United Israel

This is the descriptive entry that will appear in the new 8th edition of the Encyclopedia of American Religions, the most authoritative reference work on religions of all types in America:
★2086★

United Israel World Union (UIWU)
200 East 10th Street
Suite # 111
New York, N.Y. 10003

Editorial Offices: P.O. Box 561476, Charlotte, NC 28256

The United Israel World Union (UIWU) was incorporated under the laws of the State of New York in 1944 by founder David Horowitz who served as President until his death at age 99 (1903–2002). The primary purposes of UIWU are to represent a universal version of the Hebraic faith to the non-Jewish world, based primarily on the Hebrew Bible, as well as to provide a meeting place for Jews with non-Jews who are accordingly drawn to this message. The hallmark of the organization is Isaiah’s prescription that “My house will become a house of prayer for all peoples.” Central to this mission is the conviction that scattered among the Gentiles are untold numbers of descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel who are discovering their identity and their kinship to the Jewish people. Membership is based on the simple declaration of faith in the One God of Israel and a commitment to live according to the principles of the Hebrew Bible. Members, accordingly, observe the Sabbath day, Jewish festivals, and a biblical “kosher” diet, although the manner and extent of such observances is left to one’s individual conscience.

During the decades of the 1950s through the 1970s the movement flourished with centers in New York, Michigan, and West Virginia; members scattered through 30 States and 15 foreign countries; and an active mailing list of 9,000. Horowitz edited and published the triennial United Israel Bulletin from 1945 until his death. As an accredited member of the United Nations Press Corp since 1945, and serving twice as its president, Horowitz rubbed shoulders with many Ambassadors and heads of State, forming a close friendship with the late Dag Hammarskjöld. He published a syndicated weekly column that appeared in 22 Anglo-Jewish newspapers, reflecting his Jewish perspectives on world events in the light of UIWU perspectives. Horowitz received many honors including Israel’s Defender of Israel Medal presented by Prime Minister Menachem Begin. In the 1980s and 1990s operations of UIWU reached a low ebb due to the age and health of Mr. Horowitz.

Although it remains incorporated in New York, in 2004 the UIWU transferred most of its records, archives, and operations to Charlotte, North Carolina. Administered by Dr. James D. Tabor, the offices house the David Horowitz Memorial Library, which holds correspondence between Horowitz and various world leaders and celebrities including David Ben Gurion, Eleanor Roosevelt, and King Abdullah of Jordan, 60 years of back issues of the United Israel Bulletin, and a complete archive of Horowitz’s weekly UN Columns (1950-1998).

Membership: As of 2008 membership is at 300 with active surface and e-mail lists totaling 1700.

Periodicals: United Israel Bulletin has ceased regular publication but both archive and current materials are regularly added to the organization’s Web site: unitedisrael.org, and special issues will be published on specific topics once a year.

Sources:
http://unitedisrael.org
By-Laws of United Israel World Union, approved 1944, amended 2005.
David Horowitz, Thirty-three Candles (New York: World Union Press, 1949)

Naomi Farrell, who serves as the United Nations representative of World Union Press, has published a very nice tribute to the late David Horowitz in the Jewish Press titled “A Life Remembered: A Tribute to David Horowitz.” It can be assessed on-line. The article is nicely illustrated with some historic photos of Horowitz with various world leaders taken from our archives. Horowitz was the founder of World Union Press in 1945. He served as its chief editor until his death in 2002. He was at the UN from the day it was founded and had the distinction of being the oldest and longest serving correspondent in the Press Corp. Horowitz saw every post-War President, king, and world leader come and go over a career of over 50 years as each paraded onto the stage of the United Nations. He met most of them, corresponded with quite a few, and became personal friends with others. The entire David Horowitz archive of documents is now preserved and housed at the David Horowitz Memorial Library, which is part of our United Israel offices here in Charlotte.

UIWU was founded by the late David Horowitz in January, 1944, incorporated in the State of New York. The original By-Laws of the organization are most instructive to read 64 years later. We still have in our office here in Charlotte some original copies of this historic document. What they convey, particularly in the preamble, is not so much the rules and regulations of an organization as a Biblical prophetic vision of the founder, David Horowitz. This vision is as elegant as it is simple, particularly in terms of how membership requirements are formulated in such an open way. It is clear that Horowitz was wanting UIWU to transcend denominational and confessional boundaries, by centering and focusing on the essentials of what he understood to be Abrahamic Faith. It is also quite notable that Mr. Horowitz used inclusive gender language regarding even in 1944 with his references to “brothers and sisters” of United Israel World Union. We thought it might be instructive to post these here.

By-Laws of United Israel World Union, Inc.

ARTICLE I. Name, Standard and Greeting

Section 1. The name of the Association shall be UNITED ISRAEL WORLD UNION, INC.

Section 2. The Standard of UNITED ISRAEL WORLD UNION, INC. shall be: “My House shall be called a House of Pray for all Peoples.”

Section 3. The official greeting of UNITED ISRAEL WORLD UNION, INC. is: Shalom, namely, Peace.

