News Brief

Ronald Lauder and Matthew Bronfman are teaming up to run for the top leadership positions of the World Jewish Congress. Under an agreement announced Wednesday, Lauder will run for interim president on a ticket that also has Bronfman running for chairman of the WJC governing board. That seat was vacated in January 2006 by Israel Singer just before the conclusion of an investigation by the New York state attorney general into WJC finances, according to a WJC spokesman. It had been unclear if Matthew Bronfman would enter the race to succeed his father, Edgar, who announced early in May that he would retire from the presidency on June 10 after nearly 30 years in office. “We are combining our efforts to guarantee that the World Jewish Congress remains the strongest representative organization of Jewish communities around the world,” Lauder said in a news release from Jerusalem. “We will continue reform of the organization, assure the WJC’s financial solvency and expand its operations to better pursue its mission.” The WJC steering committee is slated to meet in New York on June 10 to select an interim president. That person will serve until the next plenary meeting in 2009. Lauder, the cosmetics heir, philanthropist and president of the Jewish National Fund, announced last week that he would run for WJC president. An Israeli activist and writer, Einat Wilf, entered the race Tuesday, and it is expected that South African steel magnate Mandel Kaplan will enter the race before the June 1 deadline to declare.