When I first became a Jew more than 20 years ago, I heard an eloquent appeal in my synagogue urging members to vote in the World Zionist Congress elections. Though I don’t remember who spoke so convincingly or exactly what he or she said, I do recall that the light bulb that went on in my mind illuminated something important that has stayed with me ever since.
I saw that being one of 14 million Jews, in contrast to one of 300 million Americans, gave me more relative power to influence the course of my people and more of an obligation to do so. I saw that I could actually express my own vision and priorities for the Jewish people in an election that would affect their agenda in a formal and real way.
That understanding has kept me voting in every World Zionist Congress election since then. The message I got that day was that if I cared about Israel and the survival of the Jewish people I needed to exercise my right as a Jew and vote my positions in the only democratic worldwide body representing the Jewish people.
Now, with the deadline for registration looming on Feb. 15, I hope to convey the same message to Chronicle readers. The election, which occurs every four years, will send delegates from 40 countries to the 35th World Zionist Congress, which will meet in Jerusalem this year from June 19-22.
The Congress, first convened in 1897 by Theodor Herzl in Basel, Switzerland with the goal of establishing a Jewish homeland, created the World Zionist Organization (then called the Zionist Organization).
It brings together delegates from around the world to debate the issues facing the Jewish people and Israel. The decisions made by the Congress greatly affect the decisions made by the Jewish Agency for Israel, the extra-governmental agency with a $350 million annual budget and emissaries around the world.
The leading issues that the congress will address, according to the Congress of the Jewish People Web site, include: education and identity; anti-Semitism and Jewish rights; aliya and rescue; Israel-Diaspora relations; justice and tolerance; and Israeli society.
You can register to vote online in less than ten minutes for $7, by going to www.azm.org, but you must do it by Feb. 15. After registering, it takes about 48 hours to receive an e-mail ballot.
During that time you can consider the platforms of each of the 12 organizations fielding delegates to the congress. They are explained in detail on the American Zionist Movement site and can be accessed at www.congres softhejewishpeople.org. Balloting will end on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
Though we American Jews have focused attention on recent Egyptian, Iraqi and Palestinian elections, as well as the March elections in Israel, this election, the only one of those that we can actually affect, has received little coverage so far.
I sincerely urge you to do your part to reverse the trend of declining participation in this important election. The Jewish people have not survived for thousands of years by sitting back and failing to express our beliefs.
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