ALIYAH COMMITTEE
AMTON Newsletter
Fall 2002

Faces of Zionism

It's clear that the situation in the Middle East and the threats to Israel's existence have caused Americans to once again ask:

"What is Zionism?"
"Am I a Zionist?"

While there are many ways to define Zionism, there was no doubt to those of us who were privileged to attend the 34th World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem this past June that Zionism is alive and well. It can have many faces, running the gamut from political support for Israel to the ultimate step of aliyah (immigration to Israel).

The original successful task of Zionism was to build the Jewish State. Dr. David Breakstone, the MERCAZ Olami (international MERCAZ) representative on the World Zionist Organization's Executive Committee, called for a redefinition of Zionism for the 2lst Century in which Jews both in the Diaspora and in Israel share responsibility in shaping Israeli society by infusing it more with the values of Judaism and democracy. Here in the U.S. we can do this by reading the Israeli press in order to become effective spokespersons for the State of Israel, joining MERCAZ USA, the Zionist Organization of the Conservative Movement, and of course, visiting Israel.

In Etti and Yisrael Serok's article about Israel's fledgling democracy, its struggle for religious pluralism and its conversion from a socialist to a capitalist country, we can see the specifics about how and why the Zionist Movement is needed to help shape Israeli society.

In Ezra Wanetik's article, we read about one person's reasons for aliyah — NOW.

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