Agudath Israel of America

Functions

Agudah serves as a leadership and policy umbrella organization for Haredi Jews in the United States, representing the vast majority of members of the yeshiva world, sometimes known by the old label of misnagdim, as well as a large number of Hasidic groups. However, not all Hasidic groups are affiliated with Agudath Israel. For example, the Hasidic group Satmar, which is vehemently anti-Zionist, dislikes Agudah's relatively moderate stance towards the State of Israel.

Agudah has ideological connections with both Agudat Israel and with Degel HaTorah (he), two Israeli Haredi political parties that have representation in the Knesset (Israel's parliament). In Israel, Degel and Agudah are in a political coalition called United Torah Judaism (UTJ)."list made up of the ultra-Orthodox parties Agudat Israel and Degel HaTorah ... United Torah Judaism (UTJ) promotes the interests of the Haredi community ..." {{cite web |title=United Torah Judaism - The Israel Democracy Institute

History

The original Agudath Israel movement was established communal, and cultural voice of those Orthodox Jews who were not part of Zionism's Orthodox Jewish Mizrachi party.

Rabbi Eliezer Silver, an Eastern European-trained rabbi, established the first office of Agudath Israel in America during the 1930s, organizing its first conference in 1939. Some of the early rabbinic leaders of the organization included Rabbi Mordechai Shlomo Friedman, Rabbi Shlomo Heiman, Rabbi Leo Jung, Rabbi Herbert Goldstein, Rabbi Joshua Bäumel, and Rabbi Joseph B Soloveitchik. After the Holocaust, some prominent rabbis who made their home in America established a moetzes ("supreme council") known as the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, and the movement began to grow rapidly, with the rise of the yeshiva-based and Hasidic Orthodox communities.

Mike Tress led the expansion of the movement during the early 1940s as its chief lay leader, until his death in 1967. His cousin Rabbi Moshe Sherer then took the reins as president, and the organization flourished further in size and accomplishments. After his passing in May 1998, took over as Executive Vice-President. In 2016, his salary was $220,000.

In April 2020, Agudath Israel of America head Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, the Novominsker Rebbe, 89 years old, died after contracting COVID-19, one month after he urged American Orthodox Jews to follow social distancing and other precautionary guidelines in response to the coronavirus outbreak, saying: "We cannot behave the way we did last week or two weeks ago. We're told that the halakha (Jewish law) is that we must listen to doctors, whether it's about a sick person or Yom Kippur".

Structure

Agudah's policies and leadership are directed by its Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah (Council of Torah Sages), composed primarily of rosh yeshivas (the chief spiritual and scholarly authority in a yeshiva) and Hasidic rebbes (who head Hasidic dynasties and organizations). The Moetzes sets all major policies and guides the organization according to its precepts of Da'as torah (), generally translated as Torah knowledge/direction. Rabbi Yaakov Perlow (deceased), who was the Novominsker Rebbe and a member of the Moetzes, was appointed as the Rosh Agudat Yisrael ("Head of Agudath Israel").

The executive staff includes Rabbi Yitzchok Ehrman as COO, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel as the Executive Vice President, Rabbi Labish Becker as the Executive Director, Rabbi Naftali Miller as CDO, Rabbi Moshe Danzger as CFO, Rabbi A.D. Motzen as the National Director for State Relations, and Rabbi Abba Cohen as Vice President for Government Affairs.

There are close to one hundred Agudah-affiliated synagogues across the United States and Canada.

Positions

The Agudah takes positions on many political, religious, and social issues, primarily guided by its Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah. It uses these stances to advise its members, advocate for its constituency in the halls of government, and file amicus briefs on behalf of the Haredi Orthodox Jewish community in the United States.

Conservative, Reform, and Modern Orthodox Judaism

In 1956, for example, the moetzes issued a written ruling forbidding Orthodox rabbis to join with any Reform or Conservative rabbis in rabbinical communal professional organizations that then united the various branches of America's Jews, such as the Synagogue Council of America.

This position was not endorsed by the Modern Orthodox. Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik of Yeshiva University had initially aligned himself with Agudah, but later established his independent views on these matters and a host of other issues, such as attitudes towards college education and attitudes towards the secular-led Israeli governments. Rabbi Soloveitchik believed it important to nurture the more modern Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America (RCA).

Women

In 2015 and 2017, Agudah denounced moves to ordain women. It went even further, declaring Yeshivat Maharat, Open Orthodoxy, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, and other affiliated entities to be similar to other dissident movements throughout Jewish history in having rejected basic tenets of Judaism. Avi Shafran, director of public affairs, wrote: "... women ... assuming positions of public leadership is ... antithetical to the concept of tzniut (modesty)." Agudah forbade ordained Orthodox female clergy from being hired to lead congregations. Dr. Noam Stadlan, a board member of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, wrote: "On this issue, the Agudah is irrelevant to Modern Orthodoxy in the same way Satmar or Neturei Karta views are irrelevant on issues of Zionism."

Abortion

In 2019, commenting on abortion, Agudath Israel said: "Jewish tradition teaches that a human fetus has status and dignity, and that abortion is prohibited in the vast majority of pregnancies", with certain exceptions in which it is permitted and in others where it is required. Other Orthodox New York rabbis offered opposing positions.

