About Us
What we do in briefHistory
Executive
What We Do
Pro Zion is a Zionist organisation of over 1000 members. We have two main
aims as in our banner above.
We aim to support progressive judaism in Israel, specifically in their work
to gain equal recognition and funding from the government and to create
a more pluralist, democratic and tolerant Israel.
We also aim to support Israel and Zionist activity in Progressive communities
in the UK. We do this by organising events, sponsoring events and publicising
events that the synagogues of our constituents run. back
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History
Pro Zion was founded nearly a quarter of a century ago to give an official voice to progressive Jews in the world Zionist movement. This new organisation was by and large the brainchild of Rabbi Dov Marmur.From humble beginnings where it had to struggle to gain official acceptance as a constituent of the Zionist Federation it has since provided many longstanding chairmen and senior officers of that organisation as well as obtaining record results in the first ever poll for delegates to the World Zionist Congress.
Affiliated to both the Liberal and Reform Judaism movements we boast over 1000 members. In a nutshell our aims are: To support Progressive Judaism and communities in Israel and help them in their fight for plurality and democracy. To support and promote Israel and Israel activities in UK Liberal and Reform synagogues.
Through our affiliation and close ties with the Zionist Federation in the UK and also Arzenu the World Progressive Zionist Organisation we gain a voice in Israel putting our views forward in campaigns such as civil marriage, equal funding for progressive communities and conversion issues.
We have also helped raise money for campaigns, for example during the
recent Lebanon war many of our members donated generously to the IRAC
campaign. This helped to fund summer camps for Jewish and Arab children
of Haifa and take them away from the regular rocket attacks.
In the UK we host various speakers from our own, the American or Israeli
progressive communities to give their perspective on events or their work.
Our incoming chairmen are from the new generation of Jewish leaders with an average age of 25. Daniel Needlestone, a teacher by profession, is a member of TLSE (The Liberal Synagogue Elstree) and is a former community worker for FZY and a regular Limmud activist. Charlie Gluckman works for Reform Judaism and is the former head of RSY Netzer.
We are also very excited that Rabbi Danny Rich and Rabbi Tony Bayfield have agreed to take on Ex officio roles in the organisation.
Pro Zion had four delegates elected to the World Zionist Congress (WZC)
last May our largest ever representation. We additionaly had four people
attending the congress in other roles. This helped world progressive organisations
to have one of the largest delegations at the WZC. back
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Executive
Our last AGM was held in December 2006. At the AGM two new chairs were elected along with our new executive. We hold regular executive meetings - should you wish to attend you will be very welcome - please e-mail us for details.
Honorary Officers
Charlie Gluckman - Co-Chair
Daniel Needlestone - Co-Chair
Mira Sasic - Honarary Treasurer
Manny Silverman - Honarary Secretary
Executive Committee
Jon Curtis
David Duke-Cohan
Shanee Fischer
Estelle Gilston
Woolf Heymann
Marie Heymann
Ralph Stern
Ian Sternberg
Richard Woolf
Ex Officio
Rabbi Tony Bayfield
Rabbi Danny Rich
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