Agudath Israel of America

Agudath Israel of America, often called Agudah, describes itself as an umbrella organization and voice for American Orthodox Jewry. Its stated purpose is to address the community’s material and spiritual needs by strengthening Jewish communities, religious education and Torah learning, while providing advocacy, social services, youth programming, and constituent assistance.[1] The organization says it operates under the guidance and ongoing involvement of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of America, a council of Torah sages that convenes to guide and oversee its work.[1][3]

Its activities span religious and civil-rights advocacy, support for schools and communal institutions, Torah study programs, employment assistance, and help for individuals navigating legal, medical, educational, or government-service matters. Its Washington office advocates on religious liberty, community institutions, and the general welfare of Orthodox Jews; the organization also reports work before federal, state, and local governments.[1][3] Historical accounts describe its growing public-policy presence as including a full-time Washington office and regional offices, while the organization’s 2021 review listed a Washington office, a state-relations office, and eleven regional offices serving communities in about 30 states at that time.[3][6]

Agudath Israel’s institutional profile is shaped by its commitment to Orthodox religious life and by its participation in American public affairs. Its policy work has included religious accommodation, government support for non-public education, Jewish safety overseas, and the welfare of survivors and refugees.[7][8] It has also advocated positions on matters where Orthodox groups have disagreed with other Jewish organizations or with public authorities, including church-state questions and religious practice in public life.[5][9] These policy disputes are part of the organization’s history, but its work is not limited to lobbying: the sources also document education, social services, youth programs, publications, and public Torah-learning events.[1][3]

Agudath Israel of America developed within the wider Agudath Israel movement, whose founding conference was held in Kattowitz, Upper Silesia, in May 1912.[10] The worldwide movement sought to unite Orthodox communities with different religious and communal traditions. Its founders accepted a compromise allowing decisions to be made locally and regionally, rather than requiring all constituent communities to follow one uniform approach.[10] A separate Agudath Israel page explains the name “Agudah” as meaning “bundle,” a symbol for disparate groups united by a common cause.[11]

The date and stages of the American organization’s establishment are described differently across the sources. Agudath Israel’s current “About” page and the American Jewish Archives timeline give 1922 as its founding or establishment date.[1][4] The Jerusalem Post likewise reports a 1922 founding, and a 2008 Senate submission described the organization as founded 86 years before that hearing.[12][13] Other accounts distinguish an unsuccessful 1922 effort to establish an American branch from the later organization. Encyclopedia.com says the world organization’s attempt did not succeed, though a youth section was established, and dates Agudat Israel of America to 1939.[5] A United States Holocaust Memorial Museum record says Rabbi Eliezer Silver helped found “Agudat Israel of America” in 1939; an academic account also says the organization was organized in the United States in 1939.[14][15]

A 1992 retrospective in the organization’s own periodical presents the early American story as a small group of working men on New York’s Lower East Side who gathered for Torah study under the worldwide Agudah movement. It identifies the early group technically as Zeirei Agudath Israel, a youth organization that preceded the American parent organization, and describes its growth through branches and youth activities with guidance from American rabbinic leaders.[16] This account helps explain why sources may assign different dates to early activity, a youth organization, and the establishment of a national organization, although the sources do not resolve the discrepancy conclusively.

The American organization drew support from the Adath Jeshurun, or Breuer, community in Washington Heights, New York, which brought German Austritt-Orthodoxie traditions to the United States, as well as from some Hasidic rabbis.[5] Austritt-Orthodoxie emphasized separation from non-Orthodox communal institutions. The wider movement aimed to bring Orthodox communities with different customs together, while preserving local and regional decision-making.[5][10] These strands contributed to an American organization that drew on multiple Orthodox constituencies rather than a single local community.

