At a certain point in our election campaign to the previous World Zionist Congress in 5775/2015, Rabbi Gavriel Reiss began referring to me as the “War Priest” – explaining that it’s the role of the kohen anointed for Israel’s wars to inspire the soldiers (or in our case the candidates and party activists) with a sense of mission and purpose so that each finds personal fulfillment in the collective effort of the battle.
I hope that I lived up to that title in the campaign that ended at 09:00 this morning (Israel time). This campaign was a much different experience for me, with a much smaller team and fewer resources than the last time around.
This campaign was actually a really wild ride and I want to express my appreciation for everyone who took that ride with me.
It’s very difficult to compete in a popular election with a new political message most people haven’t heard or deeply processed before – especially when aspects of that message seem to run counter to the hasbara talking points most pro-Israel Jews in the United States have been conditioned with. Most voters vote for what they know and already support. It’s also very challenging to dumb down a complicated message that often feels cheapened or caricaturized whenever simplified.
The Vision movement came to these elections with a deep understanding of Jewish identity/history & commitment to our entire homeland often only found on the Israeli right but also with a sensitivity to Palestinian grievances and awareness of how oppressive structures operate generally only found on the left (not the Liberal Zionist left but the real left).
Vision represents a unique ideology and a nationalist/universalist dialectic that has existed within our people for thousands of years but has never enjoyed much electoral success (the Fighters party only received one seat in Israel’s first Knesset).
We don’t expect to know how well we did until the votes are all counted at the end of next week but I really want to thank not only the entire Vision team but also everyone who voted for us. However well we did in this election will really be a testament to how many already engaged Diaspora Jews are ready for fresh ideas and seeking deeper conversations than those offered by the political options that have until now existed.
I like to think we ran an educational campaign that raised the level of conversation and forced people to think not of “beating the other side” or “defending Israel” but about what the next objectives of Jewish liberation might be. In any case, we now have to focus on continuing to build our movement and planning our electoral agenda for the congress.
Finally, I’d like to thank everyone who fought alongside me in this campaign and also everyone who gave their vote to the Vision movement. We very much meant what we said about utilizing the resources of the Zionist movement to identify and achieve the next goals of Jewish liberation. I hope you will all be full participants in these efforts.
