Meretz USA
114 West 26th St. #1002
New York,
NY,
10001
Fax: (212) 242 5718 mail@meretzusa.org
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Larry Lerner, Theo Bikel Elected to Head Meretz USA
New York, NY - January 30, 2007 Lawrence I. Lerner, a patent attorney active for many years in Jewish communal affairs as well as the international struggle on behalf of Soviet Jewry, and Theodore Bikel, internationally renowned performer, and civil and human rights activist, were elected President and Chair, respectively, of Meretz USA on Sunday, January 28.
Meretz USA, one of the oldest American Zionist organizations, has been a leading advocate for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One of the founding members of the American Zionist Movement, Meretz USA is the U.S. affiliate of an international network of progressive Zionist bodies, whose Israeli member is the Meretz-Yahad Party headed by Member of Knesset Yossi Beilin.
Lerner, known to everyone as Larry, also chairs the New Jersey State Association of Jewish Federations. He is a national Vice President of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews and is a member of the Board of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA). Over the past three years, Lerner served as Chair or Co-Chair of Meretz USA. He succeeds film-maker Lilly Rivlin as President of Meretz USA. Lerner lives in New Jersey. He and his wife Beverly have four children and ten grandchildren. Speaking in acceptance of his election by the Meretz USA Board, Lerner said, “The spirit and achievements of Meretz USA on behalf of Arab Israeli peace and a socially just Israel are large, and I pledge to expand awareness of our programs across the country.”
Theodore Bikel is known throughout the Jewish world and beyond as one of the original Tevye’s in Fiddler on the Roof; as one of the great folk singers of the past half century, and as star of numerous movies and television dramas. He has been a trade union and human rights activist all his adult years, now heading the Associated Actors and Artistes of America; traveling to Mississippi during the 1960's, entertaining Israeli troops during the ‘67 war, demonstrating and being arrested on behalf of Soviet Jews, and speaking as a Meretz USA delegate at the 33rd and 35th World Zionist Congresses on behalf of a pluralistic and humane Israel. Speaking at a recent concert he gave on behalf of Meretz USA, Bikel said, “Meretz USA has always represented my kind of Zionism - a Zionism that cherishes justice and Yiddishkeit equally.”
Re-elected Vice President was Shlomo Adam Roth, Director of the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement in North America; also elected as a Vice President was Phyllis Miriam, a long-time advocate of Arab-Jewish co-existence and Ralph Seliger, editor of ISRAEL HORIZONS, Meretz USA’s quarterly journal. Re-elected Treasurer was Mark Seal, who has served prominently in professional and lay positions in the American Jewish community. Elected Secretary was Arieh Lebowitz, Communications Director of the Jewish Labor Committee and a long-time member of the Meretz USA Executive Committee.
New Board members elected are Jamie Beran and Gil Browdy, top officers of Habonim Dror; Cantor Chayim Frenkel of Kehillat Israel in Pacific Palisades, CA; Marcello Hallake, an attorney with Thompson Knight, and also chair of the Geneva Initiative North America (GINA); Christopher MacDonald Dennis, Director of Intercultural Affairs at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania; Professor Judith Lorber (emerita, Brooklyn College and the The Graduate Center, City University of NY), prominent author and authority on Gender and women’s issues; Dr. Moises Salinas, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Central Connecticut State University and winner of the 2004 Herzl Award of the World Zionist Organization; Sanford Weiner, President of social Studies School Service of Los Angeles and a member of the board of Americans for Peace Now; and Hillit Zwick, a grant writer for NYU University whose previous clients include the New Israel Fund, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and Moreshet (the Holocaust Center at Givat Haviva in Israel).
Meretz USA, one of the oldest American Zionist organizations, has been a leading advocate for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One of the founding members of the American Zionist Movement, Meretz USA is the U.S. affiliate of an international network of progressive Zionist bodies, whose Israeli member is the Meretz-Yahad Party headed by Member of Knesset Yossi Beilin.
Lerner, known to everyone as Larry, also chairs the New Jersey State Association of Jewish Federations. He is a national Vice President of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews and is a member of the Board of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA). Over the past three years, Lerner served as Chair or Co-Chair of Meretz USA. He succeeds film-maker Lilly Rivlin as President of Meretz USA. Lerner lives in New Jersey. He and his wife Beverly have four children and ten grandchildren. Speaking in acceptance of his election by the Meretz USA Board, Lerner said, “The spirit and achievements of Meretz USA on behalf of Arab Israeli peace and a socially just Israel are large, and I pledge to expand awareness of our programs across the country.”
Theodore Bikel is known throughout the Jewish world and beyond as one of the original Tevye’s in Fiddler on the Roof; as one of the great folk singers of the past half century, and as star of numerous movies and television dramas. He has been a trade union and human rights activist all his adult years, now heading the Associated Actors and Artistes of America; traveling to Mississippi during the 1960's, entertaining Israeli troops during the ‘67 war, demonstrating and being arrested on behalf of Soviet Jews, and speaking as a Meretz USA delegate at the 33rd and 35th World Zionist Congresses on behalf of a pluralistic and humane Israel. Speaking at a recent concert he gave on behalf of Meretz USA, Bikel said, “Meretz USA has always represented my kind of Zionism - a Zionism that cherishes justice and Yiddishkeit equally.”
Re-elected Vice President was Shlomo Adam Roth, Director of the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement in North America; also elected as a Vice President was Phyllis Miriam, a long-time advocate of Arab-Jewish co-existence and Ralph Seliger, editor of ISRAEL HORIZONS, Meretz USA’s quarterly journal. Re-elected Treasurer was Mark Seal, who has served prominently in professional and lay positions in the American Jewish community. Elected Secretary was Arieh Lebowitz, Communications Director of the Jewish Labor Committee and a long-time member of the Meretz USA Executive Committee.
New Board members elected are Jamie Beran and Gil Browdy, top officers of Habonim Dror; Cantor Chayim Frenkel of Kehillat Israel in Pacific Palisades, CA; Marcello Hallake, an attorney with Thompson Knight, and also chair of the Geneva Initiative North America (GINA); Christopher MacDonald Dennis, Director of Intercultural Affairs at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania; Professor Judith Lorber (emerita, Brooklyn College and the The Graduate Center, City University of NY), prominent author and authority on Gender and women’s issues; Dr. Moises Salinas, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Central Connecticut State University and winner of the 2004 Herzl Award of the World Zionist Organization; Sanford Weiner, President of social Studies School Service of Los Angeles and a member of the board of Americans for Peace Now; and Hillit Zwick, a grant writer for NYU University whose previous clients include the New Israel Fund, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and Moreshet (the Holocaust Center at Givat Haviva in Israel).