Events

It is with pleasure that I report on the activities of ARZA Australia to the Annual General Meeting for the 2019-20 year, being held on November 17, 2020.

I was delighted to be elected President of Australia’s Progressive Zionist organization at its 2019 AGM, and at the same time also elected as Vice President of the Union for Progressive Judaism (UPJ).

My predecessor, Steve Denenberg had devoted more than a decade to ARZA Australia both as President and CEO. He has continued as the Immediate Past
President and been very active and supportive in that role. I thank him for all his support and assistance.

In building the new board, ARZA was fortunate that some experienced board members remained on the board providing expertise in financial reporting (thanks to Tony Leverton) and Membership list building (thanks to Philip Levy, who has also been a Vice President). We were also fortunate to recruit some new and young members to the Board, with 40% now being under the age of 35 years. We are most fortunate that the Netzer Mazkir, Lior Kalisse has joined our board as an Ex Officio Member along with the Netzer Shaliach Sefi Shalam. It has been a pleasure working with them. They have joined Sue Silberberg, our other Vice President in forming a sub-committee to look at ARZA Australia’s role in the community going forward. A new member of the board, Alex Knopoff from Adelaide took on the role of Secretary and has done a great job. Our thanks go to her.

As you probably know, ARZA Australia is the Zionist/political arm of the UPJ. At a planning weekend of the UPJ held in Sydney in February 2020, an agreement was made that moving forward, the UPJ, ARZA Australia and the Assembly of Rabbis and Cantors (ARC) would work together in mutual co-operation and communication. This was done to ensure that the Australian Progressive Movement as much as possible speaks in unison with one voice in support of Eretz Israel and our Jewish beliefs.

With the World Zionist Congress planned for October 2020, the Australian Progressive Movement hoped to maximize its voice in Israel in support of Pluralism and equality in the Jewish Democratic State. To this end ARZA Australia moved to encourage all Progressive Jews to join as members to ensure the four mandates held by ARZA at the 2015 World Zionist Congress would be maintained.

ARZA successfully participated in the Area Election Committee and maintained the current number of WZC delegates, with a 30% increase in membership numbers making ARZA the largest Zionist organization in Australia. It was disappointing that the congress could not take place in person, but through the hard work of our world body, ARZENU, we were able to participate in the proceedings and a wonderful pre congress program provided by ARZENU. We now look forward to a gathering in Israel in 2021.

Through the tireless efforts of Philip Levy, our retiring male Vice President from Sydney, ARZA now has a comprehensive membership list. This means we can provide a weekly communication to all ARZA members and members of UPJ Congregations.

It is published in the UPJ News and Drash and emailed to ARZA members. It forms the basis of regular posts to the ARZA website, Facebook and Twitter. Statements on key issues such as annexation, normalisation with Arab States, gender equality, equality in Israel for the varying streams of Judaism and other issues are published, often jointly with the UPJ and ARC.

ARZA Australia has now established a sub- committee which is in the process of examining our role in the community going forward. With an increased membership and good relations with Zionist roof bodies, such as the Zionist Federation of Australia, State based Zionist organizations, our world roof body ARZENU, the World Union of Progressive Judaism and the World Zionist Organization, we look forward to broadening programs of interest to our members.

We welcome any suggestions from our members in relation to what you would like us to consider providing and how you view our current communications. Currently our work is only done by volunteers as we decided to put a moratorium on fees until next June because of hardships caused by Covid 19. However we are grateful to our partner, the UPJ for including our weekly communication in the UPJ News and Drash.

Finally, I thank the ARZA Australia Board, our members, the Assembly of Rabbis and Cantors of Australia and New Zealand and the Union for Progressive Judaism for your ongoing support, assistance and encouragement in the continued growth of ARZA Australia.

ARZA President, Helen Shardey

Download the full Annual Reports (President, Treasurer & Membership) and Financials in PDF form

Notice is hereby given that in accordance with the provisions of the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 (Vic) the Annual General Meeting of the Australian Reform Zionist of Association Inc. (ARZA) will be held at 6:00 p.m. AEST on Tuesday 17 November 2020 online via Zoom.

