The Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring
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The Arbeter Ring (אַרבעטער־רינג) (Workmen’s Circle) is a Yiddish language-oriented American Jewish fraternal organization loosely connected to the Humanistic Judaism movement. Rooted in the proto-nationalism of Yiddishist and largely socialist Jewish movements of late 19th Century Eastern Europe. The Arbeter Ring provides old age homes for its members, as well as schools and camps. Although it has severely shrunk from the days when it was the largest organization of its kind in the country, it is still an active and viable entity. The newspaper affiliated with the Arbeter Ring, The Forward (פֿאָרװערטס forverts), was reputed to have had the largest national circulation of any non-English language newspaper in the United states. The Forward has recently reemerged in an English language edition (as well as a Russian version; The Yiddish version also continues to be published;) and appears to be growing in readership. All members now receive the magazine Jewish Currents [1].
While strongly socialist (Bundist) and labor oriented at its inception, the political perspective of the Arbeter Ring has moved slightly to the right; on the American political spectrum it would generally be described as liberal (or social democratic outside the USA). The "Ring" strongly opposes the Iraq war.
The president of the organization is Peter Pepper. Pepper resides in Brooklyn, NY with his wife Marci. His son, Sam, is an aspiring journalist in his junior year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The organization has branches in New York, New Jersey, Boston, Michigan, Cleveland, and Los Angeles. They own and operate a Jewish summer camp located in Hopewell Junction, New York called Camp Kinder Ring.
The Workmen's Circle is a nonprofit §501(c)(3).
