Remember, two
years ago, when ads suddenly flooded the frum
Jewish media asking us to vote for a new “political party” to represent the
religious community at the World Zionist Organization’s upcoming Congress? Few
people in our community even knew what WZO did or why it was important. But we
learned: The WZO has tremendous influence on the Israeli government’s policies
vis a vis the Diaspora. It comprises parties that stand for the whole range of
pro-Israel Jewish opinion, from far left to right, and the policies it adopts
are determined by the vote at its Congress.
Rabbi Pesach
Lerner, former head of the Young Israel, creative activist on behalf of a range
of Jewish issues, recognized the potential benefits of this unnoticed resource to
the Orthodox community. He founded the Eretz Hakodesh party, hoping to attain
three or four seats in the Congress. The platform of Eretz Hakodesh calls for a
“vibrant Israel rooted in Torah.” It stresses ahavas Yisrael and believes that “classical Jewish values of Torah
as taught for millennia should play a central role in modern Israel.” Miraculously,
Eretz Hakodesh got 20,000 votes, entitling it to, not three or four, but 25 delegate
seats to the World Zionist Congress.
* * *
My wife and I just
returned from an incredible weekend with Eretz Hakodesh at the Woodcliff Hilton
Hotel in New Jersey only 15 minutes from Monsey. There, we learned hoe, in the
two years since the election, Eretz Hakodesh has made a huge difference for
Israel and klal Yisrael. With COVID restricting travel to Israel, the plans of
thousands of students hoping to learn in Israel were in jeopardy. Due to the
untiring work of Eretz Hakodesh’s Israel team, led by Rabbi Nechemia
Malinowitz, 25,000 Yeshiva and seminary students were able to enter Israel to
learn Torah. This would not have happened without the work of Eretz Hakodesh. Eretz
Hakodesh is also responsible for 40,000 entry permits being issued since the
beginning of COVID, with 15,000 of them issued to long-term visa-holding
students and their families.
For the last 50
years, the WZO Congress – and hence the national institutions of Israel, such
as the WZO, the KKL-JNF, the Jewish Agency, and Keren Yesod – have been
controlled by the liberal and progressive movements because they were the ones
who voted in WZO’s elections. The WZO today has a total of 525 delegates. With
the addition of Eretz Hakodesh’s 25 delegates, the right-wing/religious bloc
now has 273 delegates, causing the pendulum of power to swing from left to
right, a historic change.
With the support
of this historic majority, and with Eretz Hakodesh’s incredible negotiating
strength, a Torah-observant chairman of the WZO was appointed who clearly
understands the needs of the Orthodox community. As an example, part of the $70
million annual WZO budget is for the first time being directed towards the chareidi Torah community in Israel. And
a large portion of the budget is being allocated to Torah activities for the
Diaspora and foreign youth in Israel. The number of yeshiva and seminary
students from abroad who participated in WZO programs last year came to 9,800.
* * *
The convention’s
250 guests were all types of frum individuals
from Boro Park, St. Louis, Miami, Baltimore, Manhattan, California, Houston,
Teaneck, Monsey, Chicago, Israel, and many other places. Seven families from
Baltimore attended: Gil and Molly Horowitz, Doni and Chaya Greenwald, Nechemiah
and Chayala Isbee, Eli and Ronnie Schlossberg, Moshe Meyer and Shoshana Rubin,
and Rabbi Yaakov and Tova Menken.
There were
wonderful speeches and divrei Torah,
beautiful davening with the Yedidim chasidishe
choir, superb cuisine, and a spectacular melaveh
malka with Avraham Fried. Havdalah
was especially moving as all the shtreimels
and kippot serugot, the chasidim and misnagdim, the Ashkenazim and Sefardim said goodbye to Shabbos. We
were one!
It was moving and
inspirational to see the tremendous achdus,
despite the very diverse group. As I wrote in my recent article “What’s on Your
Head,” the type of head coverings we wore was irrelevant because we were all
there to benefit klal Yisrael. Our goal now is to increase the
number of our votes to 100,000, when WZO holds its next elections in three
years.
Eretz Hakodesh is
your voice in Israel. To quote Rabbi Pesach Lerner, founder and chairman of
Eretz Hakodesh: “It is not just a right but a responsibility to concern
ourselves with what happens in Eretz Yisrael with whatever talents and
abilities we have that can impact Israel society and, specifically,
governmental policies….This is why we created Eretz Hakodesh. Our goal was to
provide a voice for Orthodox communities in Diaspora… to make their influence
felt regarding political decisions, communal decisions and policies in Israel.”
Kol Hakavod to all those who work with Eretz Hakodesh.
Directed by Gedolei Yisrael, its work
is a kiddush Hashem, creating unity and respect amongst our people. And this achdus will, iy”H, eventually bring us to the geulah sheleima bimheira beyameinu.
