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B'nai B'rith Magazine: Fall 2003

International President, Joel S. Kaplan This edition of the magazine will kick off our 160th anniversary celebration. Things have never looked better for B’nai B’rith. The cover story on Benjamin Franklin Peixotto, the muse of the magazine staff, is perfect. Who better exemplifies our motto of “Leadership Ahead of Its Time” than the editor of the Menorah, the first B’nai Birth magazine? Beginning with this 160th anniversary edition of the magazine, we will drop the name IJM and will henceforth be known as B’nai B’rith Magazine. Though the name is changed, our editorial mission remains the same: covering innovation and creativity in Jewish life.

This isn’t the only reason I’m happy Peixotto is the subject of our anniversary cover story. He was the newspaper editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a diplomat to Romania and France, a lawyer in private practice in New York, and president of B’nai B’rith at the end of the Civil War. He was a tireless advocate for Jewish communities in crisis. He was appointed by President Grant and supported by B’nai B’rith to take up a diplomatic post in Bucharest, Romania as the first U.S. consul to that country, where he fought for equal rights for Jews and, barring that, emigration. His one-man PR campaign prevented new antisemitic legislation and several pogroms. We in B’nai B’rith stand on the shoulders of giants. As an organization, we have accepted the challenge of leadership and passed it on to succeeding generations. In our own day, our brothers and sisters in Latin America are facing hardships that are impossible for us living in relative comfort to imagine. Sixty thousand of 200,000 Argentine Jews are living below the poverty line. I recently returned from traveling through the region and met with the presidents of Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay to press our concern for Jewish communities in crisis. Our B’nai B’rith delegation stressed the need to better the quality of life for all people affected by the economic crisis. As an organization, we seek to improve the human condition. Advocating on behalf of all people makes friends for the Jewish community. As Jews, we know that we cannot survive in isolation and must have others rally to our cause. There is a reason B’nai B’rith has survived for 16 decades. The organization’s prestige is evident based on the respect that the leaders of the nations we visited have for us. Key officials in each country made certain to meet with our B’nai B’rith delegation. During our trip we pressed our causes of a secure Israel and peace in the Middle East, urging the president of each nation to call for the immediate cessation of terror. We said that the world has to hear from the smaller, independent nations expressing the view that terror simply is not acceptable. It is not sufficient for them to sit back and allow the U.S. and the remainder of the Quartet—the United Nations, the European Union, and Russia—to have the exclusive voice on the world stage. We also impressed upon each of the officials our belief that antisemitism is a pox on the face of the earth. The Jewish citizens have made huge contributions to the benefit of their home country that are out of proportion with their numeric size. The idea that those countries would sanction antisemitism is irrational, for it would have them acting against their own best interest. As an organization, were affirmed B’nai B’rith’s intention to continue sending medicine and food in partnership with other organizations to people who are in need. B’nai B’rith is marching forward, in a new time and in a new way, always mindful that we walk on the shoulders of giants. With God’s help, we shall not fail. Joel S. Kaplan International President