American Zionist Movement elects first woman president

(JNS) - Deborah S. Isaac was elected president of the American Zionist Movement (AZM), the United States federation of 39 Zionist organizations, at the AZM Biennial National Assembly held virtually on Tuesday with more than 400 participants from 30 states.

She becomes the first woman to serve as president of AZM, succeeding Richard D. Heideman of Washington, D.C.

Six new organizational members were introduced at the assembly: A Wider Bridge; Coordinating Council for the Jewish Homeland; Dorshei Torah V'Tzion; Maccabi USA; Shas Olami America; and Volunteers for Israel.

"Israel is the one and only homeland of the Jewish people," said Isaac in her inaugural remarks as president. "Zionism is about that peoplehood. There is only one place in the entire world that will protect Jews no matter where we are, regardless of our status as a citizen or non-citizen. We must celebrate and elevate Israel with every fiber of our being."

Isaac is a past national president and longtime leader in AMIT, Israel's leading educational network of schools.

A delegate of the Orthodox Israel Coalition/Mizrachi slate to three World Zionist Congresses, she is currently a member of the Presidium of the Vaad Hapoel/Zionist General Council of the World Zionist Organization.

Isaac is a resident of New Rochelle, N.Y., and previously worked as a corporate reorganization and real estate attorney in private practice.

Other AZM Officers elected at the assembly include chair of the national board Michael Laufer, ARZA, New York; vice president for programming Nomi Colton-Max, Ameinu, New Jersey; vice president for Inter-Organizational Relations, Ellen Hershkin, Hadassah, New York; vice president for WZO Relations, Mindy Stein, Emunah, New Jersey; vice president for financial resource development, Martin Oliner, RZA-Mizrachi, New York; vice president for governance and operations, Naomi Yadin-Mendick, MERCAZ USA, Maryland; treasurer Susan Longo, ARZA, Illinois; and secretary Lori Lowenthal Marcus, ZOA, Pennsylvania.