MERCAZ
Newsletter - Fall 2004
From
the President's Desk
At the end of June I had the privilege of leading the MERCAZ USA delegation
to Jerusalem for the annual meetings of World Zionist Organiza-tion’s
General Council, the Jewish Agency Assembly and the JAFI Board of Governors.
As always, it was a privilege to be in Jerusalem and attend these international
meetings as part of the larger Con-servative/Masorti “MERCAZ Olami”
delegation.
Over the course of the past year, the WZO has been working on a new constitution,
to define the issues and create the structures that will enable Zionism
to remain meaningful in the 21st century. While a new constitution has
yet to be completed, all those in attendance agreed that the Zionist Movement
needed a new Jerusalem Program, a new Zionist credo, if we wanted the
organization to continue being relevant.
As reported in the Spring 2004 MERCAZ newsletter, Dr. David Breakstone,
who represents our Movement on the WZO Executive, had been working on
drafting a new and revised Jerusalem Program for the past couple of years.
His major innovation to the existing Jerusalem Program, which was last
amended in 1968, was the call on Israeli and Diaspora Jews to be mutually
engaged in shaping Israel as an exemplary society, in working together
to improve the society of Israel.
Elsewhere, it is reported how I and other MERCAZ representatives were
called upon to work out language that would be acceptable to the Orthodox,
Reform and Conservative streams. Difficult negotiations went on for nearly
a year among the parties. At different points, there were those to our
left and right who were prepared to vote against a new Jerusalem Program
that didn’t satisfy their specific concerns. I am proud of the role
that our organization played in developing the compromise to allow for
the Program’s unanimous passage.
The reason that we felt that a compromise was necessary is that Conservative-Masorti
Zionism involves far more than religious pluralism, as important as it
is, in its vision of what Israeli society should become. As Conservative
Zionists, we are concerned with the Israel-Diaspora relationship. We are
concerned with the growing social gap in Israel between the “haves”
and the “have-nots”. We are concerned with the relationship
between Israeli Jews, their fellow Israeli Arab citizens and the foreign
workers in their midst. And finally, we are concerned about the protection
of Israel’s landscape and environment.
Without a new Jerusalem Program, there would be no authority to our demand
that these issues also be considered part and parcel of the Zionist agenda.
Now that the new Jerusalem Program has been officially adopted, our calls
for a Jewish State that is based on “mutual respect for the multi-faceted
Jewish People, rooted in the vision of the prophets, striving for peace
and contributing to the betterment of the world” cannot be ruled
out of order.
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Jerusalem Program
2004
zionism, the national liberation movement of the jewish people,
brought about the establishment of the state of israel, and views
a jewish, zionist, democratic and secure state of israel to be the
expression of the common responsibility of the jewish people for
its continuity and future.
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The
foundations of Zionism are:
1. The unity of the Jewish people, its bond to its historic homeland
Eretz Yisrael, and the centrality of the State of Israel and Jerusalem,
its capital, in the life of the nation.
2. Aliyah to Israel from all countries and the effective integration
of all immigrants into Israeli Society.
3. Strengthening Israel as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state
and shaping it as an exemplary society with a unique moral and spiritual
character, marked by mutual respect for the multi-faceted Jewish
people rooted in the vision of the prophets, striving for peace
and contributing to the betterment of the world.
4. Ensuring the future and the distinctiveness of the Jewish People
by furthering Jewish, Hebrew and Zionist education, fostering spiritual
and cultural values and teaching Hebrew as the national language.
5. Nurturing mutual Jewish responsibility, defending the rights
of Jews as individuals and as a nation, representing the national
Zionist interests of the Jewish people, and struggling against all
manifestations of anti-Semitism.
6. Settling the country as an expression of practical Zionism.
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