Avi BrudoleyBy Jerry LaMartina Overland Park native Abraham “Avi” Brudoley is running in the U.S. election for the 38th World Zionist Congress as part of a student slate called Vision: Empowering the Next Generation, one of 13 slates in the election.Brudoley is 18. He graduated from Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy last year. He is taking a gap year and studying at Yeshivat Orayta in the Old City of Jerusalem and plans afterward to return to the U.S. to study business management at Yeshiva University, he said in an interview with The Chronicle.His mother and stepfather, Sherri Jacobs and Dr. Jonathan Jacobs; his grandparents, Rosalyn and Howard Jacobson; and his stepgrandparents, Drs. Judy and David Jacobs, are all active members of the local Jewish community.The U.S. election to the 38th World Zionist Congress runs from Jan. 21 through March 11, 2020. The American Zionist Movement (azm.org) is organizing and facilitating the election, which will be conducted mainly online and will have an option for mail-in ballots. “American Jews will have the opportunity to vote online for the Jewish future in Israel and around the world,” AZM said in a news release. “Those elected from the United States will join delegates from Israel and around the world at the 38th World Zionist Congress in October 2020, the international ‘parliament of the Jewish people,’ to make decisions regarding key institutions which allocate nearly $1 billion annually to support Israel and world Jewry (including the World Zionist Organization, Jewish National Fund and the Jewish Agency for Israel),” according to the release.AZM is the Zionist federation in the United States affiliated with the World Zionist Organization. AZM describes itself as an organization comprising 33 national Jewish Zionist organizations that “works across a broad ideological, political and religious spectrum linking the American Jewish community together in support of Israel, Zionism and the Jewish people.” AZM has a video at ZionistElection.org that explains “how American Jews can help influence the deepening connection between Israel the Diaspora” and the U.S. election’s importance.The Vision slate is part of the Zionist nationalism group Atid (the Hebrew word for “future”).“I made clear my views and approaches concerning the current situation and, luckily, I was offered to be included as a candidate,” Brudoley said. “I gratefully accepted this wonderful opportunity to be able to be an active member in making change.”The Vision slate’s platform: empowering youth, paradigm shift, peace, identity, peoplehood and the homeland. Brudoley shared his thoughts with The Chronicle about each platform element.• Empowering youth: “Atid is the only slate running for the World Zionist Congress 2020 that is made up entirely of young activists. We believe it is necessary to recognize that today’s youth both play a very important role in change and are largely impacted by this change (for example, on college campuses), especially in the case of Israel and anti-Semitism. Therefore, their voice must be heard and their words should be considered regardless of their young age.”• Paradigm shift: “There are many solutions to the current problems in the Middle East, yet it seems that none of them are working. To reach an actual result that is satisfactory to all sides, we need to take a step back and adjust the way we are looking at the situation. The reason we still have not reached a 100% successful outcome is because of the mutual failure to recognize what the other side really wants and sacrifice certain values for the greater good.”• Peace: “True peace cannot solely be achieved by government officials making decisions and writing documents. Jewish and Palestinian individuals have a responsibility to create better relationships with each other and should do so on their terms.”• Identity: “While most practices and values within Judaism can be traced back to biblical origins, there is a great number that have been diluted and reshaped due to exile and oppression. Living in the homeland is not enough. If the Jewish people wish to be truly liberated, a process of regaining genuine Jewish identity must occur.”• Peoplehood: “Another problem we must overcome if we want to achieve all of our goals as a people is fixing the separation within our communities. Unfortunately, many sects exist within our people and the differences among them are very clear. We don’t necessarily need to remove these differences; rather, we must look past them. It will be difficult to make peace with others if we can’t make peace within our people.”• The homeland: “Commonly, the concept of having a sovereign Jewish homeland in the entire land of Israel and the existence of peace and justice in the Middle East are two concepts that are wrongly divided and categorized on the political spectrum. There is not a single reason against the fact that a Jewish state could exist within its complete borders and there still be peace among all of its inhabitants. I understand that this seems like a controversial opinion, but it is unlikely that the Palestinian people’s end goal is simply having a state. Rather, the true focus is on gaining complete rights and freedom for everyone, which can be achieved.”“I strongly urge everyone to play their part in writing the next chapter in the history of our people and vote in the upcoming election,” he said.He can be reached through messaging on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter by searching Avi Brudoley.WZO electionWhat:U.S. election for the 38th World Zionist Congress (scheduled to convene in Jerusalem in October 2020)When:Jan. 21 through March 11, 2020For eligibility requirements and to register and vote: azm.org/elections.
