MERCAZ Newsletter - Fall 2002
From My Vantage Point / Evelyn Seelig, President

After more than 2 years of preparation, the 34th World Zionist Congress took place in Israel, June 17-20, 2002. The Congress gathered nearly 1800 Jews from around the world in support of Zionism and to bolster Israeli spirits after nearly two years of violence and terrorism. It was a wonderful show of strength, and every Israeli we met thanked us for being there. For our part, we felt very safe at the Crowne Plaza Hotel and the adjacent International Convention Center.

Elsewhere in this newsletter, you have read about what happened at the Congress. I would like to highlight two important developments. First of all, all of our delegates went to Jerusalem to work hard on behalf of Israel and the values and interests of Conservative/Masorti Judaism. This was not a pleasure trip to Jerusalem. All of us, the veterans and the many youth members of our delegation, invested significant time and energy in the pre-Congress MERCAZ Olami orientation to get acquainted with the system and the issues at hand.

I was especially delighted when people from other groups commented on how well prepared and articulate our delegation was. In particular, our young people, nearly one-third of the elected MERCAZ USA delegates, assumed important leadership roles in their committees and succeeded in drafting and passing a resolution to establish a permanent non-voting youth member of the inner Zionist Executive. Kol HaKavod!

Secondly, behind the scenes, we spent many sleepless hours negotiating to maintain our positions despite our reduced numbers of delegates from the United States. I am very pleased that these negotiations proved successful, and we were able to keep our strength on the various WZO & JAFI governing boards. In addition, we will share with the Reform Movement in a new unit being created within the World Zionist Organization to help the training of non-Orthodox religious leadership for the growing Masorti communities in Europe and South America.

While it would have been understandable to want to take a long vacation after nearly 3 weeks of intensive WZO & JAFI meetings in Jerusalem, this summer proved to be busy in other ways as well. Finally, after two years on the drawing board, the first part of our new educational project "Ivrit Masortit - An Exploration of Heritage Hebrew" was published. Designed for adult education, Hebrew High School studies and individual home study, the 10 lessons explore Hebrew roots and their related Jewish values.

Also coming this summer, as reported elsewhere, was the approval of a joint MERCAZ/United Synagogue project to train synagogue-based "Israel Education Teams". The grant represents the first time that the Conservative Movement was able to access funds from the joint Jewish Agency-Israeli government committee. The teams will be using the USCJ's Fuchsberg Center in Jerusalem as their base of operations.

Returning to the Zionist Congress for a moment: what was particularly noteworthy was the level of unity and cooperation among all the members of the American delegation. This good feeling has continued and was especially evident at a recent 2-day forum convened by the American Zionist Movement at the historic Wye River Plantation. Our purpose was to define a mission and agenda for American Zionism in the 21st century, a theme I have addressed throughout my presidency. Most American Jews cannot remember a time when there was no Jewish State. How then do we make Zionism relevant and attractive? For many of us at Wye, the challenge for Zionism will be to defend Israel's security, on the one hand, and to shape Israel as a Jewish democratic state, on the other.

Since this will be my last article before the upcoming biennial General Council, I want to take this opportunity to express my thanks for the honor of having served as your President. My fellow Officers, the Board of Directors and, you, the MERCAZ membership, have been wonderful in your support, especially in the recent World Zionist Congress election. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the November 10th general membership meeting, which will take place at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

I hope that I have been able to bring some of my own passion for Zionism to the fore. Although we have not yet reached our goal of making Zionism as inclusive as love for Israel, we have made a start along that road. I hope that in the near future, we will realize the goal of making every Conservative Jew a Zionist. I know that the next administration will carry on this work that is so important to the future of the Conservative Movement here in America and in Israel, and they know that they will have my deep and unswerving commitment to this noble cause.