Page 20 - HaMizrachi_Hanukkah_AUS_2020_Neat

The Zionist Congress,

Mizrachi and the

Influence of Rabbi Sacks

by Rabbi Doron Perez

Executive Chairman, World Mizrachi

he wall-to-wall unity agreement
reached at the recent 38th World
TZionist Congress is not some-
thing to be taken for granted. Neither is
the role World Mizrachi played in this
unique achievement.
A seismic shift took place in Israel’s
National Institutions at this particular
Congress. For the first time in Zion-
ist history, the majority of the 525
delegates from Israel and around the
world were identified with the polit-
ical and religious right-wing of the
Zionist Movement.
This could perhaps be likened to the
1977 revolution in Israeli politics The shift in numbers was the result the Chairperson of the World Zionist
when Menachem Begin rose to power of multiple factors – the size of the Organization (WZO), are affiliated
after 30 years of Labor leadership.
Likud Party, the strength of Mizrachi’s with the political and religious right.
For the first time, Israel had a right- Religious Zionist global representa- However, the National Institutions are
wing Prime Minister and govern- tion and the joining of the new Haredi not only about influence and power
ment. This gradually brought more Eretz HaKodesh delegation from politics. They are about preserving a
religious and traditional elements of America, to name but three. singular and diverse balance. A very
Israeli society into political leadership delicate one.
positions. One tangible sign of this new reality
is that the Chairperson and Deputy Let me explain. The WZO is akin to
A similar phenomenon has begun in Chairperson of the powerful Keren the parliament of the Jewish people.
the National Institutions. Kayemet LeYisrael (JNF Israel), and It is perhaps the only forum in which

20 |