I’m writing to you from Tel Aviv where I attended a meeting for the Board of Governors of The Jewish Agency for Israel. As one of Federation’s global partners, The Jewish Agency helps Jews around the world connect with Israel and address critical challenges, including caring for the vulnerable, facilitating immigration to Israel (aliyah), rebuilding communities in the North and South after October 7, and investing in the resilience and security of global Jewish communities. They have been doing this work for almost 100 years and continue to have a tremendous impact in Israel and around the world.

My visit coincided with what is considered to be one of the most momentous elections in decades. With final election results announced, it looks like neither the ruling coalition nor the opposition bloc has sufficient seats to form a new government. Moreover, the two primarily Arab parties nearly doubled their number of seats in the Knesset setting them up potentially to play a role in shaping the future government. There is much still to happen in the next few weeks. President Herzog has asked for “open mindedness” among party leaders as this parliamentary process unfolds.

The challenge with an election as close as this one is that there does not seem to be a clear viable coalition which can effectively lead the country. Several alternatives have been proposed, but they each seem to have major internal contradictions. The result is deep uncertainty.

There is reason to remain hopeful, however. While it’s clear from the election results there are deep divisions in Israeli society, the parliamentary system allows for creative thinking. Perhaps the process will give way to new approaches that may not have been considered to date and that can help Israel move forward in these challenging times.

There is much yet to be seen, but one thing that we do know for sure is that elections have consequences. In Israel they had a record turnout with over 77% of all eligible voters casting a ballot with almost 100,000 citizens travelling from overseas to vote. With our election in just a few days, let’s also make sure to vote and lend our voices to shaping the future of our country.