Israel Votes: Parties, Tribes, and the 2026 Election

With Rabbi Daniel Bogard | Tuesdays, 5:30–6:30 pm on Zoom
October 6 – December 15 (no class October 20)

Israelis go to the polls on October 27. This fall, Rabbi Daniel’s Tuesday class is a close study of that election and of the society behind it.

The first part of the course, leading up to the vote, looks at how Israeli politics actually works: the parties and the movements behind them, who gets to vote, who doesn’t, how coalitions get built, and which issues are really driving the campaign. Much of this runs against American expectations. The war, Gaza, the West Bank, and the Palestinians, which many American Jews assume sit at the center of Israeli politics, are strikingly, and to many of us disappointingly, absent from the campaign. The opposition to Netanyahu also looks quite different from what most Americans picture. Understanding why is a big part of understanding Israel today. The class will meet on election night itself.

After the election, the class turns to the communities that make up contemporary Israeli society and how each relates to the state and to politics: the ultra-Orthodox world, Israel’s many Mizrachi communities, the shrinking liberal world of Tel Aviv, the settler movement as it actually operates, Palestinian citizens of Israel, and more.

The aim is description, not advocacy: to understand what this election is actually about, rather than what we might wish it was about. CRC holds space for a wide range of views on Israel, and community members who identify as Zionist, non-Zionist, anti-Zionist, or none of the above are all welcome.

No background needed. Come to any or all sessions.

Class dates

October 6, 13, and 27 (election night)
November 3, 10, 17, and 24
December 1, 8, and 15
No class October 20.

RSVP

RSVP and you’ll receive the Zoom link by email.

Questions? Email communications@centralreform.org.