Beth Tzedec Congregation is proud to announce the appointment of Senior Rabbi Steven C. Wernick as Chair of the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Aliyah Committee.
This role carries profound personal meaning for Rabbi Wernick. His family’s connection to Zionism reaches back to its very origins. Atara, his great-grandmother’s first cousin, married Tzvi Shimshi—a founding member of Hovevei Tzion, a co-organizer of the First Zionist Congress, and the father of Israel’s second President, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi. The dream of Jewish return to our homeland has run through his family’s extended history for generations. To now serve in a leadership role charged with fulfilling that dream is both a privilege and a responsibility he does not take lightly.
The Aliyah Committee’s mandate is to ensure that the Jewish Agency is not merely administering a program but faithfully executing a mission. Rabbi Wernick will work closely with JAFI to strengthen how it delivers on Aliyah, ensure that policy and practice reflect the hard-won lessons of every wave of immigration that came before, and deepen the already vital partnerships with Nefesh B’Nefesh, the World Zionist Organization, and Israel’s government—so that together they are greater than the sum of their parts.
Even in this difficult moment—perhaps especially in this difficult moment—Jews around the world are choosing to come home. Some come by necessity, some by conviction, and many by both. Whether it is Aliyah of rescue or Aliyah of choice, our sacred obligation is the same: to be ready to receive them with excellence, dignity, and love.