MERCAZ USA Newsletter — Summer 2009

President's Column — Dr. Stephen S. Wolnek

[Ed: The following are excerpts of the speech delivered by Dr. Stephen S. Wolnek at his election on May 3rd for a second 2-year term as President of MERCAZ USA.]

MERCAZ USA has as its core mission two main priorities. The first is to represent the political Zionist ideal of the Conservative Movement. We do this through the mandates we gain by elections to the Zionist Congress. We are the gatekeeper through which the Conservative Movement has access to the WZO and, therefore, to the Jewish Agency. This access affords us two things: 1) over $2 million for the support of our Masorti institutions and 2) entrée to the world Jewish/Zionist stage. Our voice in Israel is as strong as the results of the WZO elections.

The second priority is to educate and develop within our Conservative/Masorti communities in the United States "a love of Zion". Not just "a love of Israel" but "a love of Zion". Isn't a love of Israel a love of Zion? Yes, loving Israel is part of loving Zion, but these two kinds of love are not the same! Being a "lover of Zion", or, in other words, a "Zionist" means to do something active with that love. Zionism is the implementation of that love of Israel, in a meaningful, active way. MERCAZ is the voice of that love of Zionism in the Conservative Movement. More accurately, we need to be the orchestra leader for that love. We are not a soloist but a conductor to help the arms of the movement

You know, when there are challenges, there are solutions. Maybe, what we lovers of Zion in the Conservative Movement have needed is a challenge to make ourselves relevant to our constituency. For the Conservative Movement to be 1.5 million people strong and for the love of Israel to be so prominent in our ideology and our programming, and, at the same time, for the movement's Zionist entity to have only 20,000 members is depressing. Somehow, we have not gotten our message across. It is a challenge we must accept. to act in harmony for Israel.

These are tough times for all of us. These are also tough times for Israel. We Jews need to make sure that our voice is heard to counter those in Washington arguing for a cooling in relations with Israel. MERCAZ's participation in the American Zionist Movement (AZM), the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Jewish National Fund gives us an opportunity to be involved in shaping the voice of the American Jewish community on behalf of Israel.

It's no secret that times are tough financially these days. In light of the present difficulties, we have been in negotiations with our Israeli counterparts in the World Zionist Organization over the question of postponing for economic reasons the next Zionist Congress that is due to be held in June of 2010. For the WZO to spend $5 million on a Congress at this time seems misguided, even obscene. We are working with the Reform and Orthodox streams to put off the Congress for at least one year.

Unfortunately, this postponement effort is not going well. If there is no change in the date of the Congress and we are forced into elections for a 2010 Congress that will cost us in MERCAZ hundreds of thousands of dollars, this is also obscene. But we may have no choice. We will have to bring our movement together as we have never been together before in this fight. We have taken the first step in bringing together those organizations in the Leadership Council of Conservative Judaism (LCCJ) that have a focus on Israel, including MERCAZ, Masorti Olami, Schechter Institute, the RA, and the USCJ. We invite the remaining Israel-oriented members to join us.

We live in a world that wants instant gratification, where all problems are resolved in a 30-minute format. This is not the real world. Sixty-one years of the State of Israel took 2,000 years to bring about. Yes, Herzl said "if you will it, it is not a dream," but making that dream a reality takes time and hard work. We are still in on the ground floor of that "dream come true". We have the opportunity to make a difference. MERCAZ USA is dedicated to that dream and dedicated to putting a Conservative/Masorti stamp on the Israeli reality. We urge all who are fellow "lovers of Zion" to join us.

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