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masortiolami mercazolami annual review 20 10 ­ world council of conservative masorti synagogues consejo mundial de sinagogas conservadoras conseil mondial de synagogues massorti

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contents welcome messages page 2 3 regional news amlat page 4 5 regional new europe page 6 7 major events campaigns page 8 9 around the world page 10 in the press page 11 chagim around the world page 12 13 marom olami review page 14 15 mercaz olami review page 16 17 noam olami update page 18 our teams page 19 throughout the world masorti olami is experiencing and celebrating growth new kehillot have become part of our movement existing kehillot have increased membership there are a host of new activities for all parts of the communities youth young adults families and all adults in a world where commitment to principles and belief in the value of differences seem to be declining masorti judaism is on the upswing our growth in every dimension is the result of engaged devoted people masorti olami is blessed with a cadre of men and women who serve as rabbis and teachers and with senior professionals in particular our executive director rabbi tzvi graetz our multi-talented director of masorti europe rabbi chaim weiner and our hard-working amlat executive director ariel blufstein and most important of all the men and women who serve as lay leaders of our regions our national bodies and our kehillot add to that our ongoing activities with youth and young adults and the men and women taking leadership roles in those endeavors as well as a dedicated staff supporting every part of our mission in short there is one overarching explanation for our success our people but growth also brings new challenges growth brings new needs that must be met we benefit from the support we receive through the pluralistic religious program of the world zionist organization wzo funding allows us to strengthen one of the key elements of masorti judaism that eretz yisrael and our connection to israel is integral to our religious identity and must be at the core of our selfdefinition and we are thankful for donors who find our mission and projects around the world worthy of their support for the help you have already given and for your increased efforts during the coming year toda raba alanhsilberman president masorti olami {

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it was a great honor to be appointed as the new president of mercaz olami a position which brings great challenges but also enormous satisfaction the challenges include strengthening mercaz in each of our countries around the world as well as ensuring that the zionist and israel orientation of masorti judaism remains strong 2010 has been a very successful year and provided all of us with a renewed energy and sense of purpose our success was most evident at the 36th zionist congress in jerusalem in june where we had our largest ever delegation of mercaz and masorti representatives from 19 different countries it was a tremendous the mighty masorti movement the past year has shown us all the power and might of the world-wide masorti movement one of our biggest achievements of the year came when we helped our chaverim friends in chile to rebuild their synagogue and their lives after the earthquake which struck in february through the generosity of new and existing supporters we raised more than $65,000 in a campaign which received extensive media coverage the strength of our movement was further displayed throughout the year as we continued to fight against the hegemony of orthodox judaism from the rotem conversion bill put to the knesset to the burial of gai ben david z l in madrid spain we stood strong against those who are threatened by our numbers and our open-minded view of halachic judaism this struggle is ongoing but our unity makes us a real force to be opportunity to be together learn from each other and gain strength from the feeling of world-wide unity as we look to the year ahead we will invest every effort to maintain the strength of mercaz within international jewish zionist organizations in continued cooperation with our coalition partners kadima-hanoar hatzioni and the gza we will also work in every country to promote jewish zionist education aliyah and religious pluralism in every way possible we have a great deal yet to do but i look forward to the challenge and to ensuring the continued growth and success of mercaz everywhere b shalom drstephenwolnek president mercaz olami reckoned with in the jewish world at masorti olami we work to help kehillot countries and regions establish or develop projects of all kinds our most important work however is connecting jewish leaders from these kehillot enabling them to build personal ties share ideas and most significantly feel the sense of unity which drives our movement this year we have continued to work with adult leadership as well as investing in young adult marom and youth noam leadership as you look through this annual review you will get a sense of just how mighty our movement is this is in no small way due to the dedication of our staff our lay-leadership and the great number of volunteers who work hard across the world my thanks go to all of you and i wish us all strength and courage for the year to come kol tuv rabbitzvigraetz executive director masorti olami and mercaz olami

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regional news amlat latin america masorti brazil meets for the first time with 25 representatives of masorti kehillot and marom activists in brazil coming together in sao paulo in may the newly formed organization will work together to strengthen the masorti movement throughout the country masorti kehillot in argentina hosted a variety of different cultural events throughout the year including the second maakela bakehillah choir festival that took place in buenos aires in march throughout 2010 rabbis across the latin american region took up new positions these include rabbiarioliszewski sociedade israelita da bahia brazil pictured left at his installation rabbipablo iugt comunidade israelita de porto alegre brazil rabbijaime rosenzweigsociedade israelita beth jacob de campinas brazil pictured left at his installation rabbi pablobermancomunidade israelita do parana curitiba brazil rabbi julianvainsteincomunidad judia del paraguay paraguay rabbisebastian vainstein asociacion israelita de parana argentina rabbisarinavitas comunidad or jadash argentina and rabbiarielbursztein sociedad israelita de mendoza argentina we wish all these rabbis behatzlacha as the spiritual leaders of their masorti kehillot {

