Hurricane
Katrina Relief Fund Hurricane
Katrina has left hundreds of thousands of people homeless in the U.S.
Their homes, businesses, all of their belongings have been destroyed.
They need immediate help to rebuild their lives and their communities.
At this time, contributions of cash are most needed. United Synagogue
of Conservative Judaism has set up an emergency mailbox. Checks may
be sent to USCJ Seaboard Region, 121 Congressional Lane, Suite 210,
Rockville, MD 20852, USA. Please note that the USCJ mailbox will be
working in cooperation with the United Jewish Communities Relief Effort
to aid both the general and Jewish communities.
Support the Conservative/Masorti
Movement – vote MERCAZ!
The
Conservative movement’s electoral campaign for representation
in the 35th World Zionist Congress has begun. Voter registration
in North America opened July 1.
Any North American Jew who will have turned 18 by the end of June
2006 and who affirms the basic principles of Zionism, as described
in the Jerusalem Program and available at mercazusa.org/jerusalem_program_text.htm,
can vote to elect the 2006 Congress.
The voting process will be in two stages, as it was in 1997 and
2002. Registration, which costs $7 per adult, $5 per student,
will be open until January 15, 2006, by mail and until February
15 online. Ballots will be distributed starting in mid-November
2005, and voting will end on February 28.
Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization Chairman
Zeev Bielski (left)
with MERCAZ Olami and MERCAZ USA president Rabbi Vernon
Kurtz
North American voters who registered for the 2002 WZO elections will
receive new registration forms from the American Zionist Movement,
and MERCAZ, the Zionist arm of the Conservative movement, will send
registration forms to its members. Links to the online registration
will be available at MERCAZ’s website, www.mercazusa.org.
For more information, call the MERCAZ office at 1-888-99 MERCAZ (1-888-996-3722)
or email info@mercazusa.org.
For information about voting for MERCAZ in Canada, call 1-800-419-5666
or email mercaz-masorti@intrr.net
Once you are registered and receive your ballot, vote for MERCAZ.
Put your belief in the Conservative movement in North American and
the Masorti movement in Israel to work.
Your vote will make a difference. Poll results determine how much
funding the Jewish Agency for Israel will provide the Conservative/Masorti
movement. With your vote, you’ll help strengthen the Conservative/Masorti
movement and religious pluralism in Israel and around the world.
We are sad to report that two
Masorti Olami community leaders passed away this summer, Dr. Eva Farkas
from Budapest and Alexey Kalganov from Moscow.
The following obituary was sent to us by Dr. Tibor Englander, MERCAZ
Zionist leader in Budapest.
Dr. Eva Farkas
(z”l) was born on March 1, 1944, in the month of the
occupation of Hungary by the Germans. She studied chemistry and
physics, then psychology at the ELTE University in Budapest. A
holder of PhD degree in psychology, Eva was a prominent researcher
and teacher. She pursued organizational and managerial activity.
Dr. Eva Farkas (z”l)
Eva was bound to the Jewish religion
and to the Jewish community by deep conviction. In her twenties,
she started to participate in Zionist activities, which were
illegal at that time. Within a short time, she became a significant
Zionist leader. Since the late eighties, she was active in the
founding and operational management of the Oneg Shabbat Club
and in the active revival of the Zionist movement and Jewish
life in Hungary.
Quick-sighted, perspicacious and well-informed, Eva would always
ready with a prompt reply, to take up an uncompromising, daring
position. She was a person of fight, but never, ever fought
for herself. All her steps were guided by principles, ideas
and community goals. Eva was indefatigable and obsessed with
dutifulness. Those who knew her know how good-hearted, helpful
and generous she was. She will be sorely missed.
Alexey Kalganov (z"l)
was the founder of the Marom Moscow group. This year, he began
working with Udi Givon, Marom Olami coordinator, to plan a program
rich in both religious and educational activities to strengthen
the Jewish identity of the approximately 40 people in the group.
We recently had the privilege of meeting Alexey when he participated
in the Marom European Seminar in Berlin in May. Alexey's vision
was to create a young, dynamic Masorti community in Moscow, but
unfortunately he didn't live long enough to fulfill his dream.
He was only 30 years old when he passed away at the end of June.
The next meeting of
the Board of Directors of Masorti Olami will take place at the Jewish
Theological Seminary in New York at 1:30 p.m. The agenda will include
a current report on developments in Latin America, a review of developments
involving new kehillot around the world, a report on the activities
of the World Zionist organization and the upcoming World Zionist Congress,
as well as the formal report of the nominating committee and election
of nominees for officer and Board of Directors positions.
