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Op-eds, information and update on the The World Zionist Congress

World Zionist Congress

Leaders' voice

As we mark Yom Ha’atzmaut, we reflect on the ongoing journey between memory and independence, and the responsibility it calls us to embrace. The reflections by MERCAZ President Rabbi Debra Newman Kamin and Executive Director Rabbi Mauricio Balter invite us to engage with the meaning of this moment through the lens of our shared values and global Masorti/Conservative commitment. Both articles are available in English, Spanish, and French.

Dvrei Torah | Yom Ha'atzmaut

As we prepare to gather around the Seder table, this reflection by Rabbi Mauricio Balter invites us to look beyond memory and ritual, and to consider what freedom demands of us today.

Dvar Torah | Passover: Freedom and Shared Responsibility

During these High Holidays, over one million Conservative/Masorti Jews in the United States came to shul to celebrate Rosh Hashanah and observe Yom Kippur. While these High Holidays are, for many, the annual peak of their Jewish engagement, Jewish Americans from every corner of the movement made their voices heard earlier this year in support of MERCAZ USA – the voice of Conservative/Masorti Judaism – in the World Zionist Congress elections.

Article | Rumors of the Demise of Conservative Judaism are Greatly Exaggerated

As we approach Rosh Hashanah with a Heshbon Hanefesh, Mercaz Olami celebrates great victories in the world-wide elections for the World Zionist Congress. With the increase in the number of Britot, and the growth of Right Wing votes, Mercaz uniquely demonstrated success in chapter after chapter — with notable achievements in the USA, Argentina, Sweden, Uganda and so forth. We grew from 34 overall mandates in 2020 to 38 in 2025. 

Article | Conservative/Masorti Jews Reaffirm Commitment to Zionism by Voting for MERCAZ in Historic Numbers

Hanukkah was at low ebb for many American Jews in the late 19th century. They saw Judaism solely as a faith without any Jewish People components.

Noam Zion and Barbara Spectre, A Different Light: The Big Book of Hanukah, “Hanukkah [was]… difficult for some [19th century] Liberal Jews to embrace because of its emphasis on the Temple, on political independence of the Jewish nation, on the negative image of Western culture (Hellenism) as a coercive source of assimilation, and on the military heroism of the Maccabees… Thus, it should not be surprising that Isaac. M Wise… suggested in 1865 the elimination of the Hanukkah lights (31).”

Article | The Meaning of Hanukkah Continues to Evolve in Diaspora Jewish Life

Parallel to expanding Zionist activity among America’s Conservative Jews was the effort to establish a Conservative Jewish presence in Israel.

Initially, the movement in Israel was very small, consisting only of Emet V’Emunah, the first Conservative synagogue in the country, established in Jerusalem in the 1930s, and Kehillat Moriah in Haifa, founded in 1955.

Article | Conservative Judaism’s Zionism extends to a presence in Israel

The initial effort to extend Conservative Judaism’s embrace of Zionism beyond the United States was launched by Rabbi Bernard Segal, who served as executive director of United Synagogue of America (later United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism) from 1953 to 1970. As noted by historian Dr. Pamela Nadell, “Segal envisioned bridges to world Jewry, a vision that enabled Conservative Judaism to gain international stature. In 1957, he and a handful of colleagues founded the World Council of Synagogues to implement…Conservative Judaism in Israel and Jewish communities throughout the world.”

Article | The Global Zionism of Conservative Judaism — the World Council and MERCAZ

With Israeli statehood a reality, Conservative Judaism became a full-fledged Zionist movement. For JTS chancellor Louis Finkelstein, the commitment to Israel was personal as well; his daughter had settled and established a family in Jerusalem, with her father making visits year after year. The chancellor reflected that “when I was her age, I too thought I was going to spend my life in Jerusalem, but I did not.”

Article | Conservative Judaism’s Zionism, 1948-1973

Soon after the outbreak of World War II, Jewish Theological Seminary chancellor Dr. Cyrus Adler passed away, and leadership of the JTS and of Judaism’s Conservative Movement was placed into the hands of Rabbi Louis Finkelstein, a JTS graduate and longtime assistant to Dr. Adler. Like his predecessor, Rabbi Finkelstein was committed not to Political Zionism, but rather to Spiritual Zionism.

Article | Conservative Judaism’s Zionism from World War II Until Israeli Statehood

In “The Zionism of the Jewish Theological Seminary, 1902-1948,” Dr. Naomi Cohen affirmed that Solomon Schechter’s “religious Zionism found a ready response among seminary students, many of whom were already Zionist sympathizers. The young men flocked to sermons and lectures by prominent Zionists and took an active part in Zionist youth and Hebrew-speaking organizations.”

Article | The Zionism of Solomon Schechter’s Students

The European roots of Zionism in Conservative Judaism commenced with an emphasis on Jewish history and peoplehood as espoused by Rabbi Zechariah Frankel in the mid-19th century. Rabbi Frankel had withdrawn from the German rabbinical conferences of the 1840s due to emerging receptivity to replacing Hebrew as the language of Jewish prayer.