The arrival of Rabbi Aaron Kotler in the United States in 1941 gave the American organization significant impetus. Kotler was a member of the worldwide movement’s supreme rabbinical council and was described as a leading Orthodox rabbi committed to establishing institutions serving exclusively Orthodox interests.[5] The organization’s strength initially drew on transplanted remnants of Frankfurt Orthodoxy and Holocaust survivors from Eastern Europe; later generations included graduates of Agudah-affiliated schools and members of affiliated synagogues.[10]

The American organization’s wartime and postwar activity included relief, rescue, and refugee assistance. A Congressional Record obituary about longtime leader Rabbi Moshe Sherer recounts that in 1941 he organized and transported food to Jews starving in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, describing the work as grassroots and largely illegal.[8] A retrospective by Agudath Israel says Zeirei activists led by Elimelech “Mike” Tress continued sending food packages to Polish ghettos despite calls for a boycott of German-occupied territory. It reports that the effort prompted angry press coverage and picketing outside Agudath Israel offices, while activists also sought sponsors and other ways to help refugees escape Europe.[16] These accounts describe the characterization of the work and the reactions it provoked; the term “largely illegal” is the Congressional Record obituary’s description, not a separate legal finding.

Sherer’s obituary also says he obtained affidavits for European Jewish refugees that helped them immigrate to the United States. After the war, Agudath Israel and Sherer assisted survivors in displaced-person camps with food and religious items and helped refugees immigrate and resettle in the United States.[8] The broader movement’s wartime work included efforts by activists inside and outside Nazi-occupied Europe to rescue rabbis and others. Encyclopedia.com also records criticism at the time that some direct financial aid to Jews in European ghettos broke the economic boycott of Nazi-held Europe.[5]

In later decades, Sherer led efforts on behalf of endangered Jews behind the Iron Curtain and in Syria and Iran. In 1991 he established an office in Moscow to coordinate Agudath Israel’s activities in Russia.[8] Under Sherer’s leadership, the organization also provided social-welfare and educational assistance to Israeli Jews and advocated for Israel’s security needs.[8] Its Jewish safety and Israel-related work have continued to appear in descriptions of its Washington advocacy.[7]

The organization’s growth as a national body is strongly associated with Sherer, who served in leadership for more than half a century and as president for over 30 years. A 1998 Congressional Record obituary credited him with helping transform it from a small group of activists into a national movement with tens of thousands of members and supporters, branches across the country, and a Washington office.[8] The obituary also said Sherer was appointed chairman of Agudath Israel World Organization in 1980, describing that body as an international confederation of Agudath Israel organizations.[8] A later study reported organizational problems following Sherer’s death and described the organization at that time as being run by a combined leadership of senior professionals.[17]

Agudath Israel’s own account presents its work in three broad areas: strengthening Torah life, advocating for the community, and serving individuals.[3] Its rabbinic guidance is provided through the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of America. The organization says the council meets regularly to deliberate on issues it considers important to the Jewish community and to guide and oversee its activity.[1][3] The wider Agudath Israel movement also developed a Council of Torah Sages to review and supervise major decisions. An account of that movement describes the doctrine of daʿat Torah as extending Torah scholars’ authority beyond strictly religious matters to economic and political questions, while noting that rabbinic supervision could in practice take place through informal consultation.[10]

Agudath Israel is commonly described in the sources as representing Haredi or more strictly Orthodox Jews, including the non-Hasidic “yeshiva world.”[12][17] One study reports grassroots affiliation in the tens of thousands and describes the organization as active on such issues as women’s status, religious pluralism, and public-sector support for religious education.[17] The Jewish Virtual Library characterizes the outlook it associates with Agudath Israel as “Yeshivish,” centered on Torah study and generally unenthusiastic about secular Zionism and Israeli secular culture, while cautioning that this is a general description and individual views differ.[18]

The organization’s statements distinguish its religious understanding of Jewish identity from a political-national definition. In a statement on Charedi principles, Agudath Israel rejects what it calls a Zionist redefinition of Jewish peoplehood, arguing that Jewish identity is based on belief in God and Torah. The same statement says this position does not mean rejection of fellow Jews or an end to advocacy for Israel’s security, economic needs, and general welfare.[19] The broader movement is described as having opposed secular Zionist ideology while supporting increased Jewish settlement in Palestine, on the grounds that the Jewish center being built there should strengthen traditional learning and reflect traditional Jewish values and law.[10] These are the movement’s theological and historical positions as presented in the sources, not a single characterization of every member’s views.

