Simon says: "What happened on this day in history?"
📅 ON THIS DAY: 8 June 1898
The Orthodox Union is born - & changes American Jewish history.
25 years after the Reform movement formed its own congregational body, Orthodox Jews in the United States created their own unifying voice: the Orthodox Union (OU).
The founding meeting took place at Congregation Shearith Israel, the historic Spanish & Portuguese synagogue in New York. The driving force?
Rabbi Henry Pereira Mendes of Shearith Israel, who, alongside Rabbi Sabato Morais of Philadelphia, had already founded the Jewish Theological Seminary in 188.
Why the urgency?
Rabbi Mendes & his colleagues believed the Reform movement was abandoning too much Jewish law, especially the kosher dietary rules (kashrut). With Reform growing rapidly, particularly among new immigrants from Eastern Europe, they wanted a strong organisational voice for traditionally observant communities.
What made the OU different?
*A fierce commitment to Jewish education & modern scholarship
*Staunch support for Zionism – at a time when many Jewish leaders were still hesitant
One of the resolutions adopted at that very first meeting declared:
"We protest against the idea that we are merely a religious sect, & maintain that we are a nation, though temporarily without a national home... the restoration to Zion is the legitimate aspiration of scattered Israel."
A bold statement then. A prophetic one in hindsight.
Today, the OU is one of the largest & most influential Jewish organisations in the world - best known for its kosher certification symbol (the OU hechsher) found on millions of products worldwide.
🇮🇱 From a small meeting in New York to the heart of modern Jewish life - & always with its eyes on Zion.
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