Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article erroneously counted Mercaz USA (Conservative) as part of the Orthodox Jewish slate. We thank the many readers who brought this to our attention, and note that the results remain the same – with an Orthodox Jewish plurality in the WZO’s USA elections.Â
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In a watershed moment for Orthodox Jewry, the 2025 World Zionist Organization (WZO) elections have resulted in Orthodox slates securing a majority for the first time in WZO history, YWN has confirmed.
According to preliminary results released today, voter turnout for the U.S. delegation shattered all prior records, with 230,257 valid votes cast—224,237 online and 6,020 by mail—representing a staggering 86% increase from the 2020 election’s 123,575 votes.
At the forefront of this historic surge was Eretz HaKodesh, which earned 29,159 votes, coming in third overall and solidifying its position as the dominant Orthodox voice. The slate’s campaign focused on defending the kedushah, mesorah, and Torah of Eretz Yisrael.
Eretz HaKodesh joins forces with other Orthodox-aligned slates—Am Yisrael Chai, ZOA, Aish, Vision, Biyachad, Isreal 365, Achdut Yisroel, Orthodox Israel Coalition/Mizrachi, and Shas, – bringing the total Orthodox vote well beyond a simple majority, for the first time establishing a religious majority within the American delegation to the WZO.
This monumental shift marks a turning point in Jewish representation on the WZO stage. The WZO, which oversees billions of dollars in funding and influence across Israel and the Diaspora, will now have significantly increased Orthodox input into matters such as Aliyah, Jewish education, land policy, and religious affairs policy in Israel.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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34 Responses
Imagine if all the kanoyim and naysayers had voted!
it’s kefira all the way down. nothin good comes from aveiros. this is the aleph-bais of yiddishkeit.
The fight to get the reform disqualified must continue! They deserve to lose all they can. We have to prevail!
Thanks Lakewood for making sure we only get third place! Certainly you will make certain that your talmidim get no benefit from the Eretz Hachaim gains because you want to have nothing from it!
If Mercaz USA is ‘the Voice of Conservative Judaism’, how exactly is that an ‘Orthodox aligned’ slate?
I’m confused, isn’t MERCAZ USA the Conservative movement? Obviously they’re not part of the “orthodox-aligned” slate.
Some of the worst writing and editing ever. Please please don’t write stupidity so ask not to give ammunition to the people who claim we don’t get a proper education! A PLURALITY IS NOT A MAJORITY. A majority means over 50%. A plurality means the largest group but less than 50% of the total. Duh.
mercaz usa is conservative not orthodox!
how is Mercaz orthodox aligned?
Anyone who cast a vote without genuinely affirming belief in the Jerusalem platform, despite it being a prerequisite, has acted dishonestly. ( attention:Most of the Eretz hakodesh voters)
YWN your article does not make sense. ‘MERCAZ’ is a conservative organisation. more aligned with reform/progressive than orthodox. it cannot be counted as part of the orthodox bloc.
We will still struggle against the anti orthodox bloc. To me the real news is how few votes Eretz Hakodesh got compared to the work they put in.
Mercaz USA is not orthodox aligned.
Am Yisrael Chai does not have a platform that supports orthodox judaism.
There is no orthodox majority in WZO.
This article is triumphalist but wrong.
Mercaz calls itself conservative. Why are you lumping them with the Orthodox slates
You made a mistake. MERCZ USA it says is Conservative/Masorti. Hardly Orthodox.
You also forgot Aish Ha’Am with 6,600 votes.
Mercaz USA is the Conservative movement, who actively worked to sabotage Eretz HaKodesh. This does not seem “Orthodox-aligned.”
Why are you counting Mercaz usa as orthodox when they are conserative mesorati???
The “watershed moment” for Orthodox Jewry was five years ago when EH first lied and was meisis uMediach Klal Yisrael and made the initial abominable pirtza in Klal Yisrael to get unsuspecting Jews to do what had always been unthinkable and universally forbidden by even Rav Elyashiv who worked for the Zionists and for even the Shas party which was already a party in the Zionist parliament. Lies, lies and more lies and propaganda.
