B’nai B’rith
Dates of Existence
1843/present
History
In 1843, Henry Jones and 11 other German-Jewish immigrants gathered in Sinsheimer's Café on New York's Lower East Side to confront what Isaac Rosenbourg, one of B'nai B'rith's founders, called "the deplorable condition of Jews in this, our newly adopted country." Thus, B'nai B'rith (children of the covenant) was born. B'nai B'rith involvement in international affairs dates to the 1870s when anti-Semitism reached new heights in Romania. Through the influence of B'nai B'rith, the U.S. government established a consulate there, and a former B'nai B'rith president, Benjamin Peixotto, was appointed the first consul. B'nai B'rith was present at the founding of the United Nations in San Francisco and has taken an active role ever since as an NGO (nongovernmental organization) advocating for Israel and human rights at the U.N. and other international organizations.
Places
Founded in the United States, active worldwide.
Sources
B’nai B’rith International, www.bnaibrith.org