Agudat Israel --world Jewish movement and political party seeking to preserve Orthodoxy by adherence to halakhah as the principle governing Jewish life and society. The ideal on which Jewish life should be modeled, in the view of Agudat Israel, is embodied in the social and religious institutions, the way of life and mores, that obtained in the Diaspora centers in Eastern and Central Europe in the 19th century. Its geographical and linguistic orientation made it automatically a purely Ashkenazi movement.

he world organization attempted to establish an American branch in 1922 but without success, though it did establish a youth section. Agudat Israel of America was actually founded in 1939. It received considerable impetus from the arrival in the U.S. in 1941 of R. Aaron Kotler, who was a member of the supreme rabbinical council of the world organization. He enjoyed a preeminent position among Orthodox rabbis and was devoted to the ideal of establishing institutions for exclusively Orthodox interests. Agudat Israel also drew support from the well-organized Adath Jeshurun (Breuer) community of Washington Heights, N.Y., which transplanted the traditions of German "Austritt-Orthodoxie," and from certain hasidic rabbis. Agudat Israel of America was active in rescue work among the Jews of Europe during and after World War II. It opposed the participation of other Orthodox bodies in roof organizations which include non-Orthodox elements. It supported federal aid to parochial education. Agudat Israel has divisions for children, girls, and youth. In 1952 it began the publication of a monthly Dos Yidishe Vort, and in 1963 of an English monthly, The Jewish Observer.