A lighter mood at Z3, as the focus turns to renewal and rebuilding

Originally published in The J Weekly. Written by Sue Fishkoff.

This year’s Z3 conference at the Oshman Family JCC was decidedly more upbeat than last November’s gathering, when 100 hostages were still being held in Gaza. And its celebratory mood can’t even be compared with the shock and grief that enveloped the November 2023 conference, held just weeks after the Oct. 7 attacks.

“OK, friends, can we just acknowledge it — they are home. And that we have to celebrate,” said OFJCC CEO Zack Bodner as he kicked off the opening plenary in Palo Alto on Nov. 9.

The Z3 conference brings together leading thinkers, creatives and policy-makers to discuss the evolving relationship between Israel and the diaspora. “Z3” stands for Zionism 3.0, a conceptual construct that posits equality between diaspora Jewry and the State of Israel, instead of the 20th-century focus on aliyah as the highest Jewish value.

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