This past Saturday night, as Shabbat ended, I packed my bags and headed to JFK  for the 39th World Zionist Congress. This late October trip to Israel is routine for me now – my involvement with ARZA, Arzenu, and the World Zionist Organization (WZO) began nearly 8 years ago.

Walking into the World Zionist Congress today transported me to another world. All of a sudden, it was 1897, and I was in Basel, Switzerland, with Theodor Herzl himself, after he had the creative idea to bring together Jews from around the world to decide on certain things pertaining to the future of the Jewish people, not least among them the possible creation of a Jewish state.

We all know that the next several days will be filled with conflict, political machinations, and attempts to demonize and marginalize the large coalition of progressive Jewish institutions, organizations, and values that make up our coalition.

First and foremost, I want to share how emotional it was to walk down the long hallway of Ben Gurion airport today and see only 13 hostage posters remaining.

Six weeks after October 7, I spent a Friday night in Tel Aviv.

Midway through Kabbalat Shabbat, the Red Alert siren sounded. We walked to the shelter, waited for the all clear, and then went back upstairs into the sanctuary. Rabbi Meir Azari called seven women to the bima to formally welcome them into the Jewish people. It was a decisive moment when these women declared that, even in a time of fear, they chose faith.