Rabbi Pesach Lerner's battle for tradition

When last week’s agreement dividing up portfolios within the World Zionist Organization (WZO) and its constituent bodies — Keren Hayesod, Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael, the Jewish National Fund, and the Jewish Agency — was finally signed, it was no easy slicing of the pie. Because for the first time, WZO’s decisive balance of power was now held by 25 US delegates on the Eretz HaKodesh slate, a first-time slate representing the American chareidi and right-wing modern Orthodox communities.

Most of the leading positions went to members of the right-wing and religious coalition, which prevailed in the election of delegates to the WZO concluding on March 11. The headline in the Jerusalem Post read: “Shift in power in WZO elections from progressive Left to religious Right.”

In the tense negotiations preceding the signing, the decisive balance of power was held by 25 US delegates on the Eretz HaKodesh slate, out of 521 delegates to the World Zionist Congress, which takes place every five years.

Under the terms of the agreement, Yosef Hagoel of Likud will take the reins of WZO executive and Avraham Duvdevani will head Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael. Both are shomer Shabbos Jews.

Eretz HaKodesh was largely the brainchild of Rabbi Pesach Lerner, the executive vice president emeritus of National Council of Young Israel and currently president of the Coalition of Jewish Values; the recent elections represent the culmination of two years of hard work. Mishpacha’s Yonoson Rosenblum spoke to Rabbi Lerner about the significance of last week’s signing.

YR: How big a deal was the participation of the new chareidi slate in the WZO elections? Do the election results justify all your efforts to bring Eretz HaKodesh into existence?

Rabbi Lerner: Sometimes, the best way to assess one’s impact is out of the mouths of one’s opponents. The Masorti Movement labeled the coalition negotiations “a hostile takeover of Zionist institutions.” And that theme was picked up by much of the Hebrew-language press. The Reform and Conservative movements moved heaven and earth to have the original coalition agreement rescinded. Heavy pressure was brought on organizations such as Hadassah and Bnei Brith, which have delegates to the World Zionist Congress, but traditionally do not participate in the coalition negotiations, to oppose the initial agreement.

As a result, some minor adjustments were made in the allocation of positions, but they were very slight. Eretz HaKodesh remains in charge of the education department of KKL for the next two and a half years, and a new department within the WZO for “chareidi spiritual services” was created.

During and after the elections, the Reform movement brought suit to the Supreme Court of the WZO to disqualify the Eretz HaKodesh slate as not properly Zionist. The suit was rejected, but the mere fact that it was brought shows how concerned those movements were by our participation.