2026-09-22 12:27:AM <br/> Tags: #AmericanJewry #organization #LeftwingJewry #Lobby # Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (JALSA) ![[image-305.png|654x170]] - The Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (JALSA) is a far left American Boston-based Jewish nonprofit organization involved in social and political activism. - JALSA claims to put their "Jewish values into action by engaging the Jewish community and our allies in the pursuit of social, economic, environmental, and racial justice."[^1] - JALSA was founded in 2001. #### Left Wing Activism - JALSA takes credit for various "major public policy changes on a wide range of critical issues" including:[^1] | Legislation/Issue | Description or Direct JALSA quote | | ----------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | The Immigrant Driver’s License Bill | "JALSA played a leading role in passage of the Work and Family Mobility Act, which allows immigrants, regardless of documentation, the ability to obtain a driver’s license." | | Defending DACA | DACA (deferred action for childhood arrivals) allows illegal alien children to remain in the United State indefinitely—attending schools, taking jobs, having families of their own, and never leaving. | | Protecting illegal immigrants | "Our members wrote a legal guide for congregations considering serving as sanctuaries for immigrants threatened with deportation." | | Protecting and increasing abortion | "JALSA took the lead in organizing the Jewish community nationally to get involved in protecting abortion access on the ballot in Kansas, Michigan, Kentucky, and Wisconsin through phone banking, texting, and letter writing." | | Supporting LGBTQ | "JALSA was an early proponent of marriage equality, including amicus brief participation in the landmark Massachusetts case of Goodrich v. Dept. of Public Health (2003). And we were members of the steering committee of MassEquality, established in the early 2000s to fight a proposed anti-gay marriage effort to overturn the Supreme Judicial Court decision in Goodrich. *Jewish legal action has supported every American left wing social cause of the last 100 years. JALSA and groups like it, at both the state and national level, waged a long campaign in favor of legalized gay marriage, and after that the expansion into transgenderism and varying strains of perverse sexual activity.* | | Supporting transgenderism | "Our members took a lead role in the “Yes on 3” campaign which was formed in opposition to an attempt to repeal the state’s transgender public accommodations law." | | Climate change | "JALSA takes strong positions to support the passage of key legislation to address climate change..." | - JALSA's stated priorities in the Massachusetts state legislature include:[^6] *JALSA's priorities are almost entirely aimed at propping up the least accomplished, most dangerous, and most poor/black/brown/female/illegal members of society, unsurprisingly.* | Priority | Bill | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------ | | Taxing high-dollar real estate sales to pay for affordable housing. | (H.3056 / S.1939) | | Providing legal representation for tenants being evicted. | (H.1952 / S.4360) | | Prohibiting the RMV (Massachusetts registry of motor vehicles) from suspending licenses for unpaid debts.<br> | (H. 3662 / S.2368) | | Removing public access to criminal records via automatic sealing after a required period. | (H.1188 / S.1114) | | Banning contracts between state and local law enforcement and ICE. | (H.1588 / S.1122) | | Providing illegal immigrants with Massachusetts ID cards. | (H.3735) | | Barring local law enforcement from asking about a person's immigration status during traffic stops or other unrelated encounters. | (H.2850 / S.1681) | | Forcing employers to alert employees at least 48 hours prior to federal immigration enforcement activity at their workplace. | (H.2850 / S.1681) | | Establishing an immigrant legal defense fund for individuals facing deportation. | (H.1954 / S.1127) | | Forcing landlords to rent to illegal immigrants. | (H.1994) | | Expanding abortion access. | (H.2370/ S.1563) | - JALSA operates a "Testimony Rapid Response Team" which attends Massachusetts state legislative hearings in support of JALSA priority legislation (table above).[^7] - Members of the Testimony Rapid Response Team are prepared by JALSA with testimony to present at the hearings. - JALSA operated a "Protest Rapid Response Team" which attends protests, rallies, and activist events on behalf of JALSA.[^7] *Seemingly organic left wing protests are commonly comprised of a patchwork of NGO and nonprofit-funded activist teams who attend these events on behalf of their well funded organizations.* - Members of the Protest Rapid Response Team are equipped with written materials to hand out. - JALSA's website includes a page listing coalition partners.[^3] - Among these partners are [[Bend the Arc]] and the [[Jewish Social Justice Roundtable]]. - "Jewish Abortion Access Coalition" is listed under health care. - "Dignity Not Deportations" and "Protecting Our Immigrant Communities" are listed under immigration. - The link for Dignity Not Deportations on the JALSA website leads to a blank [[ACLU]] Massachusetts webpage. - The link to Protecting Our Immigrant Communities leads to a blank webpage from the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA). - MIRA coalition members include the [[ACLU]], [[ADL]], and the [[American Jewish Committee (AJC)]].[^2] - JALSA is a member of the left wing [[Jewish Social Justice Roundtable]]. - In October 2020, JALSA joined a coalition including [[Facing History and Ourselves]], [[ADL]] New England, [[American Jewish Committee (AJC)|AJC]] New England and [[Keshet]] in "taking white supremacy to court" over the 2017 Charlottesville Unite the Right rally.[^12] - The coalition was led by Integrity First for America, an organization dedicated largely to bringing legal action against individuals an groups involved in the Charlottesville rally. - Integrity First for America worked with left wing Jewish lesbian lawyer Roberta Kaplan to bring *Sines v. Kessler* to court against the organizers and participants of the Charlottesville rally.[^11] - In October 2020, JALSA and [[The Workers Circle]] filed an amicus brief against the Trump Administration in support of the Mi Familia Vota Education Fund's lawsuit regarding supposed voter suppression.