The organization has also maintained boundaries between Orthodox and non-Orthodox institutions. Encyclopedia.com describes Agudath Israel in the United States as a voice for “independent Orthodoxy” and says it opposed participation by other Orthodox bodies in umbrella organizations that included non-Orthodox groups.[5] This stance was part of a broader disagreement over communal cooperation and the place of religion in public life. The source material describes the organization as seeking to represent Orthodox interests independently, while historical accounts also document collaboration with other groups on particular policy matters.[6][9]

Agudath Israel’s public-affairs work expanded during the latter half of the twentieth century. A historical account says the organization established a Washington office in the late 1980s to lobby for causes important to its constituents and to challenge the political stance of many Jewish organizations.[9] Other accounts describe a full-time Washington office and offices around the country, with lobbying at federal, state, and local levels on issues the organization considered of Jewish interest.[5][6] The organization’s 2021 review says its government advocacy was coordinated with elected officials, coalition partners, and grassroots community leaders, and that its Washington, state-relations, and regional offices served communities in about 30 states at that time.[3]

A central policy area has been religious accommodation in employment and public services. When the Workplace Religious Freedom Act was reintroduced in Congress, Abba Cohen, identified as Agudath Israel’s director, praised it as “an important step” toward protecting observant employees.[20] The bill was described as addressing employees’ ability to wear religious clothing and obtain accommodation for religious holidays, and it had sponsors in both the Senate and House.[20] The organization’s 1980 timeline also lists its advocacy for Shabbat-observant workers in New York State in 1967.[21]

Agudath Israel has advocated for public support and equitable access to government services for non-public-school students and institutions. The Congressional Record obituary credits Sherer with pursuing equitable access to government benefits and services for children in non-public schools, including through federal and state laws. It notes that he became national chairman in 1972 of a multi-faith coalition representing children in non-public schools.[8] The organization’s 1980 timeline records testimony to Congress in 1960 on government aid to yeshivas.[21] Encyclopedia.com describes its support for federal aid to parochial education and efforts to remove government obstacles to traditional education.[5]

The issue has also placed Agudath Israel at odds with other Jewish organizations over church-state questions and the role of religion in public life. Historical accounts describe its support for government aid to religious schools and day-care programs, including through vouchers, and note disagreement with other Jewish groups over such proposals.[9] In April 2025, about 250 Orthodox Jewish participants from 45 states visited 88 congressional offices during an Agudath Israel Mission to Washington to lobby for the Educational Choice for Children Act. The article described the bill as proposing $10 billion in annual tax credits for private-school tuition; executive vice president Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel said the organization had advocated for the legislation or a variation of it for a long time and described school choice as important to families seeking Jewish education but unable to afford it.[22]

The organization’s school services extend beyond legislative advocacy. Its Yeshiva Services division says it guides and advocates for yeshivas and day schools, helping them navigate administrative requirements and identify government resources. In its 2021 review, Agudath Israel reported that the division advised and represented 530 New York schools, sent 293 guidance memos in the previous school year, and handled 170 cases monthly from schools around the country.[3] These figures describe the organization’s reported work in that review period.[3]

Religious liberty has also been pursued through litigation. In 2020, Agudath Israel and two affiliated congregations—Agudath Israel of Kew Garden Hills in Queens and Agudath Israel of Midwood in Brooklyn—sought emergency relief from New York COVID-19 restrictions on houses of worship. The organizations argued that restrictions violated free-exercise rights and targeted Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods; these were the plaintiffs’ allegations, not findings about the state’s intent.[23] The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5–4 in favor of the religious organizations and wrote that even during a pandemic “the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten.” Governor Andrew Cuomo disputed the ruling’s practical significance and characterized the dispute as political.[23]

Agudath Israel’s account of its own lawsuit against Governor Cuomo says it challenged limits of 10 or 25 attendees in certain zones. It reports that the Supreme Court granted a preliminary injunction against enforcement, after which the Second Circuit directed the district court to issue an injunction and consider percentage-capacity limits; the district court then issued a permanent injunction against the attendance and capacity limits.[24] The organization presents the case as a freedom-of-worship matter.[24]

