VISION is a branch of Rav Oury Cherki’s Brit Olam organization and is active in the fields of Jewish identity education, diplomatic efforts between Israel and the Islamic world, and initiatives to foster mutual understanding between the various tribes within Israeli society.
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Empowering our youth to find their roles in Israel’s story -
Identifying the next goals of Jewish history -
Advancing our revolution forward
About VISION
The VISION movement is committed to inspiring a new vision for this current chapter of our people’s story. Our programs aim is to provide young leaders with the tools to identify and achieve the next goals of Jewish history. Our partners and affiliates share a commitment to Jewish liberation as a means of pursuing justice for all peoples and a better world in accordance with the values of Israel’s sacred tradition.
We recognize that although the Zionist movement failed to normalize the Jewish experience or defeat anti-Semitism, it has succeeded at accomplishing many of the deeper collective yearnings of the Jewish people. But Zionism was also catastrophic for another population, whose lives and society were disrupted by its implementation.
Jewish liberation should not come at the expense of other peoples but must actively ally itself with struggles for justice.
Following our return home from exile and the reestablishment of Jewish independence after nearly 2,000 years, the State of Israel is a work in progress with many policies, structures, and even foundational ideas in need of repair. Recognizing that narrow Jewish nationalism can only bring the Jewish people so far, we work to formulate a uniquely Hebrew universalist vision that can protect Zionism’s positive achievements while addressing and rectifying its flaws.
As we build a vibrant and inclusive movement of young adults committed to formulating new ideas and frameworks for advancing the story of our people, VISION aims to empower our generation’s most dedicated leaders with the tools and means to become active participants in the Jewish story.
Jewish Liberation Today
We are fortunate to be living at a time when the Jewish people have returned to self-determination in our land.
The Zionist movement achieved the ingathering of our exiles, the cultivation of our soil, the revival of our language, and attainment of political independence. But since our return to Jerusalem in 1967, the children of Israel have been ready for a new liberation movement capable of meeting the current challenges confronting our people. Most importantly, we need to ask ourselves what comes next.
There is still much to accomplish and this requires the empowerment of our next generation to identify Jewish history’s current objectives and to utilize the conditions created by past achievements to attain them.
In short, we require visionaries for a new Jewish liberation ideology.
While Zionism has radically changed the Jewish position and created the material conditions for Israel to reach the next objectives of our people’s revolution, discovering those objectives requires that we not be satisfied with the outdated paradigms of previous generations.
In order to effectively advance Jewish history to the next stage, VISION works to identify the next goals of Jewish liberation and empower a new generation of leaders to examine Israel’s historic aspirations, past accomplishments, and what remains to be achieved.
Why Send us to the World Zionist Congress?
The World Zionist Congress makes funding and policy decisions for the World Zionist Organization and its composition determines the next leaders of the Jewish National Fund, Jewish Agency for Israel and United Israel Appeal.
VISION hopes to utilize the considerable means and resources of the Zionist institutions to identify and implement the next objectives of Jewish history.
The best reason to vote is because your voice matters and because the voice of our next generation matters
The World Zionist Congress elections are your opportunity to empower the young activists at the forefront of Jewish liberation struggles
These elections will directly impact the flow of billions of dollars in budget annually. These resources impact every aspect of Israeli society and global Jewish life, from resisting the division of Eretz Yisrael and deepening Israel’s Jewish character to economic justice, environmental sustainability, decolonizing Jewish identity, grassroots peace initiatives and Diaspora education.
Since 1897, the World Zionist Congress has been the democratic assembly of the Jewish people at which we can all address the most crucial issues currently confronting our people.
Although Israel achieved independence in 1948 and returned to Jerusalem in 1967, the World Zionist Organization continues to exist. While many explanations for this have been put forward over the years, the deeper reason is that the establishment of a Jewish state was never the final goal of our people’s revolution but rather a powerful tool for achieving that goal. From the perspective of Jewish history, the State of Israel isn’t meant to merely be a bomb shelter for persecuted Jews but rather a vehicle for the Children of Israel to contribute as a collective to the betterment of humankind.
The Jewish people has something unique to offer the world and everything that we were driven by nationalist considerations to build over the last century must now be placed at the service of a uniquely Hebrew universalist agenda to fulfill the vision of our ancestors. Israel came back to life after 2,000 years of exile precisely for the purpose of leading humanity into a just world in which we recognize our deep inner unity and all experience fulfilment and self-expression in harmony with one another.
But this vision can only take place once we commit to transforming the State of Israel from the caterpillar it currently is into the butterfly it’s meant to become.
VISION hopes to utilize the considerable means and resources of the Zionist institutions to this end.
For over a decade, we have been raising national consciousness among the next generation by educating Jewish students to their indigenous connection to Eretz Yisrael and inspiring them to become active characters in Israel’s story.
At the 37th World Zionist Congress in 2015, VISION representatives led a successful campaign to pass a resolution declaring the Jewish people indigenous to the Land of Israel. The bill passed by only 51%, with 47% of delegates to the Zionist congress objecting and 2% abstaining. Those fighting against us were likely concerned that due to the current guidelines of the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples, a representative body of the Jewish people declaring us indigenous to Eretz Yisrael could complicate efforts to remove Jews from the Samaria and Judea regions.
Another VISION accomplishment at the 2015 congress was pushing one of our allies onto the board of the Jewish National Fund, where he was able to strengthen Israel’s resistance to the partition of our country by redirecting Zionist funds towards the purchasing of lands in Judea and Samaria.
