By Miriam Gershenson
SAN DIEGO — I had the opportunity to lead the San Diego Zioness chapter on Monday, June 24. Zioness is a national progressive Zionist movement that tried being in San Diego in the past but for various reasons didn’t succeed.
I heard about Zioness back when I was living in the Bay Area. I’ve been in the Facebook group for years but never an active participant. When moving to San Diego back in February, I decided to join one of their Zoom meetings. Realizing that at that point Zioness was not a thing in San Diego, I decided to give it a try. It made it easier that people were already aware and interested from previous attempts.
We met in Mission Valley (I won’t disclose exact location as I wouldn’t want the wrong crowd to know this information and used it in nefarious ways). Zioness headquarters offered to cover some food/ drinks costs. The location welcomed us in with open arms providing us with our own space, generous amounts of food with additional food and drinks free of charge.
We were a group of 13 people. All incredibly diverse- African- American Jews, Persian Jew, Iraqi/ Syrian Jew, Jews from Israel, Jews that never stepped foot in Israel, Jews in the LGBTQ+ community, etc etc. The diversity of the group was reminiscent of the House of Israel Annual Lawn program, I was part of that amazing planning committee and our theme was diversity. Here we were such a great group representing exactly what we showcased during that event.
The conversation flowed easily. Everyone was supportive of one another. The best part of it all, I’m not this super progressive person which is who the organization targets. I would even describe myself as conservative leaning. Why would I take this group on?
I believe that since October 7th, now, more than ever, we all need to unite. Together we stand strong. I also believe that regardless of what side of the political spectrum you stand on, there will always be something on the other side you agree with. That common ground is where we can come together and support one another. My husband called it being politically ambidextrous. I’m a Zionist, why wouldn’t I want to be around other Zionists?
We are working on putting together our next meeting and discussing the topics we want to tackle together. If you are interested in joining us, please reach out to me directly or join us via Zioness.org. Let’s put away our differences and unite as one.
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Miriam Gershenson is a freelance writer based in Escondido.