The organization has also filed legal briefs on international terrorism and civil remedies. In December 2023 it joined Jewish organizations and allies in an amicus brief supporting petitioners in Bartlett v. Baasiri. The brief argued that the Second Circuit’s decision concerning the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act could impede civil remedies for victims of international terrorism and weaken efforts to deter terror financing; these were the amici’s legal arguments, not neutral findings about the case.[2] The brief describes Agudath Israel as committed to enabling the United States to protect Americans abroad, including by holding terrorists and their supporters accountable in U.S. courts, and to reducing terrorist attacks by cutting off terror funding.[2]

Agudath Israel’s Washington office also lists advocacy on Israel’s security and Jewish safety overseas, religious-liberty issues in health care and workplaces, federal food and nutrition programs, and funding for education, security, and disaster relief for religious institutions.[7] A 2008 Senate submission identified protecting Holocaust survivors’ rights and seeking justice on their behalf as among the organization’s work in the United States and internationally.[13] In that hearing, the organization took a position on proposed Holocaust-era insurance legislation: it said some claimants might benefit, but argued that the bill could put survivor funding at risk and that efforts might be better directed toward property restitution in Central and Eastern Europe, which it said had not been adequately addressed.[13]

The organization has at times promoted cooperation between government agencies and observant Jews. Agudath Israel says the Transportation Security Administration gave it a 2016 Community Partnership Award for advising and educating security personnel about Jewish beliefs, practices, holidays, and ritual items. Its account describes work to limit intrusive searches, provide private rooms for searches, and offer TSA staff a “Judaism 101” webinar; it says Agudath Israel was the first Jewish group to receive the award.[25] This account presents the organization’s description of the partnership and award.[25]

Agudath Israel’s public-policy activity has included engagement beyond domestic issues. In a 2016 article on Israel and American Jewry, Owen Alterman wrote that the organization had some experience with pro-Israel political work and had responded favorably to a conference presentation preceding the article. Alterman proposed outreach to Haredi organizations such as Agudath Israel to discuss whether and how Haredi participation in broader Jewish political activity might be cultivated.[26] In a 2023 statement on Israeli judicial reforms, Agudath Israel said it took no position and that Israelis should decide the matter; it also said American officials should not intervene in another sovereign state’s domestic decisions.[12]

Alongside advocacy, Agudath Israel has developed educational, social-welfare, and youth programs. A Congressional Record obituary describes the organization as a leading provider of social and educational services in the New York area and credits Sherer with helping establish Jewish youth groups and summer camps. It also notes the organization’s role in fostering Jewish adult education.[8] Encyclopedia.com describes divisions for children, girls, and youth, camps serving thousands of young people, a job-training program called COPE, a job-placement division, and a housing program.[5]

The organization’s current program descriptions include Torah education, employment and training, social services, youth programs, and constituent assistance.[1] Its Torah Initiatives division, formerly the Torah Projects Commission, says it was founded at the organization’s 54th annual convention. The division reports sponsoring thousands of Torah lectures, halachic conferences, study partnerships, conference calls, and programs in study halls nationwide. It also describes an annual Jerusalem study gathering that brought more than 400 participants from around the world for a week of study in the year reported.[27]

Agudath Israel’s Constituent Services department says it assists people with religious discrimination, end-of-life situations, medical referrals, legal matters, government assistance, and educational consultations. The department describes helping close to 2,000 people each year.[28] The organization gives examples of recurring problems, including students whose exams are scheduled on Shabbat or Jewish holidays and employees whose workplaces will not allow them to leave early on Fridays.[28]

Its publications have served as a means of communication and religious discussion. Encyclopedia.com says the organization began publishing the Yiddish monthly Dos Yidishe Vort in 1952 and the English-language monthly The Jewish Observer in 1963.[5] The National Library of Israel catalogs The Jewish Observer as a periodical contributed and published by Agudath Israel of America in New York. Its catalog records publication from 1963 through 2009, with monthly issues except in July and August, and says it ceased after December 31, 2009.[29] The periodical also carried organizational retrospectives and timelines that record Agudath Israel’s own presentation of its history and activities.[16][21]

