregation Shomrei Emunah in Montclair, NJ) and Monica Shapiro discuss the reasons for their aliyah.

Go to www.linktoisrael.org/link/you-tube-aliyah-videos.html

. . . to Rabbis Moshe Silberschein and Tamar Elad-Appelbaum, who were named as Dean and Associate Dean respectively of the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary. Silberschein, a veteran lecturer in rabbinical studies, was ordained from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Elad-Appelbaum, a graduate of the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary, has worked as a pulpit rabbi at the Masorti congregation in Omer and as a program director at the Masorti Movement's national office. She will serve next year as an interim assistant rabbi of Temple Israel Center in White Plains, NY.

. . . to Rabbi Alan Silverstein, who was chosen as the new Chair of the Masorti Foundation for Conservative Judaism in Israel, succeeding Co-Chairs Gloria Bieler and Earl Greinitz. Silverstein, the religious leader of Congregation Agudath Israel in Caldwell, New Jersey, is a former President of the Rabbinical Assembly and of Masorti Olami-World Council of Conservative/Masorti Synagogues.

. . . to Masorti Europe, on the formal affiliation of the Great Synagogue of Stockholm with the Masorti organization. Although served for the past 30 years by rabbis who were members of the Rabbinical Assembly, the Stockholm congregation always remained unaffiliated. One of the largest congregations in Europe, the synagogue's sanctuary has seating for 900 people.

. . . to Natan Sharansky, who was selected in June as the new Chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive. Sharansky, the famed Jewish refusenik from the former Soviet Union who was first elected to the Knesset in 1996 a decade after being freed from the Soviet labor camp and arriving in Israel and who served as a minister in a succession of Israeli governments through 2005, succeeds Zeev Bielski who was elected to the Knesset in February. However, as opposed to the past, when the prime minister's candidate would be automatically accepted as JAFI Chair, Sharansky, the candidate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was required to submit to a formal nominating committee process before his formal selection; in addition, unlike his predecessors, JAFI insisted that he relinquish the right to serve simultaneously as Chairman of the World Zionist Organization.

Among the candidates vying for the open WZO position is Rabbi Michael Melchior, the candidate of the Kadima-HaNoar HaZioni-MERCAZ "United Faction". Melchior, who was born in Denmark and held the position of Chief Rabbi of Norway before making aliyah, has been a leader of the liberal Orthodox Meimad Party. He was first elected to the Knesset in 1999 and during his 10-year tenure as an MK served as a minister in a number of Israeli governments.

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