More on the World Zionist Congress

As we wrote last week, the election for delegates to the 39th World Zionist Congress is open.

Its delegates — 200 from Israel, 152 from the United States, and 173 from the rest of the Diaspora — will be chosen from 21 slates and will have some influence in allocating about $5 billion over five years.

Any Jew who lives in the United States, is at least 18 years old, pays the $5 fee, and accepts the self-definition of Zionist can vote between now and May 4. Voting is online, at azm.org/elections.

According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency — and to us last week — “At the heart of this year’s election is a fierce ideological battle between liberal and right-wing Orthodox factions, each seeking to shape the future of Zionist institutions and their financial priorities at a pivotal time in Israel’s history. The results will impact key issues such as religious pluralism, funding for Jewish education, settlement expansion and Israel-Diaspora relations.”

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This election really matters.

It’s important to remember that the WZC, like the Israeli Knesset upon which it is modeled, is a parliament. Voters’ ballots go to parties, not individual candidates; seats are allocated depending on the number of votes its list has garnered. There generally are far more names on any list than the number of seats it’s likely to win, so even the most victorious party cannot possibly seat all its candidates. Everyone knows that going in to the election, and, by definition, everyone’s fine with it.

We — that is, everyone who lives in metropolitan New York in general, and in the catchment areas served by the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey and the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest in particular — live in one of the most Jewish parts of the country, and therefore we’re inordinately delegate-rich. Our goal at his newspaper is to talk to two local representatives of each slate represented here. Last week, we talked to advocates from Orthodox Israel Coalition-Mizrachi, Mercaz, and Kol Yisrael. Next week, we hope to report on Vote Reform and Aish Ha’am. This week, we’ll hear from the Jewish Future, Dorshei Torah v’Tzion, and Hatikvah.

And we hope to talk to representatives of yet more lists next week. So, readers, we ask again — if you represent or know a local representative from another slate, please let us know; email editor@jewishmediagroup.com.

Now, on to the candidates.

The Jewish Future

Avital Kessler-Godin of Teaneck and Elliot Karp of Fanwood are on the Jewish Future’s list; the party defines itself as representing “Centrist Liberal Zionism.”

Ms. Kessler-Godin is a second-year law student at Emory University in Atlanta. She’s chosen to run, she said, “after witnessing levels of antisemitism and anti-Zionism that I felt I never would witness last year.” That was in response to the barbarities of October 7. “That’s why I became a strong advocate for Jewish students on campus,” she said.

“I always appreciated my strong Jewish upbringing” — she went to the Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County in New Milford through eighth grade, when it ends, and then to the Golda Och Academy in West Orange, from which she graduated. She spent her summers at Jewish camps, including Camp Eden Village and then Ramah in the Rockies, where she was both a camper and then later a counselor. “But I don’t think I understood the importance of Jewish unity and critical importance of Jewish continuity until October 7. I want to have an impact on our shared Zionist future, and one of the best ways for me to do that is by making my voice heard.” Being on the Jewish Future slate is a way to make her voice heard, she added.

She remembers being about 4 years old, sleeping in her sukkah with her father, and asking him, “Abba, was Abraham Aveinu,” our father Abraham, “the first prophet?” “That’s because God said the Israelites would be as numerous as the stars,” she explained. “Well, we are not as numerous as the stars, but we are stronger when we are united. Now it is even more important than ever to stand together to invest in a strong Jewish future.”

Her party’s investment in that future includes a commitment to “invest in Jewish education in America, in order to teach them that Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, and that the alternative to Jewish sovereignty is Jewish powerlessness,” she said. “And we’ll also invest in opportunities for global Jewish communities to travel to Israel, fund Zionist programming in the U.S., and expand modern Hebrew language education opportunities in the U.S.”

Many of the parties identify themselves as centrist, and it seems unlikely that all of them can be. How does the Jewish Future party define its centrism? “We put Centrist in our party name,” Ms. Kessler Godin said. “We clearly want to prioritize it. If other slates wanted to do that, they’d also have it in their names.

