June 8, 1898
The Orthodox movement in the United States creates the Orthodox Union 25 years after the American Reform movement formed its own congregational organization. The Orthodox Union adopts a constitution and bylaws at at meeting at Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue in New York.
The new union is the idea of Shearith Israel’s Rabbi Henry Pereira Mendes. In 1887, Rabbi Mendes and colleague Rabbi Sabato Morais of Philadelphia formed the Jewish Theological Seminary. Pereira, Mendes and the other founders of the Orthodox Union beleive that the Reform movement is going too far in its abandonment of Jewish laws, particularly the food rules of kashrut. They fear the growing popularity of Reform Judaism, particularly among new immigrants from Eastern Europe, so they want an organizational voice to represent traditionally observant communities in North America.
The Orthodox Union distinguishes itself with its emphasis on Jewish education and modern Jewish scholarship in America and with its staunch support of Zionism. One of the resolutions adopted at the inaugural meeting reads, “We protest against the idea that we are merely a religious sect, and maintain that we are a nation, though temporarily without a national home, and furthermore, that the restoration to Zion is the legitimate aspiration of scattered Israel, in no way conflicting with our loyalty to the land in which we dwell or may dwell at any time.”