Jewish Peace Fellowship (U.S.)

This collection contains the papers of Arthur J. Lelyveld, a Reform rabbi and activist. The collection mostly covers Lelyveld's life from 1933-1950, focusing on his work to provide aid to Jewish conscientious objectors during World War II. The papers also focus on his work as a rabbi in Ohio and Nebraska.

This collection includes materials documenting the activities and publications of independent and activist American Jewish organizations. Sample news publications from a variety of independent presses are included, as are a variety of home-published newsletters and flyers. The collection addresses anti-war protests and U.S. draft avoidance; American Jewish activism on Israel; feminist involvement in Judaism; socialism and radicalism; and international affairs. Materials include newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, news clippings, articles, limited correspondence, speech notes, reports, and flyers.

The collection includes materials documenting the work of the Jewish Peace Fellowship (JPF) in supporting Jewish resistance to conscription and draft, as well as opposition to the arms race, Israeli politics on the disputed territories, and American armed interventions. The collection consists of by-laws, correspondence, financial statements, individual files of Jewish conscientious objectors, lists, membership information, manuscripts and other materials intended to appear in JPF publications, minutes, questionnaires, printed material, such as mailings, leaflets, and magazines, and reports.

This collection is comprised of photographs, one bank book, pamphlets, clippings and personal correspondence regarding the organization, Trees for Vietnam (later named Trees and Life for Vietnam). Trees and Life for Vietnam’s goals came out of the Jewish Campaign for the People’s Peace Treaty, which sought to establish a treaty of peace between the United States and North Vietnam from the late 1960s to the early 1970s.