American Jewish Congress halts operations due to lack of funds

The American Jewish Congress has laid off most employees and suspended operations.

The 92-year-old, New York-based organization lost $21 million of its $24 million endowment to Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, which devastated a range of Jewish groups, including Yeshiva University. As with other non-profits, the economic downturn has also hobbled fund-raising efforts, officials said.

Once a prominent organization in combating anti-Semitism and promoting women’s rights and other progressive policies, the American Jewish Congress has struggled in recent years to distinguish itself from the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League, said Jonathan Sarna, an American Jewish history professor at Brandeis University.

“Once it lost almost all of its endowment, its days were numbered,” Sarna said. “The wonder is that it held on as long as it did.”

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