“We are 50 percent male and 50 percent female.” (According to WZO rules, each slate must be at least 40 percent female.) “Also, 50 percent of our slate is under 35.” (That’s also far more than the rules demand.) “And we’re nondenominational. That means that we’re not beholden to any denomination. People on our slate come from a broad spectrum of backgrounds.

“By providing a strong Zionist education, we can maintain a strong Jewish future,” she concluded.

Elliot Karp, who is now the director of philanthropy at Temple Emanu-El of Westfield, has been a Jewish professional for decades. He’s been, among other things, the head of the Jewish federation in Las Vegas and the head of all the Hillels in Georgia.

The WZC matters, he said, “because if there is anything that comes close to a convening body for world Jewry, it’s the World Zionist Congress, even if it’s fair to say that most Jews have very little knowledge of it. But it still performs a very important function in that it provides a level playing field where many voices in world Jewry can speak about the issues of the day.”

And on a less theoretical level, it helps allocate a lot of money, and that allocation sets priorities, he said.

This is the first time he’s running for a seat at the congress, he said. “I’ve been an observer for my entire professional life. And now, a combination of things has made me want to run myself.”

Those precipitating elements include his understanding that “with age comes a little bit of wisdom,” Mr. Karp said. “I know that it’s time to roll up my sleeves and get involved. To do something. And because I am a little older, today’s issues are tremendously concerning for me. I worry about support for Israel and Zionism, both within the Jewish body politic and outside of it. And I also worry about the rise in antisemitism.”

He is running on the Jewish Future slate, Mr. Karp said, because “we have to do a much better job of preparing ourselves — of preparing our young people and our adults — to have pride. We will fend off antisemitism much better proactively than if we only respond to it.”

Like Ms. Kessler-Godin, Mr. Karp believes that one of his party’s strengths is its freedom from denominationalism, which leads it to true centrism. “Many people say that they are centrist, and they are, but they have limits, because they are movement-based. We don’t have the institutional boundaries that they have. That makes us different. We are not bound by any one doctrine. That means that we can speak to people who identify as just Jewish. If you are interested in Zionism, pluralism, and inclusion, it’s all in our platform.

“This is a challenging and exciting time,” Mr. Karp concluded. “I think it’s important that Jews all over the world get involved and support those of us who want to make a difference in helping Israel and world Jewry.

Dorshei Torah v’Tzion

Dorshei Torah v’Tzion, on Orthodoxy’s left wing, is supported by organizations that include JOFA, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance; Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, which graduates Orthodox rabbis; Yeshivat Maharat, whose students, all women, pursue a course of study that parallels that of men’s modern Orthodox rabbinical schools, and who graduate qualified to use the titles rabbi, rabbanit, rabba, and similar variations, and Eshel, which supports Orthodox LGBTWQ Jews.

Pam Greenwood of West Orange is running on DTT’s list.

Her primary connection to the party is through JOFA, where she’s been a lay leader for at least a dozen years, she said. “I want to encourage greater leadership roles for women in the Orthodox movement.

“The platform lends itself to encouraging progress for women. We know that so many people go to yeshivas and women’s seminaries for their gap years.” (In the Orthodox world, many, possibly most young men who have just graduated from Jewish yeshivot and day schools spend the year after high school in single-sex yeshivot in Israel. The young women who graduate from those same high schools also go to Israel, to single-sex seminaries.) “Those institutions are sponsored by funds the WZC allocates, but the seminaries aren’t getting their fair share,” Ms. Greenwood said. “We want to make sure that there is equity. Last year, my daughter was at Midreshet Lindenbaum, a seminary in Jerusalem. I want yeshivot and seminaries to be open to both women and men. I feel personally about how the funding will affect Americans who are coming to Israel to study.”

How is DTT centrist?

“We have a more pluralistic approach than some parties to the right of us,” Ms. Greenwood said. “We see ourselves as bridge builders, bridging the Conservative and Orthodox movements. We want to make sure that we are encouraging all denominations to participate in the great Jewish community in Israel.

“We don’t like the polarization we see, the gap between the communities on each side. We want to position ourselves as the party that can help create compromise.”

