Israeli citizens will elect a new government in just five days, in what many have called Israel’s most important election ever. Israelis find themselves at a crossroads, with real debates about whether the Jewish state should expand settlements, engage in peace negotiations, ensure protections for women and members of the LGBT community and treat all religions equally.

I don’t remember the first time I skimmed my skull with a bobby pin and pushed a circle of knitted white cloth and strands of hair into its metal clasp. Wearing a kippah felt like a natural extension of the Jewish history I was learning and the Hebrew grammar and vocabulary that was quickly becoming the primary language through which I understood my surroundings. I was 15 years old, and I had chosen to study on Kibbutz Tzuba with Eisendrath International Exchange as a return to both my symbolic, spiritual home as diaspora Jew, and to my familial home, only miles away from the kibbutz where my father grew up and his parents and siblings still lived. I wanted to know, as I began to plan out my college career, if Israel would be my future home, if the army would be my intermediary step and if I would, perhaps, studying at Hebrew University  instead of an American university.

At our L’Taken Social Justice Seminars, teens take what they’ve learned from the program to Capitol Hill. Over the January 6-9 program, students Allie Gurwitz and Caroline Kaden from Congregation Beth-El in San Antonio, TX spoke about their support for Israel and the peace process to the offices of Senator Ted Cruz, Member of Congress Lamar Smith and Member of Congress Lloyd Doggett:

When the ARZA slate for the World Zionist Congress elections was officially announced last week with my name on it, I was humbled. The World Zionist Congress is the democratic body of the Jewish people worldwide that will meet this fall for the first time since 2010, and as a member of the ARZA slate, I will have the opportunity to represent Reform values to the World Zionist Congress and advocate for more funding to programs that promote religious pluralism, equality, and peace in Israel. Yet aside from being humbled, I thought back to my experience on my Birthright trip three years ago. I remembered my night out in Tel Aviv and my trip to the Western Wall, but the most lasting images are from all those hours I spent on our tour bus, crisscrossing from Haifa to Tiberias to Jerusalem to Beersheva. I remember most strongly the scene as we left Tiberias, driving up the winding roads from Lake Kinneret to the hills beyond. Looking out the window, I saw the yellow-brown grass everywhere, green bushes dotting the landscape and the occasional signpost that listed our location in Hebrew, Arabic and English. The land looked so serene from my seat on the bus, equal parts austere and equal parts welcoming.

When I had the chance go to the Kotel, or the Western Wall, I was able to walk up to the men’s section, find an open section of wall, and run my hands over the coarse, grey stone that I’d heard about ever since I learned the letter aleph. I had an unexpectedly intense connection with my Jewish identity, the kind of clichéd connection I thought only existed in the stories of Birthright trip promoters. I treasure that experience, but I know that part of the reason I was able to have that experience was because I’m fortunate. As a man, I could wear a tallit at the Kotel without being arrested, and I could go to the spacious men’s section instead of the crowded, smaller, women’s section. Because of these things, I was able to have a much better experience than my female counterparts.

As a parliamentary democracy, Israel is slated to have elections every four years, but they can be held earlier if the governing coalition dissolves. Few governing coalitions last the full four years, but even so, it was a bit of a surprise when Prime Minister Netanyahu called for elections last month, less than two years after the last election. Elections will be held on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, and with such little time between now and then, it seems like every day is chock full of new developments that will shape the elections.

Disaster struck Saturday night at a school building in Jerusalem.  Four firefighter teams were called in to extinguish a blaze that destroyed a first-grade classroom.  The larger tragedy is that the fire seems to have been an act of premeditated arson, and the school targeted for being a model of Jewish-Arab community building.  The torched building housed a Hebrew-Arab bilingual school—The Hand in Hand Jerusalem School—where Jewish and Arab parents send their children to play and learn side-by-side.

In response to the attack that happened at B'nei Torah Kehillat Yaakov synagogue in Har Nof, Jerusalem, the leaders of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA) and the American Conference of Cantors (ACC) released the following statements: Reform Movement Condemns Brutal Attack at Jerusalem Synagogue, from URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs "The Reform Movement is appalled at the horrific and gruesome attack of worshipers at a synagogue in Jerusalem early this morning. Our hearts go out to the victims of this horrendous attack and we insist the perpetrators be condemned and held responsible. Such violence on innocent people in their place of worship is an affront to all humanity. Israeli and Palestinian leaders must work together to de-escalate the growing violence in the region, particularly in the holy city of Jerusalem. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims taken from us this morning in Jerusalem. May the Holy One comfort these families among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem."

By Rabbi Bennett Miller The next year marks an important time for Zionists around the world, as the first elections to the World Zionist Congress (WZC) in five years will be taking place. The WZC, which has met regularly since the First Zionist Congress in 1897, carries important historical weight and controls funding for projects in Israel, so at this critical juncture in Israeli politics, Reform Zionist voices need to be heard.  ARZA, which represents a strong Reform Jewish voice for Israel and Zionism, has created toolkit for the upcoming elections. Here is a piece from ARZA Chair, Rabbi Bennett Miller, on the importance of voting and how to encourage other to participate. Earlier this month, Jews the world over poured into synagogues to “afflict our souls” on the holy day of Yom Kippur – to search within ourselves to atone, forgive and ultimately emerge renewed.