AGENDA

1. Attendance
2. Apologies
3. Video Presentation from Gusti Y Braverman
   Head of the Department for Organization, World Zionist Federations, Israeli Communities Abroad and the Bialik Institiute and Publishing House
4. Adoption of the minutes of the AGM held on Friday 8 November 2019.
5. Matters arising.
6. President’s Report.
7. Treasurer’s Report.
8. Membership Report.
9. Appointment of honorary solicitors.
10. Election of members to the Executive Committee (see below).

Dated: 29 October 2020

Any queries relating to the agenda should be directed to the Honorary Secretary arza@arza.org.au

Please send RSVPs to arza@arza.org.au

Alex Knopoff
ARZA Secretary

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS FOR EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS FOR THE AUSTRALIAN REFORM ZIONIST ASSOCIATION INC.

The Annual General Meeting of the Australian Reform Zionist Association (ARZA) Inc. will be held at 6:00p.m. on Tuesday 17 November 2020.

Rule 22.2… “Each officer of the Association will hold office until the second Annual General Meeting after the date of his or her election but is eligible for re-election provided that no person may be appointed to serve in the same office for more than two consecutive terms.”

Rule 23.2…”Each ordinary Committee Member elected will hold office until the Annual General Meeting next after the date of election but is eligible for re-election”.

The Rules provide that there will be a minimum of 2 members and nominations are sought for these positions.

Members are hereby invited to nominate people to fill the positions of officeholders and ordinary committee member. All nominations must be in the form of the attached Nomination Form and must be signed by the proposer and seconder as well as the nominated person.

The Chair of  world AMEINU has written to ARZA Australia saying “Thanks to the hard work of all our delegates around the world, our wonderful negotiating team on the ground and our capable team of lawyers, we were able to secure a wall-to-wall agreement that respected the diversity of positions within the Zionist movement, established adequate checks and balances and secures critical funding for the Reform movement in Israel and around the world. We look forward to working with the new Chair of the WZO, Yaakov Hagoel, building on the positive working relationship that we have established with him over many years”. (Rabbi Lea Muhlstein)

My sincere thanks to our Australian Delegates and Deputy Delegates to the WZC for your amazing support and for attending meetings throughout the night for nearly two weeks to the ARZENU Pre Congress Program and then the Program itself. Delegates: Sue Silberberg, Alex Knopoff and Lior Kalisse along with myself and Deputy Delegates: Tony Leverton, Cassie Barnett, Tahlia Bowen and Steve Denenberg. We all learnt the importance of team support and strong commitment without giving up. (Helen Shardey)

Major Changes from the Original Proposed Agreement

For the first time in its history the Zionist Movement will appoint a President from the center-left liberal Zionist block. This will be a voluntary position (not paid). The President which will be nominated by the Yesh Atid party and designated for a female candidate will represent the Zionist movement in Israel and abroad as an ambassador of good will for all the Zionist streams and viewpoints.

The KKL Education committee will not be under the unilateral control of Eretz HaKodesh the Haredi party. The committee will have two co-chairs, Kachol Levan and Eretz Ha Kodesh will each have an appointment to head the committee. They will lead the committee by rotation.

There will not be a sectorial department for the Haredim in the National Institutions. All of the WZO departments will serve all the sectors of Israeli society and the Jewish people.

The Chairperson of Keren HaYesod will be from Kachol Levan.

For the first time the position of Deputy WZO Chair and Deputy Head of JAFI will be held by representatives of the Reform and Conservative Movements.

The Finance Committee of KKL will move from control of the Likud to Yesh Atid.

The Executive Board (Directors) of KKL and the WZO will have parity.

The allocation of departments and spheres of activity were changed substantially and were divided in a balanced manner between right and left. In the WZO for the first time a department of social engagement (tikun olam) will be established headed by Meretz. A department focusing on working with Israelis in the Diaspora will be established as well headed by the Reform Movement, and a unit for humanistic Judaism will be under the Labor party.

Helen Shardey
ARZA Australia President
UPJ Vice President