B'nai B'rith and the Challenge of Ethnic Leadership

Foreword

Foreword THIS HISTORY OF B'NAI B'RITH was commissioned at the approach of the Bicentennial of the United States of America, when many of us were thinking in historical terms. America is not a single concept; it has grown into a rich, colorful tapestry of varied peoples, institutions, ideas, and ideals. In thinking of B'nai B'rith and its history, which then spanned across nearly seventy percent of the 200 years of the nation - one of the oldest voluntary associations on the contemporary scene - we asked ourselves: why not a history of B'nai B'rith working in tandem with the history of the nation of its birth? Other writers have published partial and/or personal recollections of B'nai B'rith itself. One of the first was by Adolf Kraus, an early president of the fraternal order. Then came volumes by the late Maurice Bisgyer, who served as executive vice-president during my tenure as president of B'nai B'rith, and by Edward Grusd, former editor of the organization's National Jewish Monthly. As valuable as anyone of these works may be in throwing light on B'nai B'rith's past, each differs from the present book. Recording the achievements in any given period may delight the author and the many whose names dot his pages. Analyzing the aims, activities, problems, successes, and failures of the organization in the framework of a relatively young nation, however, requires the skills and art of a historian. How important was it to launch this present history? A catalogue of events might have been enough, especially for those who lived through some of them and understood their genesis and raison d'etre. But 1976 was a historic milestone in the history of the United States, the nation that gave birth to B'nai B'rith. Both the land in its > Home | TOC | Index Foreword / x 200 years and the organization in its 133 years had gone through many transformations. In the best tradition of American life, the Order was able from time to time to playa role in influencing United States policies regarding civil and human rights, thus implementing the challenge of ethnic leadership, on which this volume focuses. To a far greater extent, the nation, its ideals and objectives, played a major role in stimulating and shaping the organization. As the United States emerged from its shell and moved out into the world, so too did B'nai B'rith. After World War II, when the nation moved into international leadership with vigor and eclat, B'nai B'rith sought to follow suit in its more limited sphere. Some years before Theodor Herzl declared the necessity for the Jewish state and formed the World Zionist Organization, B'nai B'rith organized units in Palestine, an act reflecting its Jewish commitment and the freedom to act granted by its democratic place of origin. At one point Dr. Moore denotes the organization as the IIsecular synagogue." In truth, the number of B'nai B'rith lodges that ultimately transformed themselves into synagogues is legion. The Order acknowledged all Jewish religious identifications and sought in critical times to bring them at least into IIsecular harmony." Yet it also provided a place for Jews who sought identity as Jews but who denied religion. Both Israel's secular prime minister David Ben-Gurion and the then Chief Rabbi of Israel were welcome within the broad range of the Order. The present work offers an opportunity for understanding B'nai B'rith by relating it to the history of its times in the land and ambiance that engendered its birth. In an America that stood for freedom and nurtured volunteerism, B'nai B'rith could take root, flourish, and modify itself with the changing needs of a democratic society. In a land of growth and plenty, B'nai B'rith could evolve as an organization of breadth and depth, moving from class to mass, from looking inward to gazing outward. The very openness and warmheartedness of America are reflected in the multiple services B'nai B'rith has been able to develop and carry out for the Jewish people and for mankind. Philip M. Klutznick Honorary President, B'nai B'rith Washington, D.C., May 1980 > Home | TOC | Index ...