Ms. Greenwood is realistic about how her place on the platform — she’s 34th on the list — means that she’s not going to be a delegate to the WZC, no matter how well her party does. She’s okay with that. This is the second time she’s run; she didn’t get a seat the last time either. Still, she chose to take a place on the list so that she can use the position to create publicity for the party. “I am willing to put myself out there,” she said.

“We are small but mighty. We had two delegates in the last congress, and we are hoping for as many as 10 this time. Any growth is good.”

And really, any vote is good, although of course a vote for her list is better, she said. “Everyone should vote for which slate speaks to them — but go out and vote!”

Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot of Teaneck leads Congregation Netivot Shalom there, and he chairs the Talmud and rabbinics department at SAR High School in Riverdale. He’s also on DTT’s slate.

Why Dorshei Torah v’Tzion?

“Thank God, the Jewish people is a cacophony of voices,” Rabbi Helfgot said. “This slate represents an unabashedly modern Orthodox, inclusive, welcoming Orthodoxy. It’s unabashedly Zionist, it is supportive of the state of Israel, and it recognizes that the state of Israel is the home of all the Jewish people, and it should be welcoming to the entirety of the Jewish people.

“Israel should be a place where all sorts of Jews can express their Judaism. The Orthodox and religious Zionists should get their fair share of resources, alongside everyone else, and the entire community should be comfortable with the state of Israel, and with expressing their Judaism.”

Despite DTT’s strong and unwavering support for Israel, and for Jewish and Zionist education, and its position inside the Orthodox world, “sometimes I also feel that there is too much demonization of the other,” Rabbi Helfgot said. “We see that in Israeli politics and in American politics. There is not enough cooperation.

“Our values are including women in all aspects of society and of responsibility and of leadership, and helping people, wherever they are on the religious spectrum, to feel that the State of Israel values their spirituality and their connection to Judaism.

“Israel is the home of the Jewish people. It’s not a halachic state. It has to be welcoming to all of the Jewish people and allow everyone to flourish.”

Some of the parties to DDT’s right “have tunnel vision,” Rabbi Helfgot said. “They see themselves in a battle against the secular left. That is not our agenda. We do not see this as a zero-sum game.”

Like Ms. Greenwood, Rabbi Helfgot has not been a delegate, although he’s run before, and “I don’t have any illusions about it being different this time.” But that doesn’t bother him. The point is to make his party’s position clear, and even more, to stress the importance of the election.

“I think that all the slates should be as open as possible about what they believe,” he said. “And I hope that everyone really does commit themselves to the Jerusalem program if they are going to run.” That program, which lays out the World Zionist Organization’s founding and guiding principles, begins:

“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.”

Everyone running on any slate, just like everyone registering to vote, must agree with those founding rules.

That’s surpassingly important, Rabbi Helfgot said.

Hatikvah

Hatikvah’s tagline is Progressive Israel; unlike many of the other slates, it does not call itself centrist.

Nomi Colton-Max of South Orange is the co-chair of the New Jewish Narrative, the new organization formed from the recent merger of Ameinu and Americans for Peace Now. Her many leadership positions include a seat on the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, and she’s second on Hatikvah’s list.

“Progressive politics have been in my blood since I was a little kid,” she said. A native Canadian transplanted to New Jersey, she belonged to Habonim Dror when she was growing up.

Hatikvah’s partners include many groups prominent in progressive Jewish life — a partial, more-or-less random list shows J Street, Reconstructing Judaism (as the Reconstructionist movement has rebranded itself), T’ruah, and the National Council of Jewish Women, among others.

“We decided that we would work together so we could have a strong progressive slate,” Ms. Colton-Max said.

“We are the slate that works to help Israel live up to its highest values, the values that we find in its Declaration of Independence. It’s the precepts of liberty, justice, and peace, as taught by the prophets.

“We are pro-democracy and anti-occupation. We believe and affirm that there are two peoples on this land, and we cannot continue down the path that we are on.

“Of course, we oppose the efforts of the ultra-Orthodox to impose their values on our Jewish way of life. We are a slate that calls for a negotiated end to the war, and most important of all, for the return of the hostages.

