{"id":46902,"date":"2025-06-13T01:55:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T08:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=46902"},"modified":"2025-06-12T09:14:52","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T16:14:52","slug":"time-to-vote-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2025\/06\/13\/time-to-vote-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Time to vote again!"},"content":{"rendered":"

You may not know there is an election underway. Voting to elect delegates to the Canadian Zionist Federation closes Sunday, so you still have time to cast your ballot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although some of us have been receiving emails urging us to vote, it\u2019s likely that most of us don\u2019t even know there is campaign going on. It\u2019s not front-page news.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those chosen in the CZF election on Sunday will become delegates to the 39th World Zionist Congress, in Jerusalem, in October. (The legendary First Zionist Congress was convened by Theodor Herzl, in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897.)<\/p>\n

Even if you haven\u2019t yet heard about the elections, we think it\u2019s worth taking a few moments to familiarize yourself with the slates, their platforms, and the role of CZF in connecting Canadian Jews to Israel. We encourage you to take this opportunity to have a small but important voice in the future of Zionism and our relationship with the Jewish homeland. Registering to vote costs $2.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Canadian Zionist Federation is a national affiliate of the World Zionist Organization, and is comprised of 11 national Jewish Zionist organizations. These include the religiously affiliated groups ARZA Canada, \u201cthe Zionist voice of the Canadian Reform movement,\u201d the Conservative movement\u2019s MERCAZ Canada, and the Orthodox Eretz HaKodesh; political groups affiliated with Israeli parties, including Likud Canada, Herut Canada and Meretz Canada; ethnically oriented groups like Shas Olami, affiliated with the Sephardi and Mizrahi Orthodox party Shas, and Mizrahi Canada; and a linguistic grouping, the Canadian Forum of Russian-Speaking Jewry, as well as the non-denominational, non-partisan youth group Young Judaea, and Ameinu Canada, \u201ca national, multi-generational community of progressive Jews in Canada, the United States, Australia and Brazil.\u201d The slates in this election reflect and overlap within and across these groupings.<\/p>\n

The World Zionist Organization styles itself as \u201cthe parliament of the Jewish people,\u201d and it convenes every five years. WZO sets priorities for the Zionist movement worldwide. It is the main global voice on policy around Israel-diaspora relations, on such topics as Jewish education funding abroad, aliyah and religious recognition. The WZO allocates hundreds of millions of dollars in funding through Zionist institutions like the Jewish Agency, Keren Hayesod (United Israel Appeal) and Jewish National Fund.<\/p>\n

Through the Canadian Zionist Federation \u2013 and then via the World Jewish Congress \u2013 each of us is granted a say in these essential issues. If you care about Israel and its relationship with the diaspora, and you would like to have a voice in the direction of that relationship, this is one important avenue.<\/p>\n

Take time to peruse the platforms of the various groups vying for your vote.\u00a0 <\/span>You may want to place particular attention on issues around the preservation of Israeli democracy, and legal protections and social equality for women and minorities in the country. Perhaps one or more of the platforms will reflect your views on how Israel can work toward peace while protecting its citizens and ensuring the long-term security of its borders.<\/p>\n

Read the materials and see which slate best reflects your opinion on how many millions of dollars should be spent to strengthen Jewish life in Israel and worldwide. These elections \u2013 and the decisions to be taken at the Congress to which the delegates will be sent \u2013 represent the values and priorities of world Jewry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Israel and Jews collectively are at an unprecedented moment \u2013 and while, by definition, every moment is unprecedented, especially in Jewish history, this feels different.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps you didn\u2019t know you were eligible to vote. Maybe you were only vaguely aware of the Canadian Zionist Federation and what it does. You had probably heard of the First Zionist Congress but maybe didn\u2019t know that the through-line in Zionist history continues from Basel in 1897 to Jerusalem in 2025.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now you know a little more. Dive deeper. And, on or before Sunday, vote at czf.ca<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You may not know there is an election underway. Voting to elect delegates to the Canadian Zionist Federation closes Sunday, so you still have time to cast your ballot.\u00a0 Although some of us have been receiving emails urging us to vote, it\u2019s likely that most of us don\u2019t even know there is campaign going on. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[9605,9604,1200,3249,4330,2896,5333],"class_list":["post-46902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-ji","tag-canadian-zionist-federation","tag-czf","tag-diaspora","tag-elections","tag-israel","tag-world-jewish-congress","tag-world-jewry"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}