The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.[1] Founded in 1893, NCJW is self-described as the oldest Jewish women's grassroots organization in the United States, currently comprising over 180,000 members.[2] As of 2021, there are 60 sections in 30 states. Specifically, NCJW's policies address expanding abortion access, securing federal judicial appointments, promoting voting integrity, and mobilizing Israeli feminist movements.[3] These objectives are achieved through lobbying, research, education, and community engagement. NCJW's headquarters are located in Washington, D.C., and the organization maintains offices in other cities in the U.S. and in Israel.[4] [5]
In 1893, Hannah G. Solomon of Chicago was asked to organize the participation of Jewish women in the Chicago World's Fair. When Solomon and her recruits discovered that their participation was not solicited for the women to contribute to the proceedings, but would consist of pouring coffee and other hostess duties, they walked out. Rebuffed by the Jewish men at the parliament from playing a substantive role, the assembled women sought to form an organization that would strengthen women's connection to Judaism and build on that identity to pursue a wide-ranging social justice agenda. That agenda included advocating women's and children's rights, assisting Jewish immigrants, and advancing social welfare, as well as defending Jews and Judaism, advancing Jewish identity, and incorporating Jewish values into its work. According to Faith Rogow, author of Gone to Another Meeting: The National Council of Jewish Women (1893–1993), the "NCJW was the offspring of the economic and social success achieved by German Jewish immigrants in the United States. As this community of German Jews matured and stabilized, it faced the same challenge to gender role definitions that had accompanied the Jacksonian Democracy a half-century earlier." (Rogow 1995:2)
At its beginning, NCJW focused on educating Jewish women who had lost a sense of identity with Judaism and on helping Jewish immigrants become self-sustaining in their new land. Activities included promoting education and employment for women through adult study circles, vocational training, school health programs, and free community health dispensaries. NCJW was part of the broader effort of middle-class and upper-class women to assist those less well off, working closely with the settlement movement epitomized by Jane Addams' Hull House in Chicago. Their work helped create the modern profession of social work. NCJW also began a campaign for social legislation to address low-income housing, child labor, public health, food and drug regulations, and civil rights. In 1908 NCJW argued for a federal anti-lynching law. NCJW also became involved in efforts to promote world peace.[6]
During World War I, NCJW raised funds for war relief in Europe and Russia and helped achieve passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.
In the 1920s, the NCJW helped found the first ten birth control clinics in the U.S. that later became Planned Parenthood health centers.[7]
As the Depression began, NCJW became involved in government programs to provide relief and help the unemployed find jobs, while continuing its legislative efforts for social legislation. During the 1940s, NCJW called for an end to segregation and racial discrimination. World War II found NCJW engaged in rescuing Jewish children from Germany and working to reunite thousands of displaced persons with family members, as well as a broad range of other relief efforts.
After the war, NCJW fought to preserve civil liberties during the McCarthy era and helped develop the Meals on Wheels program for the elderly and pioneered the Senior Service Corps to help seniors lead productive lives as volunteers.[8] The organization joined the emerging civil rights movement and participated fully in the drive to enact and promote the 1960s' anti-poverty and civil rights programs. NCJW renewed its commitment to women's rights as the revitalized women's movement took shape in the 1960s and 1970s. Focusing its energies on the fate of women and children, NCJW sought childcare programs and family-friendly policies that would benefit children and working mothers and championed reproductive rights. In the 1970s, NCJW officially published a series of documents: Windows on Day Care, the first nationwide survey of day care facilities and services; Children Without Justice, a study of the US Justice Department's work with foster children; and Innocent Victims, a comprehensive manual on child abuse detection and prevention.[9]
In 1993 the NCJW spearheaded a letter-writing campaign to have several racial slurs removed from the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, including the word "jew", which was listed as a verb with the definition "To bargain with - an offensive term". Amid accusations of censorship, Hasbro eventually announced a compromise: the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary would exclude several offensive words, and the Official Tournament and Club Word List, which does not include definitions, would include them.[10] [11]
In 2020, the NCJW launched Rabbis for Repro, an organization of rabbis supporting reproductive rights.[12] [13]
In 2021, the DC chapter of the Sunrise Movement called for the removal of the NCJW, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs from a voting rights coalition due to their Israeli ties and support for Zionism. Sunrise DC apologized after Jewish organizations condemned the chapter for antisemitism.[14]
The University of Pittsburgh houses and has made available a collection of audio interviews produced by the NCJW. Over one hundred audio interviews produced by the Pittsburgh Chapter of NCJW are available online. Those interviewed describe their interactions and affiliations with historical events such as emigration, synagogue events, professional activities, and other topics. These interviews also include information about personal life events, episodes of discrimination against Jews, moving from Europe to America, and meeting Enrico Caruso, Robert Oppenheimer, Jonas Salk and other historical figures. Others who were interviewed came to America but were born elsewhere. Jews from Austria, Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Hungary, India, Israel, Korea, Poland, and other countries describe their experiences.[15]
Council presidents at the national level:[16]
Other notable people include:[16]