MERCAZ Memberships at Selichot Services, September 11th
MERCAZ Membership Drive
Join congregations throughout the United States that are holding membership campaigns for MERCAZ USA, the Zionist organization of the Conservative Movement, at Selichot services, Saturday night, September 11th.
MERCAZ will supply synagogues with appropriate quantities of MERCAZ membership applications and newsletters so that congregants can join our Zionist affiliate on the spot at the current membership dues before scheduled dues increases go into effect.
Why?
While the next World Zionist Congress elections are still two years away, the Conservative Movement has begun to plan for the Congress and the elections that will precede it. The USCJ is committed to working together with the other arms of the Movement to reverse the results of the 2002 elections where our Zionist affiliate, MERCAZ USA, lost 6 delegate positions and declined 15% in its share of the American Zionist vote, from 28% to 22%. This loss resulted in sharp reductions in Jewish communal allocations from the Jewish Agency to the programs and institutions of Conservative/Masorti Judaism in Israel and around the world, including the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, NATIV, and the Conservative Yeshiva.
The first step in reversing this trend is to build up the MERCAZ membership. For this reason, MERCAZ, with the support of the Rabbinical Assembly and the USCJ, has launched a membership campaign for Selichot services on Saturday night, September 11, 2004.
Materials Available
To make sure that your congregation's MERCAZ membership campaign is successful, MERCAZ will provide materials, including membership brochures, flyers and current newsletters. We ask that you set up a MERCAZ table where people can sign up on the spot. In addition, for those congregations who are still looking for a program idea for Selichot, MERCAZ would be happy to provide the congregation with one of several possible programs for use before the formal Selichot prayer service. These programs include:
a. a lesson in Hebrew roots and Jewish values from our "Ivrit Masortit Hebrew Heritage" Program.
b. the MERCAZ promotional video (10 minutes).
c. "If You Will It": a dramatization of Zionist issues leading to open discussion, from our "Celebrating the Zionist Dream" Kit.
For more information, contact the MERCAZ USA office, 212-533-2061 or info@mercazusa.org. Additional information about MERCAZ, its goals, mission and programs, is available from its website www.mercazusa.org.
