By Dr. Daniel Olson | Dr. Olson is the Assistant National Director at the National Ramah Commission. Daniel completed his PhD in education and Jewish studies at NYU in 2020. He received the Harold Wechsler award for emerging scholars from the Network for Research in Jewish Education and is a Wexner Graduate Fellow/Davidson Scholar. He attended Ramah Wisconsin as a camper and worked for many summers in Tikvah.
This spring, American Jews have a critical opportunity to shape the future of Jewish life in Israel and around the world by voting for MERCAZ USA in the World Zionist Congress elections. This election will determine the priorities and funding for key institutions like the Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Fund—organizations that directly impact the Ramah Camping Movement’s work in Jewish and Israel education, leadership development, and relationship building with Israeli shlichim (young adult emissaries). But beyond policy and funding, this vote is about something deeper: the kind of Israel we want to build, and the values we want to uphold.
I was reminded of this firsthand this summer, when I received a small but powerful memento—one that I now carry with me everywhere. It’s a magnet, no bigger than the palm of my hand, printed with ten simple rules for happiness. Each one is a gentle but urgent reminder of how to live a meaningful life: “Live simply.” “Don’t hate.” “Love always.” “Always smile.” “Remember that God is always with you.”
This memento commemorates Guy (z’l), an aspiring Israeli fashion designer, who was murdered at the Nova music festival on October 7th. His sister Rotem, an artist who had worked at a Ramah camp a few years ago, and would be coming back for part of summer 2024, transformed Guy’s phone’s lock screen into magnets that she widely distributed in his honor.
I was in Israel when I first received this memento, leading a delegation of North American college-aged Ramah staff members on a post-October 7th solidarity and learning trip. Visiting the site where Guy was killed, standing among the remnants of joy turned to devastation, was an experience I will never forget. Neither was the overwhelming sense of unity among our group—young Jewish leaders, many of whom had spent years working at Ramah camps, now standing together in grief, but also in hope.
At her Ramah camp this summer, Rotem painted her brother’s ten rules of happiness on wooden boards that now hang outside “Beit Roga,” the camp’s “House of Calm,” a place where campers having a tough moment can go relax. How powerful for Guy’s wisdom to welcome children and teenagers into that space.
As someone with the privilege of getting to visit many Ramah camps during the summer, I saw it as my responsibility to share Guy’s and Rotem’s message widely. Every chance I had to present to a group of campers and staff members, I told Guy’s story and offered his rules of happiness as a way to be at camp and in the world.
All of this—visiting Guy’s memorial at the Nova Festival with dozens of North American Ramah staff members, getting to know Rotem, sharing Guy’s words with hundreds of Ramah campers across our movement—was possible because of long-standing commitments by Ramah and other parts of the Masorti/Conservative Movement in strengthening relationships and connections with Israelis, in making education about Israel and Jewish Peoplehood a priority, and in embracing an inclusive future for Israel, where all voices are heard.
A vote for MERCAZ USA translates to advancing support for a pluralistic vision of the Jewish future. If we do not vote, other people who do not share our values might control the Congress, making it harder to support Masorti/Conservative communities and leading to an exclusive, even extremist, view of Judaism dominating the decision-making in the upcoming Congress.
I hear from many of my peers that they face confusion, even challenge, when confronting the term Zionism today. To those people, I implore you, Zionism is what we, and not our opponents, decide it is. Some forms of Zionism, unfortunately, are narrow and bigoted. A vote for MERCAZ USA is an affirmation of a more expansive idea of Zionism—one that seeks to grow the Jewish spirit in the State of Israel, but also aims to promote equality for Jews and non-Jews, seeks a lasting peace with our Palestinian neighbors, and celebrates the multitude of diversity within the Jewish people all around the world.
Every vote for the World Zionist Congress counts. Please go to votemercazusa.org to cast your vote. Learn more at mercazusa.org/votemercaz2025/ and encourage your friends and family to do the same. Any Jewish adult over 18 who lives permanently in the U.S. and didn’t vote in the last Knesset election can vote for MERCAZ USA in the World Zionist Congress elections. You do not need to belong to a synagogue or preregister to vote. The voting period is from March 10 to May 4, 2025.
“Give a lot,” Guy urges us, as one of his rules for happiness. When you vote for Mercaz USA in this upcoming election, you give back to your communities, you contribute to a more peaceful Israel, and you lend your voice to the future of the Jewish people.
