(Courtesy of Mizrachi) World Mizrachi recently celebrated its 120th year representing Orthodox Judaism in the international Zionist movement. The event took place immediately following the World Zionist Congress (WZC) 125th anniversary gala in the same place where Theodore Herzl first opened its inaugural 1897 session, the Stadtcasino Basel concert hall in Basel, Switzerland.

World Mizrachi is the longest-standing movement still representing its constituents at the Congress, commonly referred to as the “Parliament of the Jewish People.”

“We were thrilled to join with the united Zionist movement in celebration of its rich history of partnership with diaspora Jewry,” said Mizrachi Chief Executive Rav Doron Perez. “It’s humbling to think this same concert hall hosted the first debates on the idea of a Jewish state, in a world where Europe was at the center of the Torah world, and just 125 years later Israel’s leading the charge in Torah learning, and in impacting so many other areas of international society.”

The Mizrachi event, emceed by Roi Abecassis, Mizrachi’s appointee who leads the WZO Center for Religious Affairs, was joined by delegates including more than 100 representing religious-Zionist communities across the Jewish world.

Israel Prize laureate and renowned educator and speaker Miriam Peretz delivered the keynote address highlighting World Mizrachi’s importance in fostering a strong religious-Zionist movement made up of individuals with strong value-based Jewish identities.

Attendees then heard from ranking leaders of Israel’s national institutions including Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund Chairman Avraham Duvdevani, World Zionist Organization Chairman Yaakov HaGoel, and incoming Jewish Agency for Israel Chairman Doron Almog about the important role the representative body has played in being the first and largest religious-Zionist movement and in binding the Zionist movement to Jewish faith and spirituality since shortly after its first plenaries.

Gael Grunewald, Mizrachi’s appointee who serves as the World Zionist Organization’s vice chairman and leads its educational arm, also shared similar sentiments.

“As the longest-standing member organization of the ‘Parliament of the Jewish People,’ we see it not only as our responsibility to represent the Torah values of our Orthodox constituents in Israel’s national institutions, but also to do everything we can to ensure the continued unity of the World Zionist Movement. That’s why we’ve always been one of the loudest voices in support of a wall-to-wall agreement in every Congress,” said Grunewald.