As part of its ongoing mission to strengthen American Jews with Israel, the American Zionist Movement hosted a two-day conference about Zionism, designed to create dialogue and drive action. The conference, “Zionism: From Ideology to Action, Israeli and North American Perspectives,” was held on October 20-21 at the DoubleTree Hotel at Newark Airport in Newark, New Jersey.
The conference joined representatives from many of AZM’s diverse constituent groups with members of the local Jewish community to debate, discuss and deliberate the meaning of Zionism. Several elements related to Zionism were addressed, with each session based on a theme: what Zionism means to me, how to make it relevant today, if and how Israel is still central to Jewish lives and creating and sending a message about Zionism to others.
Attendees were roused by the many distinguished guests who spoke at the conference, providing varied but comprehensive views about their approach to Zionism. Ambassador Ido Aharoni, Consul General of Israel in New York, opened the conference. Several Zionist thinkers, including renowned authors Professor Gil Troy and Yossi Klein Halevi, provided stimulating discourse in discussions and participated in panels. Professor Steven Cohen shared the results of the 2013 Pew Study on Religion in Public Life, illuminating the procedures of the study as well as what the results mean for the Jewish community.
“It was an outstanding, remarkable, valuable, educational experience,” said Judy Shapiro, Coordinator of Jewish Heritage, New York.
