Ahead of Israel's elections, President Herzog's 'Voice of the People' shows how unity can begin with a conversation

The first cohort of Israeli President Isaac Herzog's "Voice of the People" initiative wrapped up its journey this week in Budapest, Hungary, where participants presented their final projects, attended sessions, danced, ate and reflected on what might come next.

Some of the projects were innovative, and a few may even take off. But at the end of the gathering, the feeling wasn't that the participants had developed the next revolutionary idea that would change the Jewish world. Instead, they had formed relationships that could change their own lives and, perhaps, help bring the Jewish world closer together, one person at a time.

Of the 150 people accepted into the program, only a little more than half attended the final gathering in Budapest. The conference was postponed because of the second war with Iran, and the new schedule didn't work for everyone. A few participants had also dropped out along the way.

Voice of the People's original goal seemed to be bringing together a diverse group of Jews to develop solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing Jewish communities worldwide. The resulting projects were creative, and some were even outside the box. But whether they will have a lasting impact remains to be seen.

Everyone may have entered the program thinking they would create the next revolutionary project, explained Dr. Analucia Lopezrevoredo, one of the initiative's facilitators. In reality, they may have formed the next revolutionary relationship.

“Voice of the People allowed them to connect with somebody else that they might not have known, whose world was not a part of theirs,” Lopezrevoredo, originally from Lima, Peru, told ALL ISRAEL NEWS.

A sociologist who has dedicated her career to strengthening global Jewish communities and fostering cross-cultural connections, Lopezrevoredo facilitated a group focused on developing ways to bring Jews and non-Jews together.

“People were driven by this notion of, like Shark Tank, of coming up with the next big idea,” Lopezrevoredo admitted. “They thought they were going to change the world, and that’s beautiful that people want to. Everyone wants to leave the Jewish world stronger and better than the way in which they found it.”

But looking back, she acknowledged that Voice of the People did not necessarily solve the challenges it set out to address through its projects. Some initiatives may succeed, while others will likely fade now that the first cohort has concluded.

The program was announced by Herzog even before Oct. 7, at a time when Israel and Jewish communities worldwide were deeply divided over judicial reform and the country appeared to be on the verge of a civil war.

The first cohort included roughly one-third Israelis, one-third North Americans and one-third Jews from other parts of the world.

The initiative accomplished little more than making an already small global Jewish community of around 15 million people feel even smaller. According to Lopezrevoredo, “that’s a good thing.”

“People live in their self-experience and their little bubbles and don't realize what actually Jews around the world are experiencing on a day-to-day basis,” she said.

Voice of the People was also genuinely intergenerational, bringing together participants under 30 and others over 80.

“The wisdom in this space is unmatched; people are really coming from diverse sectors and different backgrounds,” Lopezrevoredo said.

Because most Jews live in Israel or the United States, those countries naturally accounted for the largest contingents. But participants also came from Europe, Latin America, Mexico and elsewhere.

As became clear during the sessions in Budapest, the initiative allowed participants to discover that the Jewish world extends far beyond its two largest centers.

Moreover, while the program accepted a number of Jewish communal professionals, many participants came from outside the established Jewish organizational world. This gave communal professionals a chance to hear directly about the needs and experiences of Jews beyond their usual circles.

One participant told ALL ISRAEL NEWS (AIN) that the experience helped build empathy. It also opened people's minds to perspectives and experiences they might never have encountered otherwise.

That did not mean everyone agreed.

In fact, several participants acknowledged challenges along the way, particularly when they encountered ideas that contradicted their beliefs or assumptions.

But Lopezrevoredo argued that those disagreements were part of what made Voice of the People so valuable.

“Jews, around certain things, will have very fundamentally different opinions than I do, and we might not all of a sudden say, okay, we're all going to work towards advancing, you know, whatever it is,” Lopezrevoredo told AIN. “I might speak to someone who is adamantly opposed and someone who is adamantly for, and I don't necessarily think that the goal is for them to be like, okay, we've come to a solution. We're going to work together to advance some good things. But at least, you do understand a little bit more about what is happening in this space, like what is the push and pull.”

She noted that within the Jewish world, and especially in Israel, there are communities that rarely speak to or interact with one another.

Too often, she explained, people approach conversations with those who think differently to convince them to change their minds. But understanding another person's perspective does not have to end in agreement.

The same principle applies to relationships between Jews and non-Jews.

When trying to build bridges between communities, Lopezrevoredo said, the focus should be on developing relationships rather than immediately winning support for a particular viewpoint. And those relationships need time to develop.

“Sometimes we want to jump straight to allyship, and as someone who works in the field of bridge building, I think allyship is something that we can look towards, but it can't be the measure of success whether or not we're advancing relationships with people,” Lopezrevoredo said. “I think sometimes we want allyship too immediately.”

Shari Dollinger, a member of the inaugural Voice of the People cohort, participated in Lopezrevoredo's group.

Dollinger, who previously served as co-executive director of Christians United for Israel, said that when her team was tasked with finding ways to strengthen relationships with the non-Jewish world, she immediately assumed the focus would be on Christians.

But the group quickly shifted direction.

Ultimately, its members developed the Jewish Indian Alliance, an initiative intended to create a network of practical, sustainable relationships between Jewish and Indian diaspora communities.

“From my very myopic, Israel-U.S.-only perspective, I’m embarrassed by how little I knew about Jewish communities beyond what we consider the two centers,” Dollinger told AIN.

She was also surprised by how much she had to learn about the Indian diaspora in America, which she had assumed was larger and more established.

According to a Pew Research Center survey, about 5 million Indian Americans, many of whom are first-generation immigrants, live in the United States. Although this population is larger than the Jewish community, it represents a smaller share of the overall U.S. population than Dollinger had assumed.

Through the project, Dollinger said, she met Jews and non-Jews who became much more than professional contacts.

“Genuinely friends. That has been really eye-opening and heart-opening. It is not just professional networking; it's deep friendships.”

And perhaps that is the most significant outcome of Voice of the People. Participants did not necessarily leave Budapest with solutions to the Jewish world's most pressing problems. But they left with a better understanding of people they might once have overlooked, disagreed with or never thought to approach.

That lesson could hardly be more relevant to Israel today.

On Tuesday, Israelis are scheduled to head to the polls for the first time since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, to elect new representatives and determine the country's political direction.

Herzog has been among the most outspoken voices calling for national unity, regardless of who emerges victorious.

“Elections are a test of Israeli democracy, and they are also a test of the unity and cohesion of Israeli society,” Herzog said in a public statement in July. “Elections are the pinnacle of a democracy. This is our opportunity to influence the country’s future and the fateful issues before it. I call on all citizens of Israel to take an active part in these elections: to listen, to make your voice heard, to show respect, and to vote.”Herzog has also said he will do everything in his power to promote a stable unity government, even if the election produces an inconclusive result.

But a president cannot simply declare unity, nor is it necessarily something a political coalition can achieve.

Voice of the People offers a smaller, more personal example of what it might look like. Its participants did not suddenly abandon their differences or agree on how to solve the Jewish world's problems. They simply learned to understand one another a little better and, in some cases, became friends.

As Israelis prepare to vote, the question is whether the country can do something similar, letting people fight passionately for their political beliefs without turning those on the other side into enemies.

Three years after Oct. 7, this may be one of Israel's greatest challenges. However, if the experience in Budapest demonstrated anything, it is that bridging differences does not always begin with a grand plan. Sometimes, it begins with a conversation.