Dear Friends:
In the Weekly Announcements you received on Wednesday, there was a note from Stu Rutchik, who is our Vote Mercaz captain, encouraging you to register to vote in the World Zionist Congress elections.
I want to reinforce and expand upon that message. I suspect that for many of you, this whole concept is a bit remote, but it’s very important.
The World Zionist Congress is sometimes called “The Parliament of the Jewish People.” It is a direct descendant of the first Zionist Congress organized by Theodor Herzl in 1897, which was held in Basel, Switzerland. (The iconic photo of Herzl looking over the water was taken during that Congress.) The World Zionist Congress is held in Jerusalem every five years. There are about 500 delegates who are elected from all over the world. About forty percent are from Israel and they are chosen based on the most recent Knesset elections. In the rest of the world, wherever there is an organized Jewish community, elections are held and like in Israel, one votes for a slate rather than for individual candidates. Roughly a third of the delegates are chosen from the United States and a little more than a quarter come from the rest of the Diaspora.
By voting in the World Zionist Congress elections, you have a say in what Israeli society will look like over the next five years. The Congress chooses the leadership of the World Zionist Organization, of the Jewish Agency, and of the Jewish National Fund (JNF).. Because a huge percentage of the land in Israel is owned by the JNF (remember the blue boxes you probably had as a child and may still have), these three interlocking organizations have an annual budget of around one billion dollars. Will that money be spent on only Orthodox synagogues in Israel or will our Masorti movement also be funded? Will emissaries continue to be sent to Camp Ramah, to Solomon Schechter schools, and to Conservative shuls, or will Israeli emissaries only represent Orthodox and extreme right-wing perspectives? Will JNF, WZO, and Jewish Agency funds be used for development projects in the Galilee and the Negev that benefit all Israelis, or only to expand settlements in the disputed territories? Will the area for egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall continue to exist, and will it be improved as promised? Our brothers and sisters in the Masorti Movement in Israel are counting on us to vote so that the funding they currently receive will be maintained and, optimally, increased.
Voting opens this coming Monday, March 10, and continues through May 4. Any US permanent resident age 18 and over who identifies as Jewish and is not a member of another religion can vote. There is a registration fee of $5 which covers the cost of running the election and is designed to prevent fraud since each person is only allowed to vote once.
For more info go to https://www.mercazusa.org/votemercaz2025/ or watch this video:
On a personal note, if you have been to Shabbat morning services the past three weeks you have seen me hobbling and using a cane; and you may have noticed that at evening minyan on Zoom I have not always stood for parts of the service where we normally stand. I am dealing with a strain in the quad muscle of my left leg, and these injuries can take a long time to heal. My injury is healing, and I was able to hold my drop-in hours yesterday. I’m hopeful that the healing process will continue and that soon I’ll be able to dispense with using the cane and to resume my exercise regimen.
As a reminder, I am having drop-in hours on Thursday afternoons from 2 to 4 at the shul. For my drop-in hours, you do not need to make an appointment -- that would negate the whole point of drop-in hours -- but I’d urge you to check and make sure I am there regardless as sometimes there are unavoidable pastoral or other emergencies which might take me away from the building.
As always, if I can do anything for you or you need to talk, please contact me at rabbi@kehilatshalom.org or 301-977-0768 rather than through the synagogue office. I am happy to meet you at the synagogue by appointment; if you want to speak with me it’s best to make an appointment rather than assuming I will be there when you stop by.
Additionally, if you know of a Kehilat Shalom congregant or another member of our Jewish community who could use a phone call, please let me know.
L’shalom,
Rabbi Charles L. Arian
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