Orthodox Jewish Congregational Union of America

The Orthodox Jewish Congregational Union of America (OJCUA, precursor of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, i.e., Orthodox Union) was founded in 1898 in New York by Henry Pereira Mendes. Some of its members, including Pereira Mendes, were associated with the Jewish Theological Seminary in the early twentieth century. The OJCUA united Orthodox communities in opposition to the Reform movement, adhered to traditional Judaism, disapproved of interreligious marriages, and maintained Zionist sympathies. In the 1920s, during Prohibition, the organization advocated (with the Catholic church) for religious exemptions to the sale of alcohol in America on the basis of the need for sacramental wine, which precipitated the creation of their kosher supervision division. Today, the Orthodox Union has global operations with several thousand affiliate synagogues, and their kosher certification division is the largest of its kind in the world.