New Jewish Agenda - History

History

Over 1,200 people attended NJA's founding conference on December 25, 1980, representing members of Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist, and Reform, synagogues. The date was purposely chosen to coincide with Christmas. At the founding conference, a 25-member Executive Committee (EC) was elected. The EC agreed that the straw-poll resolutions should function as guides and not mandates of NJA policy, and proposed establishing taskforces for each proposal area.

Many of the original members were Jewish organizers active in movements for peace and de-militarization, civil-liberties, civil rights, women’s liberation, and those critical of Israeli policies. New Jewish Agenda used specifically Jewish cultural symbols and gatherings in their organizing, a common strategy in our current political era. For example, NJA wrote and revised Jewish prayers and High Holy Day services to reflect Feminist, Secular, and other non-traditional Jewish communities. They also used Jewish ritual in protest – for example, the Disarmament taskforce built a sukkah across the street from the White House. Though NJA members identified their activism as explicitly Jewish, they were met with mixed and often critical response from the larger Jewish community.

At a November 28, 1982 Delegates Conference in NYC, 65 elected representatives of NJA chapters and at-large members from across US, consented on a National Platform. The Platform included a general Statement of Purpose and specific statements on 18 issue areas.