ANALYSIS: JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA

I will use this for a more expansive post in the coming days, but in the meantime: I looked into a list of 22 active Jewish organizations, based on the database of the Jewish Library. I removed inactive organizations and added the Jewish Council on Public Affairs which was missing for some reason.

My interest was in assessing the level of leftism of each organization. I used two simple metrics: A commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity (DIE), and statements regarding mass immigration or against Trump’s travel ban. Here and there I looked into further commentary.

This allowed me to categorize Jewish organizations as highly leftist (both metrics are present), moderately leftist (one metric is present, or other supporting information exists), or low (inclusive of none).

The results below show a clear bias towards leftism amongst Jewish organizations. Low-leftism is practically limited to Orthodox organizations and organizations with a high Zionist (rather than general Jewish) orientation.

Figure 1: Levels of leftism, and their distribution, amongst 22 Jewish American organizations.
OrganizationDiversity Support?Mass Immigration Support?OtherLevel of Leftism
Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi)NoNoExecutive forced to resign for supporting Trump; Donations made for BLM. Moderate
American Jewish Historical SocietyYesA big project supporting Emma Lazarus’s poem.Moderate
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)NoNoEssays supporting mass immigration and diversity. Moderate
American Sephardi Federation (ASF)NoNoLow
American Zionist Movement (AZM)NoNoNoLow
Anti-Defamation League (ADL)YesYesWhere do I begin?High
Association for Jewish Studies (AJS)YesYesHigh
B’nai B’rith InternationalYesYesYesHigh
Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR)YesYesAppealed to block Trump’s travel banHigh
Latin American Jewish Studies Association (LAJSA)YesYesSupporting BLM, etc.High
National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW)YesYesAccusing Stephen Miller of being a “white supremacist,” numerous BLM things. High
National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC)YesYesHigh
New Israel FundYesYesHigh
Progressive Jewish Alliance/Bend the ArcYesYesHigh
Rabbinical Alliance of AmericaNoNoLow
Rabbinical AssemblyYesYesIncludes both George Floyd statements and support for Obama-esque “comprehensive immigration reform.” High
Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC)NoNoLow
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (OU)NoNoSupports family reunions/chain migration.Low
Union of Reform JudaismYesYesAppealed to block Trump’s travel banHigh
Jewish Federations of NANoNoIndividual organizations (Chicago, Baltimore, Philly, etc.) issued BLM/Travel Ban statements. Moderate
Young JudeaNoNoOccasional sprinkling of social justice and race/diversity symposia. Low
Jewish Council on Public AffairsYesYesHigh
Figure 2: The organizations reviewed and their levels of leftism.

ADDENDUM: The sharp-eyed reader will notice that while some of the organizations analyzed above are indeed non-Leftist, none of them is conservative (not even the Republican Jewish Coalition). The one and only conservative Jewish organization I am aware of is this very website. TheHebrewConservative.com, doing the jobs other Jews just won’t do!

ADDENDUM II: The Zionist Organization of America, missing from the Jewish Library’s list, is a Jewish organization that passes the conservative smell test. They oppose BLM and were supportive of Trump’s immigration agenda. They even get into brawls with other Jewish organizations. The Hebrew Conservative is not alone. Duae Voces clamantium in deserto!

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