Mark S. Anshan elected WZO Amit Kovod – Honorary Fellow

Mark S. Anshan elected World Zionist Organization Amit Kovod – Honorary Fellow

At the World Zionist Organization (WZO) Extraordinary Congress Mark S. Anshan was elected an Amit Kovod – Honorary Fellow at the opening plenary.

Honorary Fellow is selected for contributions and years of service to the World Zionist Organization.

Mark’s commitment to Zionism and Israel extends back to his early years as a youth leader in the Reform movement, where he held several leadership positions in NFTY (President and First Vice-President) and NELFTY (President and a program chair), creating Israel programs and supporting stronger connections between Reform youth and Israel. He served as chair of the Israel Diaspora Committee and Israel Committee at Holy Blossom Temple in the early 1970s.

Following years of service on the Board of ARZA Canada, Mark served as ARZA Canada President (1996-2002). He then became Chair of ARZENU in 2002, leading the Reform Zionist britot at the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI)

He served on the JAFI Board of Governors and on several of its committees.

In 2004, Mark, together with colleagues committed to updating the WZO structure and its objectives, entered into a year-long process with a small task force, led by Mark and a colleague to formulate a WZO renewal proposal to be presented to the WZO Congress. In May 2005, the group finalized its omnibus resolution on WZO titled “ Renewal of the World Zionist Organization and Its Constitution” which was adopted by the Congress. A WZO Renewal Committee was established, on which Mark served, that oversaw the implementation of parts of the resolution.

In 2011 Mark was elected to the Vaad Hapoel as a representative of ARZENU. He served on the Budget and Finance Committee, becoming its Co-chair and overseeing the budget approval process of the WZO.

He has been a delegate to the WZO Congress since the early 1990s.