Iton Gadol noted the 181st anniversary of B’nai B’rith International’s founding, which occurred on Oct. 13, 1843 on the Lower East Side of New York City.

Read more in Iton Gadol in Spanish. Read in English below.

On October 13, 1843, Henry Jones and 11 other German Jewish immigrants met at the Sinsheimer Café on the Lower East Side of New York to address what Isaac Rosenbourg called “the deplorable condition of the Jews in this, our new country of adoption,” and founded B’nai B’rith (Children of the Covenant) at a time when the Jewish community of the United States numbered about 25,000 people. These were mostly immigrants from Germany, Poland, Bohemia, and Austria, who had limited resources, spoke German, and, naturally, had not yet adapted to the living conditions of the United States.

Their first decision regarding the aid they would provide was to establish an allowance so that the widows of their members could meet funeral expenses, as well as a monthly subsidy for themselves and their children, ensuring that the boys were taught a trade.

The institution prospered, and in 1851 built the Covenant Hall in New York City, the first center of the Jewish community in the United States. A year later, it established the Maimonides Library, the first Jewish library in the country, initiating efforts that transformed it into an international Jewish organization committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. It became a defender of human rights, promoting the fight against racism, anti-Semitism, and ignorance, and providing services to the community under the broadest principles of humanity.

The mission of B’nai B’rith is to unite Jews and enhance their identity through the strengthening of family life and youth education, services for the elderly and the defense of Jews around the world. This includes founding hospitals, homes for orphaned children, establishing housing for the elderly, conducting aid campaigns in cases of natural disasters, founding libraries, creating anti-hate programs and numerous other public interest initiatives, including the foundation of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Its international activity began in 1870, although two years earlier it undertook its first philanthropic project outside the United States – a fundraising campaign aimed at providing aid to the Jews of Eretz Israel (Land of Israel) who were victims of a cholera epidemic.

Today, it is made up of about 180,000 members who work in branches in more than 50 countries, including Argentina, where it began its activities in 1930. It serves as a kind of “advocate” for the Jewish people around the world, adapting to the needs of current times while remaining an organization at the service of both the Jewish people and all of humanity. Its flexibility has allowed it to adapt to historical changes without abandoning or modifying its basic principles, which today – as in the past – provide the broadest platform for Jews of any religious or political tendency, upholding freedom of thought and expression for each of its members.

B’nai B’rith International is one of the NGOs recognized by the United Nations, where it participates as an observer.

Sources: Websites of the B’nai B’rith subsidiaries in Denver, Panama, and Argentina.