Democracy in Israel requires voting in North America, says World Zionist Organization vice chair
Economics is one reason to vote. Post-war Israel is another
Experiencing election fatigue? Well, another big choice is coming.
Between March 10 and May 5, American Jews will vote for delegates to the 39th World Zionist Congress. Considered the “parliament of the Jewish people,” and founded by Theodor Herzl in 1897, the WZC influences the policies of Israeli institutions, including the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Jewish National Fund-Keren Kayemet LeIsrael (JNF-KKL) and Keren Hayesod.
Collectively, WZC and its representatives allocate nearly $1 billion to Jewish causes annually.
Yizhar Hess, vice chairman of the World Zionist Organization, visited Pittsburgh on Dec. 2 to spur voter turnout.
“We hope that as many Jews in North America, as possible, will take advantage of the platform that allows them to influence the future of Israel,” he said.
Hess pointed to JNF-KKL as an example of what’s at stake in the upcoming election.
JNF-KKL owns approximately 13% of Israel’s total landmass, according to the organization.
“This land, because of development, bears fruit” resulting in an annual budget exceeding $1 billion: a sum greater than “the campaigns of all the Jewish Federations in North America together,” Hess said. “That money doesn’t belong to Israelis. It doesn’t belong to the Government of Israel. It belongs to all of us together. And the only way to influence how to allocate, what not to fund, how to think strategically about our biggest collective fund, our biggest collective pot, is by voting.”
Economics is one reason to vote. Post-war Israel is another.
“Israel today, in many ways, is still experiencing Oct. 7,” Hess said. “We didn’t cope with what happened yet in a way that we should. The war didn’t end. The vibe is different in Israel. And Israel on Oct. 8, when we will get to that day, eventually, needs the support — and I’m not talking now financially — of the Jewish people to be involved in the future of our state.”
Within the World Zionist Organization, Hess represents MERCAZ Olami, a movement advocating for full equality for Masorti/Conservative Judaism in Israel.
Hess told the Chronicle that whether at the WZC, in the Knesset or other democratic bodies, he worries about extremist threats: There is a trend that “political democratic systems, liberal systems, are under attack because of various, sometimes inner forces.”
Countering these elements requires voting, he said.
Apart from spending about 24 hours in Pittsburgh pitching residents to vote, Hess’ other North American stops include Boston, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.
“We are working on Zionist awareness, and this is the time to do it,” he said. “We are in a pivotal moment in our history, and if we fail to connect Jews to Israel, or connect Israelis to diaspora Jews, that would be a generational disaster.”
Throughout his conversation with the Chronicle, Hess stressed the idea of Jewish peoplehood and the need for Zionism to “represent the ranks of consensus in a way that Jewish people together could be proud of.”
Determining that balance necessitates cooperation from North American Jewry, he said.
“Today we are at a stage of Zionism where Jewish peoplehood must be one of our core values,” he said. “We have so much to learn from each other, from a Jewish perspective, from an academic perspective, from any perspective.”
Hess, 57, told the Chronicle he reached these views almost 25 years ago during a three-year stint as a shaliach (emissary) in Tucson, Arizona.
“I’m a 10th generation Jerusalemite and yet for me the first significant Shabbat experience I had in shul was here in North America because of the tensions between state and religion, because of politics and religion, in Israel. Here, I was able to experience Jewish pluralism in a natural way that allowed me to understand more about myself,” he said.
Hess hopes North American and Israeli Jews achieve greater mutual awareness.
“These are two strong Jewish communities that could give so much to each other,” he said.
Of the 15.7 million Jews worldwide, about 7.2 million live in Israel; 6.3 million live in the U.S., 398,000 live in Canada and 40,000 live in Mexico, according to The Jewish Agency for Israel.
Despite the population totals, voter turnout is sparse.
During the 38th World Zionist Congress in 2020, only 120,000 North American Jews voted, according to Hess. Casting a ballot is the mechanism to “solve problems,” Hess said.
The democratic process relies on a discussion of ideas and an understanding that “no one that is 100% right and the other is 100% wrong,” he continued. When it comes to the future of Zionism and the Jewish state, “We need to come to a sort of consensus, to a sort of coalition, to solve our problems…I understand that in today’s world, because of what happened in the last few decades, because of what happened in the last year or so, everything that is associated with the word Zionism, for some people, is more challenging. I can explain why their views are not necessarily accurate. I can identify with some of their concerns as well.”
Jewish peoplehood demands the continuance of conversation and democratic practices, he said.
“This is our family. This is who we are. You don’t choose your family, but I think that you need to try to love your family. It’s a subjective kind of thinking, this is true. If someone doesn’t care about Jewish life or doesn’t care about his fellow Jews, what can we do? This is what it is. Sometimes your children think so differently than you, right? It happens. But I think that we should educate for the value that every Jew, wherever he or she lives, should feel like a family — even if he doesn’t think like you, even if he goes to shul or he doesn’t go to shul, whether he lives in Israel or outside of Israel, and vice-versa.”
The future of North American and Israeli Jews is “dependent on the other,” he said. “We are not big enough not to care about each and every one of us.”
Individuals can register to vote for the 39th World Zionist Congress at azm.org/elections. PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
comments