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two new kehillot join fedecc the masorti federation of kehillot in argentina templonisimteubal of san luis joined in january and congregationadatisrael of buenos aires joined in july there are now 33 kehillot in the fedecc federation representing the largest portion of the jewish community in argentina nofim leadership institute opened for its second year in santiago chile in april 2009 saw more than 70 student-aged young leaders from across the jewish community participate in an extensive course of in-depth leadership training the second cohort of young leaders participated in similar sessions throughout this year preparing them to be future leaders of the chilean jewish community masorti amlat s ongoing educational campaigns this year included flyers about every major chag festival as well as a monthly series looking at the role of hazanim in the masorti movement you can see all of these flyers in spanish portuguese and english on our website at www.masortiworld.org {

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regional news europe kehillat beth shalom of alicante spain received their first torah scroll in june a gift from temple shaare tefillah near boston ma the torah made the long journey to spain after being carefully restored and repaired in new york pictured here with the torah are rabbichaim weiner masorti europe director armandoazubel president of beth shalom and rabbicarlostapiero 6 new masorti rabbis were appointed in europe in 2010 ­ an increase of almost 100 rabbidavidlazar [left picture was installed as rabbi of the great synagogue in stockholm sweden in october 2010 and rabbirafikaiserbluth[right picture will be installed at st alban s uk in november rabbipaulaberman leads the hatch end uk kehillah rabbifloriannechinsky is developing the new chir chadach kehillah in brussels rabbidaniellakolodny has joined the ams assembly of masorti synagogues team in london and rabbidavidtouboul arrived at maayane or in nice france at the end of 2009 there is no doubt that this extra rabbinic input will give a big boost to the movement in the coming years more than 200 people participated in different services at the bankitojewstock festival in hungary in august the festival is organized by marom budapest with masorti kehillah dorchadash taking responsibility for services pictured left is rabbidavidlazarwho visited dor chadash three times throughout the year to help with chaggim celebrations and deepen their jewish knowledge the services at the festival were enjoyable and engaging and dor chadash now has new members.

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masorti france held a summer study seminar for 26 people in june participants came from the different kehillot in france for a program of lectures discussions private study and shabbat celebration the seminar covered themes of halacha jewish philosophy israel current events and `responsible judaism masorti kehillah almere-weesp in the netherlands celebrated its 10 year anniversary in june more than 80 members of the kehillah took part in a car rally around significant jewish sites in amsterdam which was followed by a celebration dinner at the synagogue in weesp pictured right are the trophies awarded to the winners of the car rally kehillat beit israel in lisbon portugal continues to meet with their teachers rabbijules and navah harlow who travel there several times each year to meet existing and new members for discussions on the parshat hashavua chagim customs and halacha or to meet people interested in conversion/return to judaism.

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major events campaigns in february an earthquake devastated the central region of chile causing tremendous damage to the masorti kehillah pictured in the town of concepcion masorti olami began a chile earthquake relief fund to help repair and rebuild the physical and psychological damage caused throughout the country by this earthquake donations of all sizes came in and the campaign raised more than $65,000 for more information about the relief fund go to www.masortiworld org/molami/chilerelief in 2009 our evening of tribute took place on thursday december 10th at park avenue synagogue in new york rabbi jules&navahharlow,cantor nancyabramson and mrmichael abadi received awards for their ongoing dedication to masorti jewish life pictured above left are the honorees with masorti olami s vice president janet tobin president alansilberman and executive director rabbi tzvigraetz the 2010 evening of tribute will take place on sunday november 14th at the jewish theological seminary in new york this year s honorees [pictured left are rabbi zacharyhellerz l hazandavidpropis and mrpetermiller for full information about our annual tribute event go to www.masortievent.org

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london hosted the we will be dreamers masorti europe conference in march where more than 200 people from 10 different countries participated in a weekend full of educational programming at the new north london synagogue the hi-light of the weekend was the yom limmud study day on sunday facilitated by rabbis pictured above and educators on a wide range of themes and topics participants young and old came to london from around the uk as well as france germany spain portugal netherlands sweden hungary czech republic and slovenia see pictures from the conference on our website at www.masortiworld.org molami/album11 masorti olami participated in the one family many faces festival at beit hatfutsot diaspora museum in tel aviv during sukkot the festival s aim was to show that jews around the world are all part of the same family more than 20,000 people visited over 3 days in september activities included touring the museum searching for family roots watching shows and visiting a variety of artistic and informative sukkot pictured is the masorti olami sukkah which engaged israelis and tourists in a trivia game all about the masorti movement to see pictures of the sukkah go to www.masortiworld org/molami/album12 and if you would like more information on how to bring this exhibit to your kehillah please contact us.

