B’nai B’rith International is a partner of Jewish American Heritage Month. The monthlong celebration in May includes more than 250 educational centers, archives, libraries, museums, cultural, religious, advocacy and government institutions that offer people around the country the opportunity to discover nearly four centuries of American Jewish experience. Scroll down to see highlights of our role in Jewish American history over the past 180 years.
Did you know that one of B’nai B’rith’s first presidents, printer Julius Bien, a leader for more than three decades, has been called America’s greatest cartographer? The work of this German immigrant was vital to the exploration of the west. It’s possible that he might have designed some of the early B’nai B’rith graphics.
When Western mines opened in the mid-19th century, B’nai B’rith lodges bolstered communities that grew up around them. Its members were Jewish men who arrived with their families, opened shops, managed banks and theaters, worked as sheriffs, invested money in the mines and sometimes wielded a pick themselves. At his Reno tailor shop, Latvian-born Nevada Lodge member Jacob Davis used rivets to reenforce pants fabricated from heavy-duty canvas made by Levi-Strauss in San Francisco. Davis, who held the patents for the design, partnered with the textile company, and prospered in California, but continued to pay his Nevada Lodge dues for many years.
After a highly anticipated opening, the 1939 World’s Fair’s success was thwarted by a big roadblock, as the fear of war in Europe grew. While exhibits predicted a future where flying cars made life a dream, anxiety in the present reached new heights, and attendance dropped. When a deadly July 4 bomb exploded in the British Pavilion, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked for the nation’s prayers.
B’nai B’rith Day exercises at the Fair’s non-sectarian Temple of Religion included the singing of patriotic hymns; a speech about democracy was delivered by B’nai B’rith President Henry Monsky, who afterward laid a wreath at the Eternal Light inside the “Palestine” Pavilion.
Scientist and lodge leader Murray Weiner, a member of Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s groundbreaking Antarctic expeditions, plants a B’nai B’rith banner in the ice at the “Little America” basecamp in 1941. Also on the Byrd team was daredevil flyer and explorer “Ike” Schlossberg, who hailed from a B’nai B’rith family. Lasting years, these South Pole trips required courage and sacrifice.
The most famous man of his generation, idolized for his heroism and determination, the parka- clad Byrd and his dog, Igloo, are honored in this memorial sculpture seen in his hometown, Winchester, Va.
In the late 1930s, B’nai B’rith and the American Red Cross partnered for victory for the war that was imminent. Motivated by Hitler’s crimes and mobilized by B’nai B’rith President Henry Monsky, 250,000 B’nai B’rith men and women nationwide organized blood drives and sewed surgical dressings, collected scrap metal, sold $711,456,000 worth of war bonds, furnished recreational facilities and supplied radios, record players, games, books and magazines at military camps, entertained and housed an estimated 250,000 soldiers, and donated torahs and prayer books for men fighting in remote places. After the armistice, President Harry Truman and the Departments of the Army and Navy hailed B’nai B’rith’s remarkable achievements.
From left: President Harry S. Truman signs the 1947 United States declaration recognizing Israel, witnessed by three people connected to B’nai B’rith: Truman’s friend and former Kansas City business partner, Eddie Jacobson; Executive Secretary Maurice Bisgyer and President Frank Goldman. At Goldman’s request, Jacobson asked Truman to see Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann. Historian Deborah Dash Moore writes: “Jacobson’s plea worked…[the visit was off the record.] Weizmann’s long talk with Truman secured the necessary rapprochement.”
A B’nai B’rith history describes B’nai B’rith President Henry Monsky’s participation in the conference establishing the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945: “Monsky [as] consultant to the American [Jewish] delegation. …played a central role in the united effort to convince U.N. leaders that the existing rights of the Jewish people in Palestine be safeguarded.” He also advocated for the protection of human rights for all minorities everywhere.
B’nai B’rith sponsored an interfaith baseball game in Washington, D.C., on May 14, 1957, which honored Jackie Robinson. Three days later, the baseball legend participated in the milestone Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom at the Lincoln Memorial, with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as speaker, on the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s desegregation of the nation’s schools.
In 1957, Times Square became “B’nai B’rith Square” to honor the organization’s 114th anniversary. B’nai B’rith’s president at this time was Philip M. Klutznick (front row center, wearing glasses), an American Jewish leader who served as United States secretary of commerce under President Jimmy Carter. Klutznick is remembered for his advocacy of Israel, his efforts on behalf of integration and his support of the visual arts.
Working with the young conductor Leonard Bernstein, New York City’s Victory Lodge sponsored a contest open to men and women of all beliefs and racial backgrounds, in memory of George Gershwin, the world-famous Jewish composer of “Rhapsody in Blue” and “Porgy and Bess,” who died at age 38 in 1941. The winning composition was premiered under Bernstein’s baton at a special concert.
Gershwin’s music was performed at the first concert, when the program included works by Bernstein and other contemporary Jewish composers, and the winning piece by Peter Mennin.
B’nai B’rith’s 180th anniversary program in New York City on Oct. 12, 2023 included expression of support for Israel, which had been attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7. B’nai B’rith CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin noted that “it’s impossible to focus on celebrating while Israel is at war…[its] existence is threatened as never before.” B’nai B’rith President Seth J. Riklin reflected on the organization’s rich history and ceaseless commitment to Israel. Mariaschin (left) and Riklin (right) flank a proclamation recognizing B’nai B’rith’s milestone anniversary from New York City Mayor Eric Adams, held by a representative from his office.
Volunteers spent months combing through the rubble of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Okla., seeking victims murdered during a terrorist bombing which occurred on April 19, 1995. The folllowing October, B’nai B’rith donated $515,000 to the Oklahoma City Community Foundation representing contributions from over 10,000 people of all faiths, earmarked to help familes and survivors.
B’nai B’rith launched its first relief project in 1865 with the donation of $4,500 (valued at over $86,000 today) for the support of cholera victims in pre-state Israel. Since then, our organization and partners have continued B’nai B’rith’s financial and hands-on mission, reaching out to those who are suffering, delivering food, clothes and medical supplies and later on, helping to restore devastated areas.
Every president from Grover Cleveland to Joe Biden has hailed the work of B’nai B’rith, praising the organization’s accomplishments and dedication to its ecumenical and altruistic mission. President John F. Kennedy noted: “Voluntary organizations such as B’nai B’rith are an essential part of a free society. The long history and wide range of B’nai B’rith interests have been a positive and constructive force for a good part of the history of our nation.”
Our latest White House letter (above) was written by Joe Biden in honor of B’nai B’rith’s 180th anniversary in 2023. Download “Building a Better World: U.S. Presidents Salute B’nai B’rith” and celebrate our legacy of tikkun olam with the nation’s leaders, here.
