A look at ADL's secret Masonic history; meetings at 'The Masonic Home'

Eliyahu Tulshinski

August 15, 2023

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was created in 1913 by the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith (Children of the Covenant). The chief founder of that parent organization was Henry Jones, a Freemason or Odd Fellow who created the organization in 1843 together with fellow Freemasons and Odd Fellows, each of whom had only recently immigrated from Germany.

Actual Freemasons

Jewish historian Anton Chaitkin claims that each of the founders of the ADL's parent organization were Freemasons:

The B'nai B'rith was set up allegedly in 1843 in New York City by approximately 12 obscure Freemasons … [Emphasis added].

This masonic background was described in greater detail in the 1966 book chronicling the group's history, B'nai B'rith - The Story of a Covenant by Edward E. Grusd, a member of its national staff for four decades. The Masonic Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon approvingly quotes the book's references to Freemason and Odd Fellow members, which actually identifies only some of the founders as lodge members:

There were twelve founders, all in their twenties or thirties. All had been born in Germany, and had come to New York in the late 1820's or 1830's. All lived on the lower East Side, where most of them, at the time, were petty shopkeepers. The majority had not known one another in Germany, and only a few were acquainted before 1843. . . .

Those few included Henry Jones, Isaac Rosenbourg, William Renau, and Reuben Rodacher. They met, apparently, because they were members of the Free Masons or Odd Fellows, as well as of several secret benevolent societies. . . .

Henry Jones was later officially designated the chief founder of B'nai B'rith. . . .

There is a legend, which is occasionally mentioned to this day, that B'nai B'rith was founded because in 1843 Jews were barred from membership in the Masonic orders and the Odd Fellows. Obviously, that was not the case, since several of the Order's founders were themselves members of those organizations. We have fragments of memoirs written by Jones, Rosenbourg, and Renau, as well as by others who joined B'nai B'rith soon after it was founded, which leave no doubt about this. [Emphases added; pp.12-13, 21, 24].

The difference between Masonic and Odd Fellow lodges is described by Todd Creason, himself a member of both organizations, as relating to the trade practices of the original members, some being stone masons and others contractors in various odd trades:

Freemasonry and the Odd Fellows came into existence around the same time, the 18th century, and both came from the workers guilds—the Freemasons worked in stone, and the Odd Fellows were the “general contractors” of their time. Both groups made a transition from being “operative” craftsmen to “speculative” craftsmen—as Freemasons will often say, we stopped building structures, and started building communities. [Emphases added].

Creason does not explain why a benevolent endeavor like “building a community” requires secrecy, rituals or degree-related privileges.

Secrecy and ritual

Jones and his fellow secret society members employed the secrecy and ritual of their Masonic lodges in devising the procedures of their new society, which remained secretive until 1920, and conducted their first meetings in “The Masonic Home,” as described in Grusd's book:

The original name was Independent Order of B'nai B'rith [later renamed as simply B'nai B'rith]. The president was called the Grand Nasi Abh; the vice president, Grand Aleph; the secretary, Grand Sopher, etc. The ritual was similarly florid. It consisted of six degrees...."

Messrs. Jones and Renau had been industrious, because they also came up with a whole arsenal of regalias and outward signs for each of the degrees and for each of the CGL [Constitutional Grand Lodge] and local lodge officers, as well as signs, grips, and passwords for the general membership."

The Masonic Home, at the corner of Oliver and Henry Streets, was rented for two dollars a night. [Emphases added; pp. 21-22.]

Religious Masons?

While Masonic worship practices remain secretive, especially at the higher degrees, and Freemasons may dispute the details of their theological practices, Christian Ministries International warns followers that Freemasonry is a pagan cult:

Freemasonry is a cult. . . . [E]ach prospective Mason must go thru an initiation process where they are blindfolded, with a noose placed around their neck, and led, with a sword to their chest, into the inner room of the Lodge where an altar is set-up. Behind the alter stands a man called “The Worshipful Master.” He is the master of the Lodge and presides over the initiation ceremony. All prospective Masons will bow down before “The Worshipful Master” and say the following, “I am lost in darkness, and I need the light of Freemasonry.” . . .

When the Mason finally reaches what is called “the Royal Arch degree” of the York Rite, they are told who the true god of Masonry really is. They are given the name of god that was lost during the building of Solomon’s temple; and the secret name of the god of Masonry is “JAHBULON”. The name JAHBULON comes from a combination of 3 deities: “JAH” stands for Yah-weh, or Jeh-ovah; “BUL” is a rendering of the name of the Canaanite god Baal; and “ON” is the Babylonian name of the Egyptian god Osiris. And this 3-headed monster, this union of Yahweh, Baal, and Osiris is supposedly the one true god above all other gods, whose identity was lost, but has been recovered by the Masons.

As I noted earlier, to anyone with a discerning mind, it is clear that the Masonic Lodge is steeped in the occult. The identity of the ‘true’ god revealed in the blasphemous Masonic trinity is the ultimate verification of this fact. Whether the Mason realizes it or not, the god of Freemasonry is none other than Satan himself. [Emphases added].

Jews, but not Jewish

Chaitkin thus notes, not surprisingly, that the Jewish Freemasons who founded B'nai B'rith were not practicing Jews and that the organization does not promote Jewish values.

The Jewish religion is a survival from ancient times. . . . [T]here's various complications to it but it's essentially identified with the Old Testament. Well these people are not religious. The B'nai B'rith is a social organization, a political organization and the basis of the B'nai B'rith is a political manipulation of race. [Emphases added].

ADL heresy

The ADL later split from B'nai B'rith's fraternal lodge system to become an independent non-profit organization but never disavowed its link to freemasonry. Chaitkin found the ADL, despite its split from B'nai B'rith, to be equally distant from Jewish values, even partnering with mobster and Meir Lansky partner Moe Dalitz, whom they presented with their “Torch of Liberty” award. Chaitkin also notes:

Now what is their religion? See this is where you get down to the brass tacks of the thing. In New York City … they had a chancellor of schools recently driven out of office by the voters and the parents because he was promoting something called the rainbow curriculum [that] promoted the idea that the children should be taught to be comfortable . . . with adult homosexuals and the parents thought this was not a good idea.

A lot of the people promoting that were members of the North American Man Boy Love Association who were pederast. The Anti-Defamation League fought for that curriculum, helped to produce that curriculum and fought against the people who didn't like it, including Jews, Christians and . . . others in New York City.

Now what's the religious basis for them doing that? Well you have to . . . understand what they represent in the real world. They represent what I've been talking about tonight. These are thugs representing this traditional party of criminal activities. [Emphases added].