“When we talk about working with the communities affected by the war in the north and the south, we do not mean only Jewish communities. We also mean the Bedouin communities that have been harmed, and that have hostages taken. We also mean the Druze communities and Palestinian villages that have been hit.

“We stand for social equality, and for the environment, and we believe that all Jews should stand against racism in Israel, racism based on skin color or national origin. We fight gender-based inequality. We support two youth movements, Habonim Dror and Hashomer Hatzair, as well as J Street Students. We have a lot of youth involvement. We want to remind the Jewish Agency that we need slichim in our camps who look like us and represent us — we are diverse, not all Ashkenormative, not all straight.”

Hatikvah is as diverse as the Jewish people, Ms. Colton-Max said, and that means that it would be fitting to have it well represented in the World Zionist Congress.

Jonathan Taubes, who also is on the Hatikvah slate — and further back on it, and therefore less likely to gain a seat at the congress than Ms. Colton-Max — is “Teaneck-born and -raised,” he said, although he did spend six years in Brooklyn. “But I’m back in the ’neck now,” he added.

Mr. Taubes grew up in a modern Orthodox family and graduated from local modern Orthodox institutions — first the Yavneh Academy, through middle school, and then the Frish School, for high school, both in Paramus — “so my connection to Israel was always there,” he said. “Obviously, my progressive politics now are different from the politics I was raised with, but for me, in a way, they are an articulation of them.

“I was raised being part of the Jewish people, and that is something that requires a sense of Jewish civic duty. I see being part of the WZC, taking part of what sometimes is called the parliament of the Jewish people, at a moment of crisis which also is a moment of opportunity, as a chance to shape the Jewish future.”

Although his politics have diverged from his family’s, he sees it as part of a continuum. He looks back at his grandfather, “who lived in Teaneck from the 1960s until 2001, and then made aliyah.” (His grandmother, Rena Taubes, founded the nursery school called Gan Rina. “My grandparents were Teaneck fixtures,” he said.) But after his wife’s death, “Saba made aliyah, and he spent the last 20 years of his life in Jerusalem.” Eventually he remarried. “He subscribed to Haaretz, and his wife subscribed to the Jerusalem Post.” Those are newspapers with very different politics and world views. “But it was not a mixed marriage,” Mr. Taubes said. They just disagreed on politics.

“The same is true in my family now,” he continued. “We don’t always see eye to eye, but we are part of a klal.”

Hatikvah’s platform is perhaps more straightforward than some of the others. “There is a sense in some parts of the Jewish world that we need to be pareve,” Mr. Taubes said. “That is understandable. The extent of the division in the community, and the fraughtness of this moment, makes it understandable that folks would think that.

“But I want to be clear about Hatikvah. Much of the American Jewish community has tried to push out progressive voices. But we are not fringe Jews. We are not beyond the pale. We have direct ties to the kibbutz movement. These are the folks who actually built the state of Israel, and who right now are under attack by a corrupt and far right-wing government, and who are begging us American Jews for help now. They’re saying that ‘If you ever cared about Israel, now is the time to do something.’

“This is not a fringe position.”

“We are in coalition with other slates,” Mr. Taubes continued. “We are in the same ecosystem. In a real way, we represent the American Jewish majority. There has been a sense that we are some kind of radical fringe, but we are not. We are a vibrant coalition of 12 organizations.”

Hatikvah has a relationship with Tamir Pardo, a former executive director of the Mossad, Mr. Taubes said. “He said that if Israel becomes a radical messianic state, he fears for the future of the Jews in the United States as well as the Jews in Israel.

“Hatikvah is a multigeneration slate and coalition, and I am one of many young American Jews who is seeing these trends. Our response to them is that there is so much that we need to rediscover and reengage with and criticize, all from a place of love and engagement with the broader Jewish community.

“We will not be pushed out. We are not a one-issue coalition. We support pluralism. We want to redirect funding to rebuild kibbutzim over settlements. We are saying let’s rally the Jewish people behind this vision, because we will not and cannot be pushed out. And we will not be painted as fringe, or as outside the kahal, because nothing can be farther from the truth.”