Why I’m Proud to be a Reform Jew/Zionist
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.
Cohort 1 of Amplify Israel Fellowship at Beit Daniel
That moment reframed Zionism for me as a peoplehood anchored in place, a communal responsibility that makes safety possible, and a shared strength that serves a larger purpose.
Tomorrow night, after Shabbat, I am flying to Israel as a delegate to the World Zionist Congress. I grew up singing Hebrew songs, tracing the map of Israel, and falling in love with its food, culture, and resilience. This trip feels different, more personal, more urgent, and more sacred, because the World Zionist Congress is the only democratically elected forum where Jews from outside Israel have a vote and a voice in shaping Israel’s national institutions. For someone who has always loved Israel from afar, this is a rare chance to help shape her future from within.
The World Zionist Congress began with Herzl’s dream in 1897: that Jews everywhere could come together to imagine and build a homeland of our own, grounded in justice, belonging, and hope. Today, it remains the only democratically elected forum where Jews from around the world, Diaspora and Israeli alike, sit at the same table.
I am proud to be part of ARZENU, representing the values we believe in: religious freedom, a shared society, and an Israel committed to complete equality. That commitment grows from what I have seen up close since that Shabbat in Tel Aviv: friends spending their free time tending the soil, teachers making temporary classrooms, and neighbors supporting neighbors. This is love of country lived as responsibility and care, especially in a time of healing and rebuilding.
The same commitments guide me as an American Jew. In America, that means civic responsibility (I voted absentee!) and holding our country to its ideals. In Israel, that means standing for justice, inclusion, peace, and egalitarianism.
Reform Zionism lives at this intersection. By loving Israel and creating space for our Judaism and our values, we widen the tent and make room for differences.
I am going to Jerusalem to listen, to learn, and to add my voice. I will be with Reform Jews from around the world —rabbis, educators, students, and lay leaders —who believe that Israel’s future is strengthened by compassion and courage. I look forward to singing Hatikvah with full hearts, because hope has always been our people’s bravest act.
I am proud to be a Reform Zionist. My commitment to Israel and the Jewish people drives my activism: to question, to build, to pray, and to do this work of hope. As I board the plane, I pray the days ahead will deepen that commitment and renew my faith in what Israel can still become.
Rabbi Elana Rabishaw currently serves as Rabbi and Director of Education at Congregation Or Ami in Calabasas, California. She previously served at Temple Beth El in Boca Raton, FL. She earned an MA in Hebrew Letters, an MA in Jewish Education, and received Rabbinic Ordination from Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, and holds a BS from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