ARTICLE II. Places of Activities

Section 1. The activities of UNITED ISRAEL WORLD UNION, INC. will be conducted principally in the State of New York, but also in all other States of the United States of America and in foreign countries.

ARTICLE III. Objects and Purposes

Section 1. The objects and purposes of UNITED ISRAEL WORLD UNION, INC. are: To reawaken the lost tribes of Israel to consciousness of their true identity; to bring this about by means of conveying to them true knowledge of the Bible and of history, particularly by publications dealing with the identity of Israel; to unite the lost tribes (i.e. people of Anglo-Saxon-Celtic, American and kindred origin) with Judah, by means of inculcating original Biblical truths, through publications and lectures; to facilitate the return of all Israel to the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and to His republic as founded by Moses; and above all, to work and strive for that glorious peace, the plans for which are laid down in the writings containing the Blueprint of God’s ordained world order; The Bible; to establish places of devotion and spiritual guidance for its members; to appoint and install the necessary teachers for the various Units of UNITED ISRAEL WORLD UNION, INC.

Section 2. UNITED ISRAEL WORLD UNION, INC. further proposes on the basis of the Biblical injunction; “My House shall be called a House of Prayer for all Peoples,” and further on the basis of the words: “Whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be delivered,” to be as universal in creed and outlook as the Bible itself is: wherefore UNITED ISRAEL WORLD UNION, INC., will function as a non-political, non-denominational, non-sectarian, non-profit, religious membership corporation.

Section 3. UNITED ISRAEL WORLD UNION, INC. intends to publish a monthly bulletin, which is to serve as the main organ of the corporation and the chief medium of unification for all members and units of UNITED ISRAEL WORLD UNION, INC. It will contain important Bible data and messages of current interest.

ARTICLE IV. Membership

Section 1. Any person who recognizes and accepts the original Bible of Jehovah, The Father, The Creator, as the basis for his or her daily conduct of life, acknowledging further the laws of Moses, as instituted at Mount Sinai, as a foundation, may become a Brother or Sister in UNITED ISRAEL WORLD UNION, INC.

Section 2. Membership is open to all, irrespective of color, race or creed, who accept the creed of UNITED ISRAEL WORLD UNION, INC. as set forth in these By-Laws.

As we slowly work through the thousands of pages of documents in the David Horowitz archive there are multiple surprises around every corner. What we are uncovering is truly amazing. Mr. Horowitz never discarded anything and we have his papers going back to about 1924, with a few things earlier. He was in touch with just about every President, King, diplomat, and world leader you can name, and often worked behind the scenes in ways that are only now coming to light. We are carefully copying and filing all the materials and putting them into topical and chronological order. I would estimate there are at least 100,000 separate items.

What we have found so far seems to easily lend itself to a biography that someday should be written. A good title might be:The Life of David Horowitz: The Untold Story. Back in 1949 David did publish an early autobiography titled Thirty-three Candles that covered his life up to the founding of UIWU in 1944. Copies are still available from our office for a modest donation to the David Horowitz Memorial Library. However, David lived through the end of the century, past his 99th year, so that volume covered only “half” his story. The best was yet to come.

There is a “behind the scenes” tale that has never been told. We recently came across this letter, written in August 1948, to Abraham Fuhrman, who was a loyal supporter of UIWU and David’s work in the early days. We found this profoundly moving and inspiring. The biblical Hebrew Prophet Joel speaks of the former and latter rains, prophetically, as does Hosea (see Joel 2-3; Hosea 5-6), and he says “afterwards” it will be that “your old men will dream dreams and your young men will see visions.”

David fervently believed that the inauguration of the prophetic “last days,” the “footsteps of the messiah,” as the rabbis call it, did indeed begin in the late 1880s with the “return to Zion,” and more particularly in 1927 with various prophetic events in the Holy Land. David recorded hundreds of his dreams and we are collecting them as we work through the archives, but dreams are dreams, often vague and subject to varied interpretation. Rarely does one get as clear as this one. And notice the date of the dream–the 9th of Ab!–an historically fateful day in Jewish history.

This was months before the November, 1948 election, where everyone predicted Republican Thomas Dewey as the winner. Horowitz had already been involved in the Spring of 1948 in some behind the scenes moves in both the newly constituted UN (influencing three Central American votes) and with President Truman via his staff, to influence things in favor of the establishment of the State of Israel. President Truman recognized the fledgling “State” the morning after its declaration of Independence, to the chagrin of most of those in his State Department.

We hope you will find this dream, which came on the “9th of Ab,” as significant as we have. For those too young to remember or who have forgotten their history you might want to refresh your memory on the Presidential election of 1948 when even major newspapers, such as the New York Times declared, “Thomas E. Dewey’s Election as President is a Foregone Conclusion.” Top pollsters predicted a Dewey win, as did leading national political writers. In fact, with the exception of Truman, everyone else was certain Dewey would be elected. Months before the election, Life magazine ran a cover of a picture of Dewey with a caption that read, “The Next President of the United States.” Headline after headline screamed Dewey as President. The election became known as “The Great Truman Surprise.”