The organization’s education work has included large public celebrations of Torah study. The Daf Yomi program involves studying one page of the Babylonian Talmud each day over a cycle of approximately seven and a half years. A 2021 Agudath Israel review describes the program as originating at the first Knessiah Gedolah of Agudas Yisroel in 1923 and says the organization’s Daf Yomi Commission supports daily study and the Global Siyum HaShas.[3] That review reported support for 1,600 affiliated study groups, distribution of 25,000 annual calendars, and 500,000 participants in the 13th Global Siyum HaShas.[3]

The Daf Yomi proposal appeared in the World Agudath Israel publication Digleinu in December 1920, attributed there to Rabbi Moshe Menachem Mendel Spivak, and was presented at the First World Congress of Agudath Israel in Vienna in August 1923 by Rabbi Meir Shapiro. Delegates adopted the resolution on August 22, 1923, the first cycle began on September 11, 1923, and its first completion celebration took place on February 2, 1931.[30] The same account says that by the 11th completion in 2005, celebrations drew 120,000 participants in the United States and 300,000 worldwide.[30]

Agudath Israel sponsored the tenth Siyum HaShas in September 1997. An account describes more than 25,000 participants in a series of major celebrations after the study cycle, with the 1997 event using a satellite hookup to Madison Square Garden and Nassau Coliseum.[6] A Congressional Record obituary says a celebration of the completion of the page-a-day program drew more than 70,000 Jews to central locations nationwide.[8] In January 2020, Agudath Israel of America organized the main celebration for the 13th Siyum HaShas, including events at MetLife Stadium and other arenas in the United States and Israel.[30] The cycle covers all 2,711 pages of the Talmud, and Agudath Israel of America continued to organize the principal celebration.[30]

Rabbi Moshe Sherer was a central figure in Agudath Israel’s development into a national organization. The 1998 Congressional Record obituary describes him as one of its leaders for more than half a century and says he served as president for over 30 years.[8] It credits him with expanding the organization’s membership and supporters, establishing branches and a Washington office, and broadening its involvement in advocacy and community life.[8] The obituary’s account of his activities includes religious rights, moral matters, non-public education, and the welfare of Jews in lands of oppression.[8]

Sherer also helped develop the organization’s social and educational reach. The obituary credits him with establishing youth groups and summer camps and with helping foster adult Jewish education.[8] His work for non-public-school children included advocacy for equitable access to government benefits and services, and in 1972 he became national chairman of a multi-faith coalition representing those children.[8] The organization’s later descriptions of school services and community programs reflect this broader institutional role, though they concern programs and periods beyond Sherer’s leadership.[1][3]

Leadership has continued to combine professional administration with rabbinic guidance. A study describing the organization after Sherer’s death reported organizational problems and said it was then run by a combined leadership of senior professionals.[17] Agudath Israel’s own current account emphasizes the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah’s ongoing involvement in deliberation and oversight.[1][3] In June 2026, the organization dedicated a new Washington office, honored outgoing longtime Washington director Rabbi Abba Cohen, and announced Rabbi A.D. Motzen as his successor. Cohen had served in the role for 37 years, and the event drew White House and Justice Department officials, a senator, and House members.[31]

The organization’s Washington presence has also been a platform for sustained federal advocacy. Abba Cohen’s public role included praising the reintroduced Workplace Religious Freedom Act as an important measure for observant employees.[20] The Washington office today describes its portfolio as including religious liberty, Israel’s security, Jewish safety overseas, and support for educational and communal institutions.[7] The 2026 office dedication marked a change in leadership at that office while the organization continued to describe federal advocacy as a core part of its work.[7][31]

Agudath Israel has used public campaigns, coalition work, and community events to communicate its positions. In 2023, it launched the Know Us campaign, which included a website, social-media outreach, a white paper, an informational video, and billboards around New York City, including one outside the Lincoln Tunnel. Executive vice president Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel said the organization had previously tried to address its concerns about The New York Times coverage of Hasidic yeshivas privately, but believed the issue had reached a “tipping point.” The campaign presented Agudath Israel’s response to the coverage; the reporting records the organization’s claims and characterization rather than independently establishing them.[32]

