The Jewish and Zionist worlds are SO full of abbreviations – it's really hard to keep track. This is a mini-primer on Zionist Alphabet Soup:

ARZA (pronounced AHR-tza –a Hebrew word meaning "toward the Land") is the Association of Reform Zionists of America. It's the Reform Movement's national membership organization to connect Jews with Israel.

WZO is the World Zionist Organization, an umbrella of many Zionist organizations worldwide. The WZO functions in Israel, along with the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI, if you're keeping track of all the abbreviations!) as a quasi-governmental organization. This is especially important when it comes to funding the many institutions of the various "streams" or religious movements, in Israel (including the Reform Movement).

AZM is the American Zionist Movement, the regional umbrella of Zionist organizations in North America.

WZC is the World Zionist Congress, the decision-making and policy-setting body of the WZO that meets roughly every 4 years.

So here's how it works: Every four years (or so), Jews the world over get to vote for representatives to the WZC. Each local Zionist organization puts forth a slate. The voting is done in a parliamentary style, so that the number of representatives elected from each slate is proportional to the percentage of votes that slate received. The voting process in North America is run by the AZM. ARZA is one of the organizations that propose slates. In order to vote, Jews 18 years of age and above must first register. There is a registration fee (in the last election, 2005-2006, it was $7 per person) that covers the cost of running the election. One need not be a member of a Zionist organization to register or to vote. In each campaign, ARZA encourages Jews (primarily Reform Jews, since they are our constituency) to vote, obviously hoping that they will vote for the ARZA slate. But paying a registration fee does not mean one has joined ARZA! The registration fee doesn't go to ARZA, but rather to the AZM.

There are two crucial things to remember here: 1) It's important to register and vote (the next election will probably be in 2009-2010). The success of ARZA's slate in the WZC determines both the strength/credibility of the Reform Movement in Israel and how funds are allocated.  2) It's also important to join ARZA. You don't have to join to vote, but joining is a powerful way of adding your voice to the cause of Reform in Israel!