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around the world in january the abayudaya masorti community in uganda held its first youth convention 180 young people aged 12 to 30 participated in the 5 day program at nabugoye hill run by the abayudaya youth association under the charismatic leadership of yosef kalema the convention aimed to create a strong bond between youth and community leaders deepen jewish knowledge strengthen identity and discuss challenges of assimilation in august masorti kehillot in melbourne and sydney australia officially came together to form masorti-mercaz australasia as the regional organization for all masorti judaism activities the formation of this regional organization will help stimulate expansion of the existing kehillot and development of new ones in a jewish community which describes itself as very traditional rabbiehudbandel pictured left has just returned to israel after 5 years as the rabbi of kehillat nitzan in melbourne the touring club of moscow`s masorti kehillah visited romania in august for a two week tour of jewish sites in bucharest brasov sinaya rasnov and constanta they attended shabbat services in 19th century synagogues glorialandy and judyhorowitz continue to represent masorti olami in the group of ngos associated with the united nation s department of public information in january gloria participated in the fifth international commemoration day of the holocaust and in july the caucus of jewish ngos met with israeli ambassador to the un gabriellashalev in august they arranged for the annual un interfaith youth tour of sacred places to visit the eldridge street synagogue in new york city pictured 10

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in the press first masorti purpose-built synagogue in australia for kehilat nitzan melbourne find these and other stories on our website at www.masortiworld.org masorti life in the uk and across europe on the increase www.masortiworld.org/molami inthepress28 environmental activist and masorti jew professor alon t al chosen as one of israel s 101 most likely to make it a better place www.masortiworld.org/molami inthepress44 grassroots growth of masorti communities in france www.masortiworld.org/molami inthepress45 masorti life in chile will be rebuilt after the earthquake ­ an interview with rabbi tzvi graetz www.masortiworld.org/molami inthepress43 marom budapest s chanukah festival www.masortiworld.org/molami inthepress22 www.masortiworld.org/molami inthepress13 11

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here are a few pictures from the many chagim celebrated by our masorti kehillot around the world purim at kehillat or israel buenos aires israel chanukah 2009 at masorti almereweesp netherlands chagim around the world tubishvat at st albans masorti synagogue uk tubishvat at kehillat bet el madrid spain rabbi david lazar and marom budapest dor chadash hungary read the megiallh with the text in hebrew and hungarian projected on the wall costumes at the masorti gan kindergarten in berlin germany 1

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rabbi ron hoffberg checks preparations for a communal seder in prague czech republic bialik college s mock seder in melbourne australia services over the high holidays at kehillat beth shalom in alicante spain were again led by rabbi carlos t apiero havdallah in the old city of v alencia spain during kehillat aviv s celebration of the high holidays a youth orchestra plays at a yom ha tzma ut a event in kiev ukraine tubishvat at kehillat el jai buenos aires argentina nci in montevideo uruguay organized a whole host of sukkot activities including sushi in the sukkah 1

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marom olami review marom europe has continued to flourish throughout 2010 this regional network of marom centers across 7 countries has seen an increase in local activities as well as two regional seminars pictured left are some of the 30 participants plus staff at the marom europe seminar in london in march marom olami s flagship masa lech lecha israel program for latin america known as lejleja in spanish has grown to be the most successful tailor-made long-term israel program across the entire latin american region more than 150 student and post-university participants from argentina brazil chile colombia guatemala mexico paraguay uruguay and venezuela spent 5 months or more in israel lech lecha puts together individual and group program components including hebrew ulpan academic study volunteering work internships special interest activities leadership seminars and trips marom s arkava beit midrash program in chile regularly attracts 200 student-aged participants to their evening study sessions and has become one of the most successful activities for jewish 18 to 30 year olds in the region developed from the beit midrash beiteinu program arkava was established as a psychological response to the terrible earthquake in chile bringing together young jewish adults from across the community to help them deal with challenges in their life in a jewish way 1

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in august marom leaders from across the latin american continent travelled to sao paulo brazil for the yearly marom amlat seminar focusing on leadership building and a continental educational curriculum this four day seminar developed and strengthened both knowledge and relationships 75 young-people from latin american countries are participating in the shnat marom gap-year israel program representing the highest participation for more than 30 years participants came to israel from argentina brazil chile and uruguay for a program whose components include different tracks informal education volunteer work city living kibbutz life army experience a trip to poland pictured and for the first time study at the conservative yeshiva in jerusalem the drachim gap-year israel program for noam uk members has seen an increase in numbers the group is spending their first four months doing hebrew ulpan and studying at the conservative yeshiva in jerusalem alongside usy participants in the nativ program their year in israel will continue with volunteer work and touring marom olami s new israel program for english speakers/europeans started in 2010 the masa makor program builds custom-made 5 or 10 month israel experiences for studentaged participants vincentperarnaud pictured from paris is the first makor participant and is combining hebrew ulpan with study at the conservative yeshiva and yiddish language 1

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