Mazal Tov . . .

To Rabbi Vernon Kurtz, who was elected President of MERCAZ Olami, the international Zionist organization of the Conservative Movement, succeeding Interim President Brian Wine who was filling in following the death of the elected MERCAZ Olami President Roy Clements z’’l.

To Ze’ev Bielski, Mayor of Raanana, who was elected Chairman of the Executive of the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency, following the resignation in June of Sallai Meridor.

To Sandy Starkman, a member of the MERCAZ USA Board of Directors, who was elected a Vice President of the American Zionist Movement, Chicago Region.

To USY and Camp Ramah who sent nearly 720 teenagers to Israel this summer on Pilgrimage and Israel Seminar, the largest group since the outbreak nearly five years ago of the current Palestinian Intifada. Mazal tov also to USY’s NATIV Program which has a record number of 80 participants on its year-long program.