OIC-Mizrachi representatives encourage Pittsburghers to vote in World Zionist Congress elections
With more than $1 billion up for grabs, listeners told to seize a democratic opportunity
A former Ohioan and New Yorker traveled to Pittsburgh via Israel in hopes of securing western Pennsylvanian votes in the World Zionist Congress elections.
Ari Bar Shain and Josh Hyman urged an audience at Congregation Poale Zedeck on March 27 to vote for the Orthodox Israel Coalition.
Directing attendees to a nearby printed QR code, Shain and Hyman told Pittsburghers that registration is easy and important.
“In 1897 Theodore Herzl founded the World Zionist Congress to give a voice to Diaspora Jewry about the future of Zionism and the future of Jews in Israel,” Hyman said. “Today, that World Zionist Congress still exists. They’re in charge of over a billion dollars a year in money that is dedicated to causes, both in Israel and outside of Israel, including land developments for Jewish people, education and other nonprofit causes. The Orthodox Israel Coalition, which we’re here representing today, is one of the organizations that is working for seats in that governing Congress.”
Five years ago, the OIC received second place in voting and was able to direct “some of the largest divisions with the largest budgets in the World Zionist Organization,” JNS reported.
Shain and Hyman both served in the Israel Defense Forces and said the OIC has supported them and fellow soldiers.
Among the OIC’s values are aiding “lone soldiers and religious lone soldiers, as well as miluim (reservist) families and families of bereaved soldiers,” Hyman said. “They also work to support combating antisemitism on campus abroad as well as [aid] shlichim (emisaries) in North America.”
The efforts complement Shain’s other endeavors, the former Clevelander explained.
“I direct a program supporting religious lone soldiers in the army through an organization called Tzalash, and there are multiple soldiers from Pittsburgh who I have known over the years,” he said. “When I’m not doing that, I’m wearing my uniform serving the country in a different capacity.”
Founded in 2013, Tzalash provides spiritual support and resources to IDF soldiers during their military service.
Shain recalled several Pittsburghers he met through Tzalash, as well as those he befriended years earlier while attending Camp Stone, a Religious Zionist-affiliated camp, in Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania.
Before departing Poale Zedeck and heading to Cleveland with Hyman for another address, Shain implored attendees to seize a democratic opportunity.
“We came here to ask you to please support the OIC-Mizrachi slate in the World Zionist Elections,” Shain said. “Mizrachi and the [OIC] slate are supporting the Religious Zionist institutions that strengthen our communities, both in Israel and abroad.”
The ongoing election enables Jews worldwide to choose a party that “reflects their beliefs,” according to OIC-Mizrachi representatives. Voting for this slate “helps safeguard the Jewish character of the state of Israel and ensures the continuity of the Jewish people.”
Poale Zedeck’s Rabbi Daniel Yolkut, a member of the OIC slate, mused that given the speakers’ visit to an Orthodox synagogue on a Thursday evening most attendees likely had their phones in hand throughout the program: “Whatever your personal feelings of being on your phone during a speech…if you want to go and vote while you’re listening — to strike while the iron is hot — I’m sure you will not offend them.”
Ballots may be cast online at azm.org/elections through May 4. PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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