Vaccination

Also in 2019, Agudath lobbied against a New Jersey bill that would have ended a policy allowing New Jersey parents to not immunize their children—because of religious beliefs, but to still enroll them in school. The bill included an exemption for private schools. In the 2018-2019 school year, religious exemptions in New Jersey had grown to 2.6%. Doctors and public health experts had said the bill was urgently needed to prevent the level of measles outbreak that spread across the region in 2018 (the largest outbreak in three decades in the area) and emphasized that there is overwhelming scientific consensus that vaccines are safe and effective.

Zionism

While Agudath was created as a bulwark to fight against Zionism, the Rabbinic leadership of Agudath did permit "with great reluctance" participation in the government after the Israeli state was established in 1948. The reason given was that "the parliament is not an ideological organization; its purpose is to perform the mundane task of running the everyday life of the citizens of the country. It was against our will that this parliament was formed, and it has the power to interfere with inyanei hadas [religious matters] and to prevent the religious community from living a life of Torah. Thus, we were forced to send representatives there to fight for our survival." Agudah takes stances on issues affecting the Haredi sector in Israel; in contradistinction to the more stridently anti-Zionist Haredi communal organizations.

Activities

Political activity

Aside from its national branch in Manhattan, Agudah has active branches in the regions of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Missouri, New England, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Ontario, Quebec, and Washington, D.C. The regional director of each branch lobbies the judicial and legislative branches of their state and local governments on any issue deemed morally or religiously important to their constituency (for example, abortion, physician-assisted suicide, same-sex marriage, school vouchers/school choice). Agudah's advocacy in New York state is led by Rabbi Yeruchim Silber, Director of New York Government Affairs.

Agudath Israel's federal activities are coordinated by Rabbi Abba Cohen, the Director and Counsel of the organization's Washington, D.C. office. Agudah was the first Orthodox Jewish group to open an office in Washington, in 1988, and maintains ongoing relations with the White House and executive agencies, as well as with the U.S. Congress, on various domestic and foreign issues."Rabbi Abba Cohen, Agudath Israel's Washington Director" -{{cite news |newspaper=Hamodia

Agudah files amicus briefs in cases at all levels of the judiciary, often signing on as one of the organization signatories to a brief authored by Nat Lewin or the National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs.

In 2023, Agudah's New Jersey state director Avi Schnall was elected as a Democrat to the New Jersey General Assembly from the otherwise solidly Republican 30th District, in what political commentators called a "massive demonstration" of the Orthodox community's political power.

Fingerprinting controversy

Official spokesman Rabbi Avi Shafran denied claims by The Jewish Week that Aguda "is opposed to both the mandated reporting and fingerprinting, and background check legislation" then under consideration for teachers of children{{cite news|url=https://www.vosizneias.com/20265/2008/09/13/new-york-agudath-israel-we-strongly-support-employee-background-check-in-yeshivas-reports-to-the-contrary-false

Youth services

Agudah maintains a network of summer youth camps (including Camp Agudah, Machane Ephraim, Camp Bnos, Camp Chayl Miriam, and Camp Bnoseinu in the Catskills in New York, as well as camps in the Midwest and California).

Sometimes referred to as "Pirchei / Zeirei", this was part of the work by Mike Tress.

"JEP" (Jewish Education Program) is known for its release hour work, and was identified by Rabbi Yaakov Perlow as "the JEP operation of Zeirei Agudath Israel" in a 1977 interview, in which he spoke about "to take off a seder from yeshiva and go out and speak at a release hour at a public school."

Social services

Agudah has a number of social service branches that cater to the elderly, poor, or disabled. It has a job training program called COPE, a job placement division, and a housing program. The Agudah is responsible for the founding of other national institutions and projects, including the Beis Yaakov girls' school system, and the national Daf Yomi Commission.

Communications

Agudah advocates its positions in several ways:

• Publication of an e-newsletter, *Weekly Window *
• Publication of a general-interest monthly magazine, The Jewish Observer, from 1963 (no longer published)
• Maintains full-time offices in Washington, DC, and the US west coast, Midwest, and South
• Activism by lobbying and submitting amicus briefs
• Organizes prominent layperson missions to government agencies
• Rabbi Avi Shafran, the official spokesman of Agudah, responds to media articles and statements which concern the Haredi Orthodox community; Shafran also organizes members to do the same
• Conveys its positions in the Jewish media, particularly through privately owned weekly Jewish newspapers in English called "Hamodia" and "Yated Neeman" (distinct from the Israeli Hebrew-language newspaper carrying the same name), which convey news and views from the Haredi Orthodox point of view
• Publication of articles and press releases on its website

References

References

1. (11 December 2017). "Agudath Israel Didn't Need To Disclose Their Financial — But They Did Anyways.".
2. (February 6, 2019). "Open Debate: Is N.Y.'s Abortion Law Halachic?".
3. (January 31, 2019). "Orthodox rabbis compare abortion to murder - and Orthodox women are angry about it".
4. "Agudath Israel of America, World Agudath Israel".
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6. (March 11, 2015). "Orthodox Jews and New York's Circumcision Rule". The New York Times.
7. Otterman, Sharon. (February 19, 2015). "City Eases Pre-K Rules to Allow Prayer Breaks". The New York Times.
8. [[Jonathan Rosenblum]], "Reb Elimelech Gavriel (Mike) Tress", in Nora Roberts, ''Daring to Dream'', [[Feldheim Publishers]], 2006. "Even the Satmar Rebbe, a fierce ideological opponent of Agudath Israel, once told Mike's son Mendel: 'If there were nine more people in the world like your father, Moshiach would come.'"
9. (March 31, 2008). "Agudath Israel may be non-Zionist, but it supports Israel and its people". The Jewish Chronicle.
10. "four might pillars" - "German Orthodoxy.. the great yeshivoth of Lithuania... the vibrant, predominantly Hasidic Polish Jewry; and a branch in the land of Israel."
11. Roberto Perin. (2017). "The Many Rooms of this House: Diversity". University of Toronto Press.
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13. "Agudas Yisroel".
14. For more information, see [[World Agudath Israel]]
15. Safier, Dovi. (2022-05-31). "Man of Action: The Life & Times of Rabbi Leo Jung - Mishpacha Magazine".
16. (2009). "They called him Mike: Reb Elemelech Tress, his era, hatzalah, and the building of an American orthodoxy". Mesorah Publications.
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20. Belkin, Lisa. (May 12, 1992). "New York Rule Compounds Dilemma Over Life Support". The New York Times.
21. "David Zweibel, Agudath Israel of America – Salary Survey 2015". The Forward.
22. "Rabbi Chaim David Zwiebel has been the executive vice president of Agudath Israel since 2008. Before that, he worked for 30 years at a law firm."
23. Sones, Mordechai. (April 7, 2020). "US Agudath Yisroel head, Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, the Novominsker Rebbe, dies of coronavirus". [[Arutz Sheva.
24. Prince, Cathryn J.. (March 31, 2020). "In the eye of NY's coronavirus storm, ultra-Orthodox face rising anti-Semitism". [[The Times of Israel]].
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26. "What Da'at Torah Really Means".
27. Ferziger, Adam S.. (2015-07-15). "Beyond Sectarianism: The Realignment of American Orthodox Judaism". Wayne State University Press.
28. "Rabbi Yitzchok Ehrman Appointed as National Agudah COO". Agudath Israel.
29. Service, Chris Lisee{{!}} Religion News. (2012-08-01). "Orthodox Jews use smartphones, websites to complete Talmud cycle". Washington Post.
30. Images, Getty. (18 October 2017). "The OU Is Right: Orthodox Women Shouldn't Be Rabbis".
31. "Moetzes: 'Open Orthodoxy' Not a Form of Torah Judaism". Hamodia.
32. "Breach in US Orthodox Judaism grows as Haredi body rejects "Open Orthodoxy" institutions". The Jerusalem Post.
33. Josh Nathan-Kazis. (3 November 2015). "Avi Weiss Defends "Open Orthodoxy" as Agudah Rabbis Declare War". The Forward.
34. (June 10, 2013). "Orthodox Yeshiva Ordains Three Women. Just Don't Call Them "Rabbi"".
35. "How do you solve a problem like a maharat?".
36. Stadlan, Noam. (22 October 2017). "Thank You Rabbi Shafran".
37. Oster, Marcy. "NJ bill to remove religious exemption from immunization stalls in state senate".
38. Tully, Tracey. (14 January 2020). ""Thank you, God!": Bill to ban religious exemptions for vaccines in New Jersey collapses".
39. Sales, Ben. "Gospels and child sacrifice: Inside a NYC ultra-Orthodox anti-vaccination rally".
40. Yated Ne’eman, Parshas Bo, 5770
41. Lipsky, Seth. (2013-10-15). "The Rise of Abraham Cahan". Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
42. "Agudath Israel may be non-Zionist, but it supports Israel and its people".
43. (November 2017). "Abba Cohen: The Ultra-Orthodox Man In Washington".
44. "Agudath Israel World Organization - UNARMS".
45. [https://newjerseyglobe.com/fr/how-avi-schnall-turned-a-deep-red-legislative-district-blue/ How Avi Schnall turned a deep-red legislative district blue], [[New Jersey Globe]], Nov. 9, 2023
46. dated June 20, 2006
47. (May 30, 2010). ["Jewish Schools in NY Ignore Fingerprint Checks"](https://www.vosizneias.com/56552/2010/05/30/new-york-less-that-1-of-private-schools-run-fingerprint-checks}}, {{cite web). NY Post.
48. Rupp, BenTzion. (15 February 2016). "PHOTOS: Pirchei Agudas Yisroel of Passaic/Clifton Bnei Yaakov Midwinter Program.".
49. Jonathan Rosenblum. (2006). "Daring to Dream". [[Feldheim Publishers]].
50. "Interview with Harav Yaakov Perlow - 12/28/77".
51. "Agudath Israel of America files amicus curiae brief in religious liberty case {{!}} Experience".