American council for Judaism

The American Council for Judaism was founded in 1943 by Americans of Jewish faith who believed that Judaism was a religion and not a nationality. The founding of the ACJ partly resulted from the refusal of the American Jewish Committee to clearly oppose Zionism in the 1940s. Many of the council's early leaders came from an upper class German Jewish socioeconomic group that also formed the basis of the American Jewish Committee's leadership. ACJ's philosophy supports the integration of Jews into the civic culture of America unhampered by the segregationism of Zionism. The ACJ's ideology reflects the universalistic platform of nineteenth-century Reform Judaism, coupled with a concern over the issue of dual loyalty.

Founded in 1942 by a group of Jewish Reform rabbis and lay leaders in order to express their opposition to zionism based on the feeling that zionist organizations reflected a nationalistic rather than religious interpretation of Judaism.

Reform Jewish, anti-Zionist organization.

In 1942, at its annual conference held that year in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Central Conference of American Rabbis ( CCAR ) passed a pro-Zionist resolution supporting the formation of a Jewish army in Palestine. This resolution nullified a 1935 CCAR agreement which stated that the CCAR would remain neutral on the Zionist issue. Immediately after the 1942 conference, several non-Zionist rabbis met to discuss their displeasure with the resolution.

As a result of this meeting, sixteen CCAR rabbis, led by men such as Louis Wolsey, William Fineshriber, and Morris Lazaron, addressed letters to CCAR members concerning the formation of a Jewish "anti-nationalist" organization. Although various attempts were made to appease the "anti-nationalists" (on the grounds that they would split the CCAR as well as the American Jewish community) they remained adamant and held a meeting in early June.

At this meeting a "Statement of Principles" was formulated. In essence, the "Principles" declared that the non-Zionists supported Palestine and Palestinean rehabilitation but, in light of their universalistic interpretation of Jewish history and destiny, and also their concern for the welfare and status of the Jewish people living in other parts of the world, they could not "subscribe to or support the political emphasis now paramount in the Zionist program." Futhermore, they could not help but believe "that Jewish nationalism tends to confuse our fellowmen about our place and function in society and diverts our own attention from our historic role to live as a religious community wherever we may dwell."

In August of that year, this "Statement," signed by 90 Reform rabbis and lay leaders, was released to the press. By the end of 1942, this group of "anti-nationalists" had chosen a name for itself: the American Council for Judaism ( ACJ ). They adopted a constitution and named Elmer Berger, a rabbi from Flint, Michigan, as executive director. On March 19, 1943 the American Council for Judaism was incorporated in the state of New York and, by the end of the year, a slate of officers was selected. As president, the Council chose Lessing Rosenwald; as vice-presidents, Rabbi Louis Binstock, Fred F. Florence, Ralph W. Mack, Rabbi Irving Reichert and Rabbi Louis Wolsey; and as treasurer, D. Hays Solis-Cohen.

Because the Council felt it represented the views of the majority of American Jews, it began its anti-Zionist campaign with a massive membership drive. By 1946, the ACJ had numerous local chapters and had established regional offices in Richmond, Chicago, Dallas, and San Francisco.

Throughout its existence the Council continued its membership solicitations while also maintaining a vigorous publicity campaign through press releases and the publication of various articles, pamphlets, and journals. To demonstrate that the American Zionists did not reflect the opinions of all American Jews, the ACJ addressed letters to various government officials, expressing their opposition to the establishment of Palestine or any other independent locality as a Jewish state. Instead, the ACJ advocated a policy of rehabilitating European Jewry through a restoration of civil, political, and economic security in those nations containing a Jewish population.

The ACJ was initially created to represent a religious opposition to political Zionism. But with the appointment of Sidney Wallach, a layman, as public relations representative and the election of several lay officers, the religious aspects were de-emphasized. Indeed, some of the rabbinic pioneers of the idea to create a non-Zionist organization never joined the ACJ, claiming the Council represented anti-Zionism rather than pro-Judaism. With the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, and the ACJ 's announced intent to continue its anti-Zionist program, several prominent Reform rabbis, among them ACJ founder Louis Wolsey, resigned from the Council.

After 1948, through press releases and other commentary, the Council continued its opposition to the establishment of Israel, but it also expanded its program to include non-political aspects of its opposition to Zionism. In the early 1950s the ACJ provided aid to Christian and Moslem refugees from Palestine. In 1955, the Philanthropic Fund of the American Council for Judaism was established to provide assistance to Jews within their own countries and to aid Jewish and non-Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Arab countries.

In 1952, the Council opened Sunday schools, based on a program of universal Judaism, in Milwaukee, Westchester (New York), New York City, and Chicago. By 1954 the Council was progressing with a multi-faceted program of creating religious tests free of nationalist bias, conducting annual teachers' institutes and distributing a serial entitled Education in Judaism .

In 1955, Elmer Berger advocated the complete assimilation of Jews into American life through a program which called for the establishment of Sunday as the official Jewish day of worship, the designing of a new menorah which "would reflect the appreciation of American Jews of the freedom of life in the United States," and the interpretation of the holiday of Sukkot "to be broadened to take on meaning to [all] citizens of an industrial society."

The Council's statement in 1968 that the Arab-Israeli Six Day War was an act of Israeli "aggression" and that the massive Jewish support for Israel in the United States amounted to "hysteria" resulted again in the resignation of several leading members.

The American Council for Judaism continues with the goal of seeking "to advance the universal principles of a Judaism free of nationalism, and the national, civic, cultural, and social integration into American institutions of Americans of Jewish faith."