A Message from Rabbi Bellows

June 1, 2025 /5 Sivan 5785 

Dear Friends,

The World Zionist Congress Election Results are in- Historic Victory for Reform Movement. Vote Reform won a commanding victory! 

Thank you to all our Beth Am friends and family who voted in this election, especially to our Team Captain, Jeff Hersh!

From the URJ/ARZA:

Our Vote Reform slate received more votes than any of the 22 slates by a wide margin. We obtained the largest number of votes in the history of the WZC, and we did so by running a fair, honorable campaign and upholding our Reform Jewish values. We are the most prominent U.S. voice at the World Zionist Congress. This is a victory for the democratic ideals and Reform Jewish values that we share. This means we will fight for pluralism and democracy and secure significant funding for Reform causes. Our community showed up, and it made a powerful difference.

Our work is not done.

We face significant forces that have joined the fray of Zionist politics with the simple and direct goal of trying to deny our rights and oppose our values. We need you to stay at the table and be involved in the fight.

As the in-depth analysis of the voting unfolds, we will see much more hemming and hawing over how the votes are counted and how the congressional mandates are divided. The wild card is that voter fraud saw the disqualification of approximately 18,000 votes. Some six parties are still under investigation for committing fraud. We have representation on the committee that will debate and fight about what the penalty should be for those parties. They will ideally lose mandates above and beyond the nullified votes if proof of their fraudulent behavior emerges. While the preliminary results were announced, we have yet to announce how many actual seats each party has won in this election, which is still to come.

We are proud of the clean, transparent, and passionate campaign that our Movement ran, (and continues to run), and are grateful and proud of the thousands of leaders, volunteers, congregations, and communities who mobilized and turned out the vote on behalf of Israel, the Reform Movement and to reclaim our brand of Zionism.

We will continue to push for just and fair elections.

This outcome shows that when we organize and act, our movement leads.

In this time of vulnerability, of increased antisemitism, our victory is an expression of our unwavering commitment to Israel. We will use our strong showing to continue to push for the release of the hostages and the security of Israel as a Jewish and democratic State.

Our win is a win for the future that we will build together.

Celebrate with us on Monday, June 9 at 8:00pm ET/ 5:00pm PT. We encourage you to bring your friends and family. Register here

Mazel Tov! May we continue to work for a democratic Israel!

Rabbi Bellows