An affiliate, Am Echad, organized the One Kotel campaign opposing the Western Wall prayer compromise. The Times of Israel reported that the petition gathered more than 150,000 signatures from participants in 56 countries and that Agudath Israel supervised the campaign. Vice president of communications Leah Zagelbaum said the campaign sought to preserve what organizers called the standard of halachic prayer at the plaza and was not intended to prevent Reform Jews from praying at the Wall.[33]

The organization has also participated in coalitions and public events. A study of American denominational life describes its national office as sending strongly worded letters urging members to contribute to a fund for families of firefighters and police officers killed in the September 11 attacks; the author presented this as an indication of Haredi Jews’ identification with wider American society.[6] The organization’s 2021 review says its advocacy work involved elected officials, coalition partners, and grassroots community leaders.[3] In April 2025, its Washington mission brought participants from 45 states to congressional offices on behalf of school-choice legislation.[22]

At the 2024 Democratic National Convention, an event hosted by Agudath Israel was disrupted when antisemitic protesters tried to push their way into the meeting. The ADL reported that its staff supported Agudath Israel at the event.[34] The incident illustrates the organization’s presence in public political settings as well as the security concerns that can accompany public advocacy.

Agudath Israel’s advocacy has involved significant disagreements over religious education, public funding, communal representation, and the relationship between Jewish religious identity and Zionism. Historical accounts describe disagreement with other Jewish organizations over government aid to religious schools, vouchers, church-state questions, and the place of religion in public life.[5][9] The organization’s opposition to Orthodox participation in umbrella bodies that include non-Orthodox groups reflects a contested boundary between communal cooperation and maintaining independent Orthodox institutions.[5]

Some sources give 1922 as the American organization’s founding or establishment date.[1][4] Others identify 1939 as the date of its establishment or founding, while describing a failed 1922 attempt and a youth organization that preceded it.[5][14] The sources do not conclusively settle whether these dates refer to different stages of institutional development. Sources also differ on the worldwide movement: reference accounts and a current organizational page give 1912, while an older Agudath Israel page gives 1913.[10][11] The older page’s date remains an unresolved discrepancy.[35]

A report on a convention discussion of clergy sexual abuse recorded sharply different interpretations of remarks by featured speaker Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon. Agudath Israel spokesman Rabbi Avi Shafran said Salomon meant that officials handled misconduct discreetly to protect families’ dignity, while critics interpreted the remarks as suggesting officials looked the other way. The report also said Shafran acknowledged that, at that time, Agudath Israel had not promulgated anti-abuse policies for affiliated congregations; he described binding behavioral guidelines for its youth groups and five summer camps, which served about 2,000 youngsters. Those statements describe the period covered by the report, not current policy.[36]

The organization’s wartime relief efforts have also been described through contemporaneous disagreement. Agudath Israel’s retrospective says activists continued sending food to Polish ghettos despite calls for a boycott, and reports that the action drew press criticism and picketing.[16] Encyclopedia.com notes criticism that some direct financial aid to Jews in European ghettos broke the economic boycott of Nazi-held Europe.[5] Separately, the Congressional Record obituary characterizes Sherer’s 1941 food operation as “largely illegal”; that description is the source’s wording rather than an independently established legal conclusion.[8]

Other disputes concern the organization’s legal and political arguments. Its 2023 amicus brief in Bartlett v. Baasiri argued that a court ruling could weaken civil remedies for victims of international terrorism and efforts to deter terror financing; those claims were advocacy arguments presented by the amici.[2] In the 2020 COVID-19 litigation, the plaintiffs alleged that restrictions targeted Orthodox neighborhoods, while the court’s ruling and the governor’s response were distinct from that allegation.[23] Agudath Israel’s views on Holocaust-era insurance legislation likewise reflected its policy judgment about potential effects on survivor funding and restitution priorities.[13]

The organization’s position on Zionism should also be understood through its own theological statements and the historical accounts in the sources. Sources describe opposition to secular Zionist ideology alongside support for Jewish settlement in Palestine and advocacy for Israel’s security and welfare.[10][19] That combination resists reducing the organization’s position to a simple rejection of Israel or to an endorsement of secular Zionism; the sources describe a distinction between religious definitions of Jewish peoplehood and the organization’s practical concern for Israel and fellow Jews.