Cast your ballots for VoteTorah.org

Once every four to eight years Jews in the Diaspora have the opportunity to vote for the future directions and programs of the World Zionist Organization (WZO) and the Jewish Agency. The WZO determines the structure of the Jewish Agency, the executive governing body of the World Zionist Organization. The guidelines for the actual policies of the next four years are legislated by the World Zionist Congress and executed by the Jewish Agency and its various departments. The Jewish Agency, in turn, works in cooperation with the Israeli government and with the local Jewish communities the world over. The Jewish Agency, therefore, is the actual coordinating body of large portions of overall Jewish governance in the world.

The World Zionist Congress will meet in Jerusalem in October 2015. The US delegation to the Congress will be chosen democratically in an election to be held in the months January-April 2015. The future of the World Zionist Movement is in our hands and dependent on our vote. The American delegation to the Congress comprises a total of 145 delegates, about 1/3 of the total delegates at the Congress. This is why the US delegation is a primary factor in the governance of the WZO and the Jewish Agency.

The Zionist Congress determines and votes on the budgets allocated to each of the activities and programs adopted by the Congress, such as:

Cultural Jewish activities in Israel and the Diaspora

Youth and young adult activities, campus presence

Education, emissaries (shlichim) and teachers

Cultural, spiritual and religious assistance to the Diaspora communities, especially to Europe and South America

Determine the planning of land development and settlement, new communities, and infrastructure within and beyond the 1967 borders

Another very critical activity of the Zionist Congress and the Jewish Agency is the planning, organization, and absorption of Aliya, immigration to Israel

The Religious Zionist delegations were the only factions representing Torah Judaism at the last Congresses. Their presence in the governing bodies of the Jewish Agency have enabled our many achievements for the Jewish people.

We have been able to carry out our agenda to strengthen Jewish awareness, Torah education and the Jewish spirit in the Diaspora, as well as Israel. We have sponsored initiatives to strengthen Jewish communities the world over, especially in smaller and more isolated Jewish communities.

We have been successful in blocking most initiatives to allow Reform and Conservative Judaism to alter the religious status quo in Israel. We have been instrumental in formulating and pushing through the World Zionist Congress an operational and comprehensive Israeli settlement development plan which is still in effect now and has contributed to strengthening the Yishuv in all parts of Eretz Yisrael.

In the present World Zionist Organization (WZO) and Jewish Agency the Religious Zionist group is represented as follows:

Avraham Duvdevani – chairman of the executive of the WZO

Rabbi Yechiel Wasserman – Head of the Center for Religious Affairs in the Diaspora

Gael Grunewald – Vice Chairman of the Board of the world Jewish National Fund (KKL)

The Center for Religious Affairs is in charge of the cultural, spiritual and religious assistance to the Diaspora communities, especially to Europe and South America, The KKL (world JNF) is integral part of the planning of land development and settlement, new communities, and infrastructure within and beyond the 1967 lines.

In past congress elections we have been quite successful, finishing in second place. In the last two congressional elections the US Religious Zionist delegation amounted to a full one third of the total world religious Zionist representation, thus clearly contributing to the successes of the Religious Zionist delegations. With your help and vote in this election, we will be able to do even better and have a much stronger presence and voice on the Jewish scene.

By voting for Votetorah.org you will vote for Jewish education in Israel and the Diaspora, guarantee the religious status-quo in Israel, prevent civil marriages between Jews in Israel, vote for Torah and Torah values, and safeguard the sanctity of Eretz Yisrael and the continued Jewish presence in the Land.

Your vote will guarantee that Torah Zionism will be the guiding principle for the future of Israel and a major factor in the overall governance of the Jewish people.

The Religious Zionist Movement in the US will compete in this election as the only powerful religious group representing delegates from America’s foundational religious Zionist organizations, including World Mizrachi, AMIT, Bnei Akiva, the National Council of Young Israel, the Orthodox Union, the Rabbinical Council of America, Torah Mitzion, Touro College, and Yeshiva University.

Dr. Chanania Gang
Vice President, Religious Zionists of America