This year was just a follow-up to that initial abominable pirtza five years ago, as mentioned. Also, despite all the lies and massive propaganda and full page ads in the Jewish media from EH that – to the shame of those Jewish media – published those ads, the AYC slate still got more votes than did EH with all its slick marketing and lies. At least AYC didn’t lie about their idolatry as did EH.
Also, EH went up (from its 2020 numbers) by not even 50%, again despite all their marketing propaganda and lies. B”H, the numbers were not any worse (meaning: higher).
Looking at the numbers of the major party winners, the Reform party got the most votes, far more than either of those “Religious Zionist” parties (EH and AYC). Together with Conservative and the top “Progressive” party, the non-“Religious Zionist” parties (Vote Reform, Mercaz and HATikvah) actually got slightly more votes than did those “Religious Zionist” parties (EH, AYC and OIC). And the rest of the parties are presumably mostly anti-religious or, at best, neutral.
So, as usual EH is spinning and lying.
And it’s anyways all irrelevant, because anyone who looks at what EH did and did not do in the WZO the past five years knows that they are actually counter-productive to frum interests. And this is anyways only the American numbers, which is only a minority of the broader WZO.
Eileh elohecha, Zionists. This idol, too, will share the same fate as befell its golden predecessor in the Sinai Desert. Just a matter of time until G-d rids the world of all idols, including this one.
I am confused. At the end of these elections, YWN was breathlessly spouting as much EH propaganda as it could, including that the Conservative Yitzhar Hess in Israel was getting Rabbis to speak against EH. Yet, post-election, in order to claim their lie that the Orthodox-aligned parties won a majority, these lying (wicked) clowns of EH now claim that Conservative are also Orthodox-aligned.
Well, then which is it? Are the Conservative terrible bogey monsters who went to the Rabbis to blast EH, or is the Conservative actually aligned with EH (which says more about EH than about Conservative, of course, but that’s public knowledge already for anyone who has looked at EH actions and inaction in the WZO since they propagandized and lied their way into the WZO five years ago)?
I’m not following.
A majority… Yes. In the US elections. Which makes up a 1/3 of the delegates which makes up 1/3 of the WZO. So a majority within 1/9, i.e. about 1/18 of the total WZO voting power.
So the headline is 1/9ths true?
Boruch Hashem
“mercaz usa the voice of masoarati conservative judaism” doesn’t sound orthodox.
BH a win for kovod HaTorah both that those that listen to the Moetzes did not vote (or EH would have got double or triple that number) and that those that listen to R Chaim ztlz & lbdlch”a R Shmuel, and the English & Yerushalmi Gedolim did vote in sufficient numbers.
I hate to break it to you YWN. But MERCAZ USA is NOT orthodox leaning. It’s conservative treif!
Mercaz USA (27,893 votes) is the Conservative/Masorti ticket, decidedly NOT Orthodox leaning!
How is Mercaz USA, ‘The Voice of Conservative Judaism’, an Orthodox aligned slate?
I don’t think UK have cast their votes yet. Why do you include Mercaz USA, the voice of conservative/Masoraty as Orthodox?
BH CHASDEI HASHEM
Hopefully with a majority they will be able to take of the Jerusalem Program so that next elections many more frummer will be able to vote
Not really good results, in percentage compared to last time they did much worse, I doubt that Eretz Hakodesh will get 25 seats like last time, reform got 16404 more votes than last time, Eretz Hakodesh only got 9114 more votes.
But reform will still get the most seats thanks to the Orthodox vote getting split
How is EH called ta the forefront when Am Yisrael Chai (an kiruv-led initiative) got even more voted?
“solidifying its position as the dominant Orthodox voice”? They came in third. The next paragraph you say “Orthodox-aligned slates—Am Yisrael Chai…” but Am Yisrael Chai came in second ahead of E”H.
The way I see it, Am Yisrael Chai is the dominant Orthodox voice. Of course there is no taking away from the fact that Eretz HaKodesh is the dominant Yeshivish voice. Furthermore, there is no doubt that Orthodox Israel Coalition/Mizrachi is the dominant Orthodox voice.
etc. etc. etc.
So, judging by the top 3 winners, does this mean that about $1.25 of the $5 it costs to vote will go to Frum causes?
how dare anyone attack the ir torah of lakewood with their slurs **@yaapchik**
Chilul Hashem
Torah Torah Chigri Saq