Over the past five years I have been blessed to make a lot of new friends, very good friends, Jews who are not part of the Orthodox community with whom I have sat at broader communal tables in America and Israel. These connections have helped me see how the Jewish people are good to the core and hungry for relationships with each other and with their faith, and to recognize the opportunity we have to lift each other up and to make Hashem and His word beloved, Shem Shamayim mitaheiv al yadeinu.

Sitting there one also gets to see the complexity of the broader community’s spectrum of religious and social values and agendas, often irreconcilably at loggerheads. That is why I have never been able to just sit at these tables and smile but need to be watchful, to speak up, and to safeguard against some of those agendas. But the fighters are vastly outnumbered by those whose deepest and strongest desire is for Klal Yisrael to move forward together, who seek the influence of our faith even if they are not ready to embrace its observance.

The World Zionist Congress is one of those tables, a place of meaningful influence for Klal Yisrael where Orthodoxy needs to be strongly and positively represented. That is why I am asking you to join me and the Orthodox Union and vote for OIC-Mizrachi in the World Zionist Congress election.

Israel is the center of the Jewish people. Wherever we stand in the world, Jews turn to face Jerusalem as both the direction of our prayers and the focus of our efforts. It is where the Jewish past meets the Jewish future, a place in which Jews everywhere are invested.

The American Orthodox community cares deeply about every aspect of Israel’s well-being, physical, political, economic, and social. Throughout the current war, our hearts beat in rhythm with the hostages, the soldiers, the displaced, and with all our brothers and sisters in Israel. We pray for Israel’s safety and for the continued strength of its overtaxed and heroic soldiers and their families. And we are dedicated to the religious renewal that is essential to the ultimate vision for the return of the Jewish people to Zion, that Eretz Yisrael be populated by Am Yisrael living according to Torat Yisrael, building a society where Torah values and observance are upheld and embraced.

That vision is what brought Rav Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin of Volozhin and his student Rav Avraham Yitzchak Hakohein Kook to the table with the secular founders and leaders of the Chovevei Zion and Zionist movements. The Netziv and Rav Kook recognized the critical importance of these movements in building the body of the Jewish future, a secure and prosperous land of Israel, and that they as Orthodox leaders needed to work closely and cooperatively with them to infuse Israel with a genuinely Jewish soul and spirit.

The Orthodox Union and OIC-Mizrachi have remained committed to that mission of elevating the stature of Torah Judaism within Israel and the Zionist movement even as others in Orthodox leadership – then and now – have refused such partnership and limit themselves to transactional engagements that support and protect their own institutions and way of life.

How can we in America continue this mission from afar? While the Jews of the diaspora have no role, voice, or vote in Israel’s government, the elections for the World Zionist Congress give us a seat at the table in Israel’s large and influential National Institutions, including the Jewish Agency and the KKL. While these bodies do not determine the state’s budgets for yeshivas and will not decide the status of the Kotel or of the draft law, our being there allows us to play leading lay and professional roles in shaping the soft power agenda of those institutions and in allocating over a billion dollars annually in service of Israel and the Jewish people. Jews from around the world gather at the table of the World Zionist Congress to express their values, advocate for their Jewish priorities, and allocate the resources to advance them.

That is what has driven the Orthodox Union and OIC-Mizrachi to be at that table sharing the faithful and inspiring voice of Orthodoxy, informing the perspectives and decisions of our fellow Jews while ensuring that institutional allocations reflect our priorities; that Israel’s shlichim throughout the world teach both the love of Israel and of Torah; and that our families, students, and youth movements receive their fair share of scholarship and support dollars.

Your vote for OIC-Mizrachi, Slate 5 will enable us to represent Orthodoxy in a manner that is both firm and pleasant, sharing responsibility for the physical security and strength of Israel while safeguarding and enhancing its religious character. Your vote for OIC-Mizrachi is a vote of confidence in the goodness of Am Yisrael and in the future of Torah and of Israel.

Help us move Klal Yisrael forward together.

Voting is open through May 4. Cast your vote today for OIC-Mizrachi, Slate 5 at voteoic.org.

Rabbi Moshe Hauer is executive vice president of the Orthodox Union (OU), the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization.