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59-771: The teaching staff includes Rabbi Elya Brudny , who also sits on the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah . The original Mirrer Yeshiva was founded in 1815 in Mir (now in Belarus ), and remained in operation there until 1914. With the outbreak of World War I , the yeshiva moved to Poltava (now in Ukraine ), under the leadership of Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel , son of the legendary Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel (the Alter of Slabodka ), and son-in-law of Rabbi Elya Boruch Kamai, his renowned predecessor. In 1921,

118-857: A Jewish interest in the campaigns for social justice in Southern California , which has the United States' second largest Jewish population. The Progressive Jewish Alliance expanded in February 2005 by opening a San Francisco Bay Area chapter. In 1994 the AJC along with the Anti Defamation League launched a campaign demanding that the IRS revoke the tax-exempt status of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF). In December 2001, when President George Bush designated

177-562: A directive to all yeshivas operating in New York to come into compliance with statewide educational standards, or otherwise face the penalty of losing public funding earmarked for record-keeping, school meals and computers, Brudny authored an opinion letter together with Yisroel Reisman in The Wall Street Journal opposing these measures. The pair later complained about being rebuffed by Elia when they tried to negotiate with her about

236-535: A high school, a beis midrash, and a kollel. The kollel is led by Rabbi Eliezer Ginsburg and the high school by a son-in-law of Rabbi Shraga Moshe Kalmanowitz . 40°36′18″N 73°57′59″W  /  40.60503°N 73.966389°W  / 40.60503; -73.966389 Elya Brudny Elya Brudny (born 1948) is an American Haredi rabbi. He serves as rosh yeshiva (dean) in the Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn and

295-684: A number of local chapters, including those in Boston, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. There were disputes over ideological issues and finances. Some of those chapters have since reestablished themselves as independent non-profits focused on liberal social and community issues. Finding the AJCongress had become too conservative, members of the Los Angeles chapter, for instance, created the Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA) in 1999. They sought to assert

354-660: A result, the two organizations agreed to concentrate on different tasks during the war. The AJCongress dedicated itself to rescuing European Jews, while the ZOA worked to establish a Jewish state in Palestine . This arrangement continued after the war, although its significance decreased after the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. After World War II , middle-class Jews of Eastern European descent with socialist-labor and professional civil rights backgrounds began to take over leadership roles in

413-466: A trusted advisor of AJCongress on financial matters. The AJCongress increased its investments with Madoff in 2004, after it sold its New York headquarters for $ 18 million in 2003, and when the Steinbergs died they left approximately $ 17 million to the organization, which was also invested with Madoff. While the financial losses of the endowment were crippling, others noted that the AJCongress had long been in

472-476: Is a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel of America . Elya Brudny was born to Shmuel and Rochel Brudny. As a child, his parents sent him and his brother Abba to Yeshiva Torah Vodaath . He later studied in the Lakewood Yeshiva . Brudny serves as a leading rosh yeshiva (dean) in the Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn , and as the leading member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah . His opinion

531-515: Is not only a struggle against anti-Israel activities, but a human rights issue as well. To make decision makers more accessible to the Jewish community , the organization created the 500 Club and executive briefing meetings and conference calls with the decision makers and members of the Jewish community. In May 2019, the AJCongress launched the "Jewish Guide to U.S Politics" , a virtual resource summarizing

590-648: Is often sought by the Haredi Jewish community, with his views often being printed in the English-edition Hamodia , the Flatbush Jewish Journal , and Mishpacha magazine. Brudny is often invited to speak at public events such as the Agudah convention and funerals, and said the kaddish at the 2020 Siyum Hashas . In 2018, when New York State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia issued

649-528: The Madoff scandal . It disclosed that it lost roughly $ 21 million of the $ 24 million in endowments it had invested through Bernard Madoff and his firm, money that supported the AJCongress and its programs. The endowments supported about one quarter of the AJCongress' budget, which was $ 6.2 million in 2006. The AJCongress had connected with Madoff through Martin and Lillian Steinberg, supporters of AJCongress and friends of Madoff who invested with him, and Madoff became

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708-632: The New York City Bar Association ; and others to a weeklong discussion on women's accomplishment and success. Carole E. Handler was the CWE's most recent chair. Fear of being accused of Communism led the AJCongress to dissociate themselves from Jewish Communists and leftists during the Second Red Scare . The major Jewish organizations at the time advocated their expulsion from the Jewish community, collaborated with security agencies, supported

767-572: The United States Supreme Court . Brown v. Board of Education gave the AJCongress its public entrée into the field of Constitutional defense agencies. The group advocates for removing religious symbols from public life, and thus filed a brief against allowing public displays of the menorah during Hanukkah in County of Allegheny v. ACLU . The AJC founded its Women's Division in 1933. It operated for approximately fifty years before it

826-468: The 152 religious institutions that received Pell Grants were Jewish, the data shows. The Jewish schools received 53% of the $ 84.5 million in Pell Grant money that went to religious schools in 2010. Of the top ten Pell Grant recipients in dollar terms in 2010, six were yeshivas. In 2013, the board restructured the organization; since then, it has been working on incorporating new missions that are relevant to

885-463: The 1930s and 1940s. In August 1933, the AJCongress led a general boycott of German goods. In 1934, Daniel Marks was named head of the AJCongress. He traveled to Germany and brought 5,000 Jews to America. In 1936, the AJCongress was instrumental in establishing the World Jewish Congress (WJC). Maintaining his position as president of the AJCongress, Rabbi Wise was also elected president of

944-551: The 1930s, Wise was vocal in his warnings about the dangers of Nazism . When Adolf Hitler was named Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933, Wise organized a mass protest rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City despite strong opposition by the German government, the U.S. State Department , and conservative Jewish organizations such as the AJC and B'nai B'rith . The AJCongress continued to organize protest rallies throughout

1003-548: The 1978 Regents of the University of California v. Bakke case, the AJCongress opposed racial quota systems and exclusive consideration of race in college admissions. The AJCongress celebrated Supreme Court's decision in the case to strike down racial quotas in university admissions, seeing it as a vindication of their view that racial quotas were unconstitutional. By 2003, the organization's opposition to affirmative action had tempered. The AJCongress's legal director Marc Stern said at

1062-589: The AJCongress released an official statement critical of Ms. magazine 's refusal to accept a full-page advertisement honoring three prominent Israeli women: Dorit Beinisch (then-president of the Supreme Court of Israel ), Tzipi Livni (then- minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel ), and Dalia Itzik (then-speaker of the Knesset ). The AJCongress press release states: " 'What other conclusion can we reach,' asked Richard Gordon , President of AJCongress, 'except that

1121-619: The AJCongress, which argued that federal funds were being used to pay for the teaching of Catholic values through programs such as the University of Notre Dame 's Alliance for Catholic Education. AmeriCorps argued that its funding was based on a program's secular activities, not religious teachings. But Judge Kessler ruled that the religious and secular activities were not sufficiently separated or monitored. The AJCongress suspended its activities and laid off much of its staff on July 13, 2010, because it had run out of operating funds due to losses in

1180-664: The Commission on Law and Social Action (CLSA). The CCI worked to use psychology and social engineering to combat prejudice and developed psychological studies to bolster anti-discrimination legislation. The CLSA, chaired by Shad Polier , was the legal arm of the AJCongress and was modeled after the Legal Defense Fund of the NAACP . The mission of CLSA was "to defend civil liberties and fight discrimination against all minority groups, based on an understanding that prejudice against any group

1239-532: The Federal Education Act and deem its provisions to be consonant with the principle of church-state separation." Among their most important actions was their participation on the touristic boycott by American Jews against Mexico in 1975, while Naomi B. Levine led the lawsuit when she was executive director of the American Jewish Congress. This was a response to the impulse of Arab countries,

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1298-459: The HLF as a domestic terror organization, the HLF was the largest Muslim charity in the United States. The AJCongress has since regrouped and is actively engaged in constitutional issues domestically and supporting Israel and challenging anti-Semitism abroad. In 2004, the AJCongress led a successful effort to keep federal funds out of Catholic schools. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler sided with

1357-630: The Jewish community. In contrast to the previous approach to placate the WASP elite in America, these leaders were eager and willing to join the public battle for Jewish civil rights. Unlike other Jewish organizations such as the American Jewish Committee and the ADL, AJC preferred a more direct approach to addressing antisemitism through litigation and lobbying for legal change. Rabbi Joachim Prinz (1902–88)

1416-665: The Nazi armies continued to push to the east, the yeshiva as a whole eventually fled across Siberia by train to the Far East , and finally reopened in Kobe , Japan , in 1941. Several smaller yeshivos managed to escape alongside the Mir, and, despite the difficulties involved, the overseers of the Mirrer yeshiva undertook full responsibility for their support, distributing funds and securing quarters and food for all

1475-963: The Soviet bloc, and Non-Aligned Movement countries to consider Zionism as racism in the context of World Conference on Women in Mexico City, and the following UN General Assembly Resolution 3379 which equated it with South Africa's Apartheid and was supported by the Mexican government at the time. Joint with other Jewish American organizations, the AJCongress announced the suspension of all their trips to Mexico on 28 November 1975, after 30 unanimous votes during an executive committee reunion. In late 1978 New York State's prison system reached an agreement, brokered in part by AJCongress's then-assistant executive director Marc D. Stern, "to arrange ... TV dinners ... along with packaged breakfasts and disposable utensils" to those requesting kosher food while in prison. In

1534-602: The United Parents Associations, and the United Federation of Teachers in filing suit against provisions of the Federal Education Act , which would provide support to religious schools. Jewish day school educators and leaders in over 30 states and over 100 communities representing 330 Hebrew day schools insisted that the AJCongress did not speak for American Jews on religious or educational issues, and

1593-600: The WJC. During World War II, the AJCongress acted as a liaison between the U.S. government and the WJC on issues relating to rescue attempts made on behalf of European Jews. In August 1942, Rabbi Wise received a cable from Gerhart Riegner , the WJC representative in Switzerland. Riegner reported that the Nazis had planned, and were implementing, a policy to exterminate all of European Jewry;

1652-660: The ad implied that women in Israel hold equal positions of power with men." Spillar stated that the magazine had "covered the Israeli feminist movement and women leaders in Israel ;... eleven times" in the last four years. The AJCongress, which had already been publishing Religion and the Public Schools: A Summary of the Law with the name of attorney Marc D. Stern on the cover, adapted it to

1711-597: The cable also referred specifically to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp . After the U.S. State Department confirmed the accuracy of the information in the cable, now known as the Riegner Telegram , the AJCongress convened a Joint Emergency Committee. The AJCongress supported Zionism and cultural pluralism . Its leadership overlapped with that of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA). As

1770-640: The execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg , and discouraged other Jewish organizations from supporting the Rosenberg Committee . In 1953, the National Community Relations Advisory Council , which included the AJCongress, released a statement criticizing the Rosenberg Committee for allegedly causing public panic over antisemitism within the Jewish community. Stuart Svonkin, author of Jews Against Prejudice , argued that

1829-436: The fall of 2007, the AJCongress announced that it had retained the services of Rabbi Israel Singer , the former secretary-general of the World Jewish Congress – who left the agency after claims of financial irregularities were levied following an investigation by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and followed up by accusations from then-WJC President Edgar Bronfman about alleged theft. On January 10, 2008,

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1888-477: The first AJCongress in Philadelphia 's Independence Hall . Rabbi Stephen Samuel Wise , Felix Frankfurter , U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis , and others joined to lay the groundwork for a national democratic organization of Jewish leaders from all over the country, to rally for equal rights for all Americans regardless of race, religion, or national ancestry. The American Jewish Congress (AJCongress)

1947-474: The forefront of the Women's Movement that led to the creation of Ms. Magazine. ' " Katherine Spillar , executive editor of Ms. magazine, responded to the AJCongress on Ms. magazine's website, denying an anti-Israel bias, stating that: "Ms. Magazine has been criticized for not running an ad submitted by the American Jewish Congress (AJCongress) featuring the photographs of three prominent Israeli women leaders with

2006-548: The involvement of the AJCongress and other Jewish groups with McCarthyism undermined these groups' otherwise support for civil liberties. However, the AJCongress cooperated with McCarthyism to a lesser extent than the AJC and the ADL. During the 1940s, the AJCongress strongly urged the Jewish establishment to distance itself from Jewish People's Fraternal Order and the American Jewish Labor Council. The AJCongress voted to expel both groups on June 7, 1949. In

2065-566: The measures. American Jewish Congress The American Jewish Congress ( AJCongress) is an association of American Jews organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts. The idea for an American Jewish congress was first proposed on August 30, 1914, by Bernard G. Richards . Leaders within the American Jewish community, consisting of Jewish, Zionist , and immigrant community organizations, convened

2124-460: The organization brings over 30 mayors from around the world to promote Israel back in their cities. Past participants include Mayor of New York City Bill de Blasio , President of Argentina Mauricio Macri , Premier of Taiwan William Lai , and former Prime Minister of Italy Matteo Renzi . The organization opposes the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement and asserts that fighting BDS

2183-442: The publishers − and if the publishers are right, a significant number of Ms. Magazine readers − are so hostile to Israel that they do not even want to see an ad that says something positive about Israel?' ... 'Clearly Ms. has changed a great deal from the days when AJCongress members and leaders of the AJCongress' Commission for Women's Equality − including Betty Friedan , Bella Abzug and Ms. co-founder Letty Pogrebin − were at

2242-840: The secular public, 53 percent of the traditional non-religious public, and 26 percent of the traditional-religious public support the group, Women of the Wall , and their quest to pray at the Kotel in their fashion. But their cause was unanimously rejected by the poll's ultra-Orthodox respondents", according to The Algemeiner . The CWE most recently held a major women's conference in Tel Aviv , Israel, in May 2006, bringing notable women of achievement like Anne F. Lewis ; Lynn Sherr , anchor for ABC's 20/20 ; Irshad Manji , author of The Trouble with Islam ; Bettina Plevan , partner at Proskauer Rose and former head of

2301-819: The shadow of larger American Jewish organizations such as the AJC and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). While the AJCongress focused on religious freedom in America, free speech, and women's rights, donors showed more interest in Israel and anti-Semitism. While the AJCongress had a long history of fighting aid to religious schools, the effort proved to be in conflict with Orthodox Jewish communities that were very successful in attracting government funds for students. An investigation by The Jewish Daily Forward showed that each year, tens of millions of dollars in federal Pell Grants go to yeshivas , which typically focus on Talmud study rather than secular subjects. For 2010, 63 of

2360-711: The stances of U.S. senators and candidates in the 2020 U.S. presidential race on issues related to the American Jewish community and Israel . The AJCongress also created the Club 500, an executive speaking series which connects decision makers from around the world with members of the Jewish community via phone briefings. In 2019, the AJCongress spent 32.1% of its expenses on programs and 60.4% on administration, scoring 24% for its financial accountability. The AJ Congress has been involved in hundreds of civil rights and religious freedoms cases before local and federal courts and

2419-399: The statement 'This is Israel. ' " She argued that the proposed advertisement was inconsistent with the magazine's policy to accept only "mission-driven advertisements from primarily non-profit, non-partisan organizations", suggesting that the advertisement could have been perceived "as favoring certain political parties within Israel over other parties, but also with its slogan 'This is Israel,'

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2478-508: The students. A short time later, the yeshiva relocated again, to ( Japanese-controlled ) Shanghai , China , where they remained until the end of World War II . The heroism of the Japanese consul-general in Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara , who issued several thousand transit visas to Jews, permitting them to travel in order to flee to Japan, has been the subject of several books. Following the end of

2537-433: The support of their colleagues to end religion matching of probationers, turned to AJCongress lawyers to craft a legal strategy. The lawyers at the AJCongress proffered an employment discrimination argument, noting that judges on the court only hired as many Jewish probation officers as there were Jewish probationers. They used this argument to file a claim with New York's State Commission Against Discrimination (SCAD), which

2596-400: The time that "The Jewish community is less concerned about affirmative action than it was 25 years ago...We've all shifted." Following its heyday during the 1960s, when many of its activities coincided with the larger Civil Rights Movement , a drop-off in its membership throughout the 1980s and 1990s ensued. In the late 1990s and into the 2000s, the AJCongress experienced the defection of

2655-507: The times. Today, the AJCongress primarily focuses on the following challenges: strengthening the bond between the U.S. and Israel ; combating domestic and global anti-Semitism ; combating the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement ; preventing a nuclear Iran ; and promoting cooperation and trade between Israel and countries around the world. Among its major programs are the International Mayors Conference, where

2714-713: The war, the majority of the Jewish refugees from Shanghai ghetto left for Mandatory Palestine and the United States . Among them were the survivors from the Mir Yeshiva, who re-established the yeshiva, this time with two campuses, one in Jerusalem , Israel , and one in Brooklyn, New York. The yeshiva settled in New Lots section of East New York before moving to their current location on Ocean Parkway in Flatbush . The rosh yeshiva

2773-455: The wealthy and conservative German-Jewish establishment. It has established a "reputation for being politically liberal." It protested the Nazi regime. Post World War II , it made "its mark as an active litigant on church-state issues and civil rights". AJCongress became effective as a pressure group in 1928 under the leadership of Rabbi Stephen Samuel Wise, who remained president and chief spokesperson until his death in 1949. Throughout

2832-448: The world attended, including former Congresswoman Bella Abzug and Betty Friedan . Some of the attendees visited the Kotel (Western Wall), Torah in hand and found that they were not allowed to pray in their fashion because of Orthodox restrictions on women wearing religious items, singing or reading Torah. A movement began, now known around the world as Women of the Wall , headed by Anat Hoffman . Polls show that in Israel "64 percent of

2891-454: The yeshiva moved back to its original facilities in Mir, where it remained until Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939 marking the beginning of the Holocaust . Although many of the foreign-born students left when the Soviet army invaded from the east, the yeshiva continued to operate, albeit on a reduced scale, until the approaching Nazi armies caused the leaders of the yeshiva to move the entire yeshiva community to Keidan , Lithuania . As

2950-435: Was Rabbi Avraham Kalmanowitz , who led the yeshiva for almost 20 years. He died in 1964. His position of rosh yeshiva was filled by his son Rabbi Shraga Moshe Kalmanowitz and his son-in-law, Rabbi Shmuel Berenbaum . Rabbi Shraga Moshe died in 1998 and Rabbi Shmuel in 2008. Among the rabbis who taught at the yeshiva were Rabbi Dovid Kviat , author of the Sefer Sukkas Dovid , and Rabbi Shmuel Brudny . Rabbi Moshe Handelsman

3009-415: Was a son-in-law of the founder of the Brooklyn branch of the Mir Yeshiva, Rabbi Avraham Kalmanowitz . Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a statement praising Berenbaum, noting that he built the Jewish academy "into one of the largest centers for Torah study in the world." Steven Bayme, national director of contemporary Jewish life at the American Jewish Congress said the yeshiva helped preserve "a world that

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3068-538: Was a threat to others." One of the earliest cases the CLSA worked on was Westminster School District v. Mendez , challenging Mexican-American segregation in California schools. The brief filed by the CLSA in this case was influential in future NAACP strategies. AJCongress lawyers successfully challenged racial and religious segregation in public schools, citing the psychological harm produced in school children. These lawyers employed civil rights and Establishment Clause arguments. Jewish judges in New York, unable to gain

3127-415: Was also the first state anti-discrimination agency in the country. This claim was partially successful in that it forced judges to hire probation officers without regard to religion, but still allowed matching based on religion. The AJCongress's involvement in legal proceedings sometimes conflicted with other Jewish American organizations. In 1966, the AJCongress joined the New York Civil Liberties Union ,

3186-666: Was discontinued as a separate section; the organization subsequently continued its support for women's rights and feminist perspectives under the auspices of the Commission for Women's Equality (CWE), which was established in 1984. The CWE has turned its attention to the ethical, legal, and medical issues arising from research revealing that Ashkenazi Jewish women have higher-than-average frequencies of gene mutations predisposing them to breast and ovarian cancer . In 1988, AJCongress hosted "The First International Jewish Feminist Conference: The Empowerment of Women" in Israel to address women's rights. More than 600 Jewish women from around

3245-428: Was officially founded in November 1918. In addition to its goal of equal rights for all, it was founded to broaden Jewish leadership and to present a unified American Jewish position at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 . More militant and confrontational than other Jewish defense organizations such as the American Jewish Committee , it represented a populist counterbalance to the American Jewish Committee, dominated by

3304-417: Was otherwise lost." The yeshiva is currently led by Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Nelkenbaum, son-in-law of Rabbi Avraham Kalmanowitz ; Rabbi Asher Eliyahu Kalmanowitz, son of Rabbi Shraga Moshe Kalmanowitz ; Rabbi Hershel Zolty, son in law of Rabbi Shraga Moshe; and Rabbi Asher Dov Berenbaum, son of Rabbi Shmuel Berenbaum . The mashgiach is Rabbi Ezriel Erlanger. The yeshiva currently includes an elementary school,

3363-409: Was president of the AJCongress from 1958 to 1966. He served as a founding chairman of the 1963 March on Washington and spoke at that event. The AJCongress also supported coalition politics , legislative reform, and litigation as a means of bolstering a sense of Jewish identity and community. In order to further these goals, the AJCongress created the Commission on Community Interrelations (CCI) and

3422-402: Was the longtime executive director of the yeshiva. He died in 2022 at the age 92. The yeshiva is officially registered with the College Board as the Mirrer Yeshiva Central Institute. It is currently undergoing construction, building a new dormitory, a new beis midrash, and more. The yeshiva's long-time Rosh Yeshiva was Rabbi Shmuel Berenbaum , who died on January 6, 2008. Rabbi Berenbaum

3481-567: Was viewed by some in the Jewish community as primarily a secular agency. The president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (also known as the Orthodox Union ), Rabbi Joseph Karasick, said that the AJCongress "speaks for itself only and is under no circumstances to be taken as representing the American Jewish community. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, central spokesman for this country's 3,100 Orthodox synagogues, as well as all Orthodox rabbinic bodies and every other Orthodox Jewish body, have given full support to

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