Article | The Origin of Zionism in Conservative Judaism

Zionism – Reclaiming an Inspiring Word

Article | Zionism – Reclaiming an Inspiring Word

In the aftermath of a controversial Knesset vote amending the Israeli judiciary’s “reasonableness clause,” commentator Dan Senor said:
“Thirty weeks of massive protests. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis turning out every Saturday night since January…. Israel’s 150 largest companies staging a strike…. Threats from army reservists that they would not any longer volunteer to serve…. Is Israel falling apart?”
An alternative perspective has been offered by Haviv Rettig Gur of the “Times of Israel”: Israel, a young nation, is not “falling apart,” he says, but rather “maturing.” In the absence of a constitution, after decades of a tug-of-war power struggle between the courts and the Knesset, Israel is struggling to seek resolution.
As lovers of Israel in the Diaspora what should we do?

How should American-Jewish supporters of Israel respond to the judicial overhaul controversy?

By Rabbi Alan Silverstein, Ph.D. MERCAZ Olami, President

But things feel different today. Same same - but different. The beauty of the fields, forests, grazing cows along the way; the pleasure of seeing our young grandchildren playing together and our kids building their lives was the same as they have been for years. But the recent vote of 64 to 0 which begins the transformation of the Supreme Court –a basic institution in a democracy—to a tool of increasing the power and control of the government, shades everything in a new, dark light.

Same Same –But Different

By Emily Levy-Shochat, MERCAZ Olami, President

Israeli society is divided between proponents of and opponents to a proposed judicial reform program. Demonstrations and counter-demonstrations are taking place with unprecedented frequency and magnitude.

This is not a conflict between the Right and the Left; it is, rather, a competition between the party in power and the parties leading the opposition. A similar pattern was evident during the 29 years of Menachem Begin’s term as head of the Herut party, when he led the opposition to the dominant Labor Party of David Ben-Gurion in the Knesset.

Diaspora Jewry joins Israeli voices seeking judicial compromise

The Israeli conflict over “Who is a Jew?” is resurfacing in 2023.
A prominent Jewish identity controversy was the 1963 “Brother Daniel Case.” Shmuel Oswald Rufeisen was born a Jew in Poland in 1922, but converted to Catholicism during the war, assumed the name Daniel, and eventually became a priest. Daniel claimed he was still a Jew and sought to attain automatic citizenship under the Law of Return when he moved to Israel. The Israeli government ruled against him due to his Christian conversion; the decision was upheld by the Supreme Court.

The return of “Who is a Jew?”

Shituf 2023 | Perspectivas judías acerca de la sustentabilidad del planeta • Dr. Daniel Fainstein

Watch Dr. Daniel Fainstein presentation (with subtitles in English) about how our communities can use Jewish perspectives to understand and act for the sustainability of the planet.

Video | Jewish Perspectives on Planet Sustainability

The Legal Significance of Israel’s Declaration of Independence

Israel’s Declaration of Independence

When I became President of MERCAZ Olami in February 2016, a comprehensive vision governed the National Institutions of the Jewish People [Worldwide] -- the World Zionist Organization, The Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemet LeYisrael, and Keren Hayesod. Many substantive disagreements existed among the more than a dozen Zionist "Britot" and Irgunim." Yet following the outcome of each once-in-5-years election for a World Zionist Congress, a "wall-to-wall" Zionist coalition emerged. Everyone understood the benefit of being inclusive of every type of Jew and Zionist. All of us affirmed the criteria elaborated within the 1953 [updated in 1968] Jerusalem Program: notably "fostering the unity of the Jewish people"

Jewish Peoplehood is an Essential Component of World Jewry's National Institutions

Success at the World Zionist Congress - Your Votes Mattered!

Leaders' voice

Check out our leaders' writings

Dvrei Torah | Yom Ha'atzmaut

April 21st, 2026

Dvar Torah | Passover: Freedom and Shared Responsibility

March 17th, 2026

Article | Rumors of the Demise of Conservative Judaism are Greatly Exaggerated

October 6th, 2025

Article | Conservative/Masorti Jews Reaffirm Commitment to Zionism by Voting for MERCAZ in Historic Numbers

September 17th, 2025

Article | The Meaning of Hanukkah Continues to Evolve in Diaspora Jewish Life

December 24th, 2024

Article | Conservative Judaism’s Zionism extends to a presence in Israel

November 22nd, 2024

Article | The Global Zionism of Conservative Judaism — the World Council and MERCAZ

October 29th, 2024

Article | Conservative Judaism’s Zionism, 1948-1973

October 29th, 2024

Article | Conservative Judaism’s Zionism from World War II Until Israeli Statehood

October 10th, 2024

Article | The Zionism of Solomon Schechter’s Students

October 3rd, 2024

Article | The Origin of Zionism in Conservative Judaism

August 25th, 2024

Article | Zionism – Reclaiming an Inspiring Word

April 18th, 2024

How should American-Jewish supporters of Israel respond to the judicial overhaul controversy?

September 3rd, 2023

Same Same – But Different

July 31st, 2023

Diaspora Jewry joins Israeli voices seeking judicial compromise

June 15th, 2023

The return of “Who is a Jew?”

June 6th, 2023

Video | Jewish Perspectives on Planet Sustainability

June 6th, 2023

The Legal Significance of Israel’s Declaration of Independence

June 1st, 2023

Jewish Peoplehood is an Essential Component of World Jewry's National Institutions

May 28th, 2023

Success at the World Zionist Congress - Your Votes Mattered!

November 11th, 2020

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