Im Tirzu…
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Read Bill’s Hess’s Presidential Address
Beginning early on Sunday morning October 18, Zionists from New York, New Jersey, and as far away as Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Louisiana and Jerusalem, Israel came together to welcome in the Year of Herzl. This year Jews across the world will mark the 150 anniversary of the birth of Theodor Herzl, the visionary of the Jewish people and father of the Jewish State. The Assembly used Herzl’s vision of the Jewish state as a starting point to look at the accomplishments of the Jewish People over the last 112 years, while looking forward to the challenges and possibilities ahead.
(l to r) Dr. David Breakstone, Head, WZO Department for Zionist Activities; Noam Dolgin, Executive Director, Green Zionist Alliance; Ariel Beery, PresenTense Group; Liran Avidar, JAFI Aliyah Department, and David Krantz, President of the Green Zionist Alliance.
Dr. David Breakstone, head of the WZO Department of Zionist Activities, quoted Herzl’s own words to remind participants of the kind of Jewish state Herzl envisioned in Altneuland. He was followed by three panelists who looked at the past and future of particualr areas. Noam Dolgin, Executive Director of the Green Zionist Alliance, looked at ecological and environmental issues, Liran Avisar, of the Aliyah Departmentloked at Israel’s new pioneers, the young Israelis settling the Negev and Galilee, and Ariel Beery, co-founder of the PresenTense Group, considered technological advances and how they impact our ability to organize and inspire.
Addressing participants via videoconference, Natan Sharansky, Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency, spoke of the importance of outreach to students and young people. Videoconferencing was also used to create a dialogue with young olim in Tel Aviv and the New York based Assembly.
William "Bill" Hess delivers his acceptance speech after being re-elected to the Presdiency of the American Zionist Movement.
The afternoon attracted young Jews seeking positions in the Jewish community with an internship fair, as well as presentations by Aharon Horwitz, co-founder of the PresenTense Group, who spoke about the need for a reinvigoration of ideological thinking and ferment in the Zionist Movement, and J.J. Goldberg, of The Forward.
