MERCAZ USA Newsletter — Fall 2011

President's Column — Janet Tobin

{Ed: The following column originally appeared as "MERCAZ Membership Matters" in the Summer '11 edition of CJ: Voices of Conservative/Masorti Judaism}


Janet Tobin, President of MERCAZ USA

I am convinced that Conservative/ Masorti Judaism needs to be more assertive in its demands for full access and equal treatment in Israel. When we look at what is happening in Israel today, we have to marvel at how far removed the Jewish state has come from being an "or la'goyim", a light unto the nations. Increasingly, the ultra-Orthodox have created a dark and narrow vision of the Jewish people that is more and more out of step with our self image as Conservative/Masorti Jews.

If we truly believe that Israel is the Jewish state, belonging to all Jews everywhere, then it is our responsibility to fight against this trend. The way that Conservative Jews are best able to do this is by expanding the opportunities for religious pluralism and non-Orthodox streams in Israel. And if the current political system gives undue power to the ultra-Orthodox, then we must take full advantage of the other sources of power and funding that are available – the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for Israel.

More than five million dollars is available each year from the two organizations as part of an affirmative action program to support non-Orthodox Judaism is Israel.

This funding is crucial to the expansion of the Masorti movement in Israel, which now has nearly 60 kehillot, the Schechter Institute and its Tali Education Fund, and the United Synagogue Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center and its Conservative Yeshiva and Nativ programs.

But where does the Conservative movement intersect with the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency? How can we get access to this funding? Here's where MERCAZ comes in.

As the Zionist representatives of the Conservative movement, we operate specifically in this international Jewish/Zionist arena. The extent of our influence is determined by two factors: the size of our membership and the number of votes we secure in the elections that are held on the eve of each Zionist Congress.

And therein lies the rub. Our ability to influence and gain access to this funding is hampered by our lack of members. Although the Conservative movement in North America has more than a half million adults 18 and older, MERCAZ USA has fewer than 15,000 members. This does not mean that Conservative Judaism is non- or anti-Zionist.

Rather the problem is the matter of membership itself. For some Conservative Jews, it is enough to join a Zionist organization like Hadassah, Naamat, or Amit. If they belong to such an organization, then there is no need to join a specifically Conservative Zionist organization, many people feel. Others think that because their synagogues are part of a Zionist movement, they're already members of the Conservative Zionist organization. Unfortunately, neither view is correct.

To be sure, most of the Zionist organizations do important work, but religious pluralism is not on their agendas. And while we all agree that the synagogue is the essential institution of Jewish life in North America, synagogue membership by itself does not make you a member of MERCAZ, the Zionist arm of the Conservative movement.

Think what we could do on behalf of Israel's Masorti congregations, Tali schools, and the Conservative Yeshiva if instead of fewer than 15,000 members, MERCAZ USA had 150,000 members!

That would be many times more voters and supporters than we had in the last Zionist Congress elections. We would have the overwhelming majority of North American delegates. We would emerge as the largest Zionist political party at the Congress, in control of the WZO and the Jewish Agency and their combined five million dollars in affirmative action funding.

There is still time to turn things around. The next Zionist Congress will be in 2014, so now is the time to start our preparations – first for membership and then for votes. Join me now!

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