President Herzog warns of 'great existential threat' to Jewish people from within

President Isaac Herzog expressed concern about a “great existential threat to our people, which comes from within” at an event organized by the World Jewish Congress in Jerusalem.

During the event, over 120 Jewish leaders from 50 countries, and a corresponding group of more than a hundred young Israelis, gathered in Jerusalem on Thursday for a meeting with Herzog as part of the WJC’s Jewish Leadership Bridge for the Future.

The president said that “we are gradually losing points of contact with one another, losing our connection to the binding story that keeps us whole as one nation.”

Herzog emphasized the unique nature of Israel as a small nation of 15 million people among 8 billion in the world. He noted however that not only is there increasing discord within our 15 million, but also a loss of the ability to discuss and step out of opinion echo chambers.

“Alienation and polarization are casting a very real shadow which can endanger our future,” Herzog warned. As president, he said he has personally committed himself to reversing this trend and has made it one of the overarching goals of his presidency to deepen the dialogue within the nation.

He defined his goal as to help redefine a binding, inclusive, and sustainable narrative for the nation by encouraging people to hear each other. “This group knows how to talk to each other,” he said of those sitting in the room, “but we are talking about millions of human beings around the world and between Israel and world Jewry.”

Herzog warmly welcomed the group, declaring that “the Jewish people throughout the globe, our Jewish Diaspora, have contributed immensely to this nation-building project that is Israel.

“To that end, these very days, I have launched the Voice of the People Initiative, the President’s Initiative for Worldwide Jewish Dialogue, which I call in Hebrew ‘Kol Ha’am Siach Yehudi Olami,’” he explained.

The program is designed “to be a platform where we can convene together as a people to hear each other, to plan together, to engage and to strategize on all of the major issues affecting our people,” he said.

WJC President Ronald S. Lauder underscored the importance of the gathering in comments from New York: “Amid challenging times for the Jewish people worldwide, and in Israel, it’s more important than ever that we recognize what unites us as a people.”

The WJC delegation, traveling between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is composed of members of the organization’s Executive Committee, Jewish Diplomatic Corps, Lauder Fellowship and other leading student organizations such as the European Union of Jewish Students, and World Union of Jewish Students. In addition to the meeting with Herzog, the congress said that the Jewish Leadership Bridge for the Future also included Israelis, members of the Jewish Peoplehood Coalition, powered by Reut, “to discuss issues of concern to world Jewry and formulate common actions to foster Jewish unity.”

The three-day program placed an emphasis on building bridges between Israeli and Diaspora thought leaders through in-depth sessions.

Among the highlights was a visit to the Foreign Ministry for meetings with senior officials including Shuli Davidovich, head of the Bureau for World Jewish Affairs and World Religions, who led a session focused on global and regional issues of concern to world Jewry.