Agudas Yisroel

Agudas Yisroel, the Aguda (Agudeh), Union of Israel, is an Orthodox Jewish political movement founded in Poland in 1912. Entering the modern Jewish political arena, Agudas Yisroel tried to create a universal Orthodox identity, having both Hasidic and non-Hasidic representatives. It opposed contemporary secular movements, the Zionist parties among them. Although the Aguda was active in Eastern and Western Europe, as well as in the United States and the Land of Israel, it was most influential in Eastern Europe during the interwar period, having representatives in the Polish Sejm and municipal governments, and also leading roles in some kehilot (Jewish communal governments) in Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania. The Aguda also created a school network of strictly Orthodox education, among them the Beys Yankev (Beth Jacob) girls’ schools. In 1937, there were 818 schools of various kinds in the Aguda network, enrolling about 109,000 pupils. Aguda continues to be influential in Israel and the United States today.