Breira Records
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists of material relating to the organization, positions, activities and contracts of Breira. Materials in the collection include certificate of incorporation; by-laws; board and committee minutes and mailings; position statements; publications; membership lists; material relating to the organization's funding; information on regional chapters; correspondence with membership, Jewish and non-Jewish leaders and organizations in the U.S. and abroad; and program material, including material relating to the planning, proceedings, resolutions and evaluation of Breira's first national membership conference in 1977. Also included is material on Breira sponsored tours of Israeli leaders in the U.S.; articles and newspaper clippings from other sources related to Breira's activities and areas of interest; as well as material critical of the organization.
Dates
- 1970-1979
Creator
- Breira (Organization : New York) (Organization)
Access Restrictions
The collection is open to all researchers, except items that may be restricted due to their fragility, or privacy.
Use Restrictions
No permission is required to quote, reproduce or otherwise publish manuscript materials found in this collection, as long as the usage is scholarly, educational, and non-commercial. For inquiries about other usage, please contact the Director of Collections and Engagement at mmeyers@ajhs.org.
For reference questions, please email: inquiries@cjh.org
Historical Note
Breira began as an informal discussion group concerned with Diaspora-Israel relations in the summer of 1973. The group was composed of graduate students, rabbinical students, rabbis, religious school teachers, and individuals involved with the Havurah movement. After the Yom Kippur War in 1973, a working committee to set up an official organization was formed out of the discussion group with the support of an initial Advisory Committee. The organization was officially established in April 1974 and called for a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. Breira’s founding directors were Ross Brann, Peter Geffen, David Glanz, Lynn Gottlieb, Gershon Hundert, and Bob Loeb. The organization worked to promote discussion among the public about issues primarily concerning contemporary Israeli politics such as the Palestinians, peace, Israeli-Diaspora relations and alternatives facing the State of Israel. In 1976, Breira members Max Ticktin and Arthur Waskow met with Sabri Jiryis, who was closely tied to the Palestine Liberation Organization, and Isam Sartawi, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council. This meeting led to an outcry from the Jewish press, most strongly from the newspaper Jewish Week. Other Jewish organizations denounced Breira, particularly the Jewish Defense League, which led protests outside of Breira's first national convention in Chevy Chase, Maryland on February 20, 1977. Breira continued to receive bad press, which led to their dissolution in 1979.
Extent
7 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Hebrew
Abstract
The collection consists of material relating to the organization, positions, activities and contracts of Breira, from 1972-1979. Breira worked to promote discussion among the public about issues primarily concerning contemporary Israeli politics such as the Palestinians, peace, Israeli-Diaspora relations, and alternatives facing the State of Israel.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into six series and arranged alphabetically on the series level:
- Series I: Administration, 1973-1979
- Series II: Events, 1972-1979
- Series III: Chapters, 1974-1979
- Series IV: Press and Media, 1973-1978
- Series V: Individuals, 1974-1979
- Series VI: Other Organizations, 1970-1977
Physical Location
Located in AJHS New York, NY
Processing Information
In 2009, a machine-readable finding aid was converted from a MARC record. In 2016, a box and folder list was generated and converted into EAD by Kevin Schlottmann. In 2017, the collection was rehoused, rearranged, and additional description was added to the finding aid. Original folder titles were retained.
- Arab-Israeli conflict -- Peace
- Audiocassettes
- Breira (Organization : New York)
- Circular letters
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Conferences
- Correspondence
- Eliav, Arie L., 1921-2010
- Fliers (printed matter)
- Jewish radicals
- Jewish-Arab relations
- Jews -- United States -- Attitudes toward Israel
- Loeb, Bob
- Munaẓẓamat al-Taḥrīr al-Filasṭīnīyah
- Newsletters
- Paʻil, Meir
- Peled, Matityahu
- Samuelson, Arthur
- United States -- Foreign relations -- Israel
- Waskow, Arthur Ocean, 1933-
- Wolf, Arnold Jacob
- Title
- Guide to the Breira Records, 1970-1979 I-250
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Nicole Greenhouse
- Date
- © 2017
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Revision Statements
- 2016-07-22: PDF box list converted to dsc. Finding aid encoding revised. Kevin Schlottmann
- 2017-02: Materials rehoused, arranged, and described.
- February 2021: RJohnstone: post-ASpace migration cleanup.
Repository Details
Part of the American Jewish Historical Society Repository