VISION organizers have been running grassroots dialogue sessions for West Bank Jews and Palestinians for nearly a decade, where participants engage each other’s identities and narratives without fear. These sessions, where the very real grievances of both sides are unpacked, seek to construct a larger narrative inclusive enough to encompass both ostensibly rival narratives and transform antagonists into co-protagonists moving towards a just solution in the entire land that both sides can simultaneously experience as the realization of our respective aspirations.
Ahead of the 2020 elections to the 38th World Zionist Congress, the American Zionist Movement’s Area Elections Committee eliminated the $5 voting discount for students. VISION activists fought the fee hike for students and, despite fierce opposition, succeeded in restoring the $5 discount for all voters between the ages of 18 and 25.
Our ATID student leadership program, operating since 2014, empowers students to formulate their own Jewish liberation ideologies while providing them the tools to bring fresh conversations about Israel and Jewish identity to their campuses.
Any resident of the United States who self-identifies as a Jew and will be at least 18 years of age on June 30, 2020 is eligible to vote in the American Zionist Movement election to send VISION delegates (SLATE #5) to the 38th World Zionist Congress. From January 21, 2020 until March 11, you can cast your vote online at www.zionistelection.org.
The fee for voters 18-25 years old is $5 ($7.50 for voters aged 26 and over).
Our Programs
The ATID student leadership program is uniquely designed for students able to think outside-the-box when confronting the current crises facing the State of Israel and broader Jewish world. ATID tackles some of the most pressing issues in an intellectually stimulating environment that compels participants to take the lead in finding solutions to Israel’s current challenges. In a generation for which conversations about Israel, Jews, and Palestinians have been reduced to shallow generic soundbites, ATID provides a much-needed forum for in-depth analysis and discussion relating to some of the most pressing issues currently facing the Jewish people.
The program includes leadership workshops, panel discussions, field trips, weekend retreats, lectures from renowned public figures, and facilitated meetings with Palestinian activists and other representatives of minority communities.
The ATID online leadership program is similar to our Jerusalem-based student program but uniquely tailored for students and professionals currently outside of Israel. Our online sessions are geared towards those interested in engaging and formulating new ideas when confronting the current challenges facing the State of Israel and broader Jewish world. ATID tackles some of the Jewish world’s most pressing issues in an intellectually stimulating environment that compels participants to take the lead in finding solutions to these issues. In a generation for which conversations about Israel, Jews, and Palestinians have been reduced to shallow generic soundbites, our online leadership program provides a much-needed forum for in-depth analysis and discussion relating to some of the most pressing challenges currently facing the Jewish people.
The program includes leadership workshops, panel discussions, lectures from renowned public figures, and facilitated meetings with Palestinian activists and other representatives of minority communities.
Vision Courses are live online courses taught by educators within the Vision Movement on a variety of topics.
Course trimesters are held 3 times per year and are approximately eight weeks long. Courses cover topics in the areas of Torah, philosophy, revolutionary theory, politics, and more, and serve as a form of continuing education for Vision Magazine subscribers, The Next Stage podcast listeners, ATID graduates, NETZAH participants, members of DOREINU chapters, and members of the wider community who would like to delve deeper into specific issues and topics that the Vision Movement addresses.
Vision Courses cost a fee but are free for Vision members.
The Helen Freedman NETZAH Program takes Diaspora Jewish students in Israel deep into the West Bank/Judea & Samaria for a full day tour followed by an intense Shabbat experience in a local Jewish community.
The program brings students into contact with Jewish & Palestinian activists, veteran militants, founding members of grass roots social justice movements, lawmakers, cabinet ministers, security experts, and professional diplomats.
Participants experience Eretz Yisrael through a multi-layered perspective that transcends the generic either/or approach to the conflict.
The Vision movement establishes branches on University campuses throughout North America with an emphasis on exploring the most challenging issues currently confronting the State of Israel and broader Jewish world.
Our campus programs create space for those committed to actively participating in Jewish history to collectively examine age-old Jewish national aspirations, past achievements, and current challenges with an eye towards practically applying ancient Hebrew values and aspirations to the chapter of Jewish history in which we find ourselves today.
In a generation for which the conversation surrounding Israel has been reduced to shallow generic soundbites, our programs provide a much-needed forum for in-depth analysis and discussion relating to some of the most pressing and significant issues currently facing the Jewish people. Students frustrated by the polarized climates on campuses and the narrow conversations in the political discourse study and debate some of Israel’s most complex national issues in an intellectually stimulating atmosphere that fosters community and mutual respect.
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Vision runs GPS retreats –intensive weekend leadership seminars tailored to meet the needs of each regional branch with a focus on Jewish history, identity, team building, and effective organizing.
The term GPS expresses the objective of these seminars – to serve as guidance system for young adults seeking to assume active roles in the story of the Jewish people.
DOREINU is a network of young professionals hosting programs and activities aimed at deepening Jewish identity and promoting meaningful conversations about practical ways to participate in the current chapter of Jewish history.
Founded in Los Angeles in 2012, DOREINU has since opened branches in Boston, New York, San Fransisco, and Toronto.
Regular DOREINU events include community service, nature hikes, holiday parties, Shabbat dinner experiences, leadership missions to Israel, inspirational lectures & discussions, wine & movie nights, book-of-the-month clubs, and more.