[^13] *Mi Familia Vota Education fund is a Latino and immigrant voting-advocacy organization.* - In 2021, JALSA joined a coalition of left wing Jewish groups attempting to oust the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) from the Boston Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC). - The move was based on the idea that ZOA frontman Morton Klein had engaged in "white supremacy" and "bigotry" for his comments on black lives matter and politicians like Barrack Obama. *The ZOA and its leader Morton Klein are highly relevant and covered in this project. They are not linked because their connection to JALSA is negative.* - The move failed in a vote of 40 in favor of expelling the ZOA and 48 against. - While the move to oust the venerable ZOA failed, the JCRC voted in favor of a new bylaw stating no JCRC member “should legitimize or normalize organizations or individuals who embrace white supremacy, white nationalism or the conspiracy theories which underlie these ideologies.” *This bizarre intra-organizational dispute between Jewish activist groups resulted in a condemnation of white people and right wing nationalist politics. The ZOA, a right-wing Jewish nationalist organization, obviously never engaged in white supremacy. The left wing Jews see orgs like the ZOA as too accommodating of the right wing and for that reason they are opposed.* - In October 2023, following [[October 7th]], JALSA joined "over 150 Jewish groups unequivocally rejecting Islamophobia and anti-Arab hate."[^14] - The statement released by the [[Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA)]] reads "Let us be unequivocally clear: The Jewish community rejects Islamophobia, anti-Arab hate, antisemitism, and all forms of bigotry. Particularly as extremists continue to exploit this moment, we are reminded that all of our communities’ safety and futures are inextricably linked — and recommit ourselves to fighting hate in all its forms." - The reason left wing Jewish groups like JALSA took an apparently moderate conciliatory position towards Arabs and Muslims while mainstream Jewry was enabling their destruction in Gaza is not necessarily a conflict of ideology. Left wing domestic Jewish organizations like JALSA leave issues related to Israel to the pro-Israel organizations while they advocate for pro-Jewish domestic causes, which naturally means supporting a minority group against nationalism, Christians, and the right wing. - The coalition of 150+ Jewish groups include: [[Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA)]], [[American Jewish Committee (AJC)]], [[ADL]], [[Avodah]], [[Bend the Arc]], [[Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI)]], [[Hadassah]], [[Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)]], [[J Street]], [[Jewish Labor Committee (JLC)]], [[Jewish Women International]], [[Keshet]], [[National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW)]], [[New Israel Fund]], [[Rabbinical Assembly]], [[The Workers Circle]], [[Union for Reform Judaism (URJ)]], [[Jewish Council on Urban Affairs]], many [[Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA)|Jewish Federations]]. - In February 2026, JALSA led the Boston protest events against ICE immigration activity as part of a larger Jewish anti-ICE demonstration led by [[Bend the Arc]] in Washington D.C.[^10] - Bend the Arc's protest involved 100 rabbis outside the ICE headquarters. #### Funding and Donors - JALSA reported $1.54 in revenue in 2024.[^5] - JALSA's revenue has consistently risen each year since 2015, when it only took in $241,000. - JALSA donors include: - [[Jews United For Justice]] - $37,700 in 2022.[^8] - [[New Israel Fund]] - $63,640 from 2021-2024.[^9] - Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston (Boston's [[Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA)|Jewish Federation]]) - $152,775 in 2025.[^8] - The Tides Foundation/Tides Center - $22,000 from 2020-2022[^8] #### Notable Figures - Cindy Rowe - President and CEO of JALSA since 2016.[^4] - Rowe began her career in organized American Jewry at the [[American Jewish Congress]]. #### References [^1]: Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (JALSA), “About,” [https://www.jalsa.org/about](https://www.jalsa.org/about). [^2]: Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), “2026 MIRA Member Organizations Public,” Google Sheets, [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1b8Voj23di9o6CL9-U9hc_E7n7sd2Q34UxvNk6BkaVAM/edit?gid=0#gid=0](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1b8Voj23di9o6CL9-U9hc_E7n7sd2Q34UxvNk6BkaVAM/edit?gid=0#gid=0). [^3]: Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (JALSA), “Coalition Partners,” [https://www.jalsa.org/coalition-partners](https://www.jalsa.org/coalition-partners). [^4]: Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (JALSA), “Staff,” [https://www.jalsa.org/staff](https://www.jalsa.org/staff). [^5]: “Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action Inc,” _Nonprofit Explorer_, ProPublica, [https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/10563874](https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/10563874). [^6]: Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (JALSA), “Legislative Priorities,” [https://www.jalsa.org/legislative-priorities](https://www.jalsa.org/legislative-priorities). [^7]: Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (JALSA), “Take Action,” [https://www.jalsa.org/take-action](https://www.jalsa.org/take-action). [^8]: “Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (JALSA),” _InfluenceWatch_, [https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/jewish-alliance-for-law-and-social-action-jalsa/](https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/jewish-alliance-for-law-and-social-action-jalsa/). [^9]: New Israel Fund, organization profile, _ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer_, [https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/942607722](https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/942607722). [^10]: Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, “100 Rabbis Lead Jewish Community Protest Outside ICE Headquarters,” February 12, 2026, [https://www.bendthearc.us/100_rabbis_lead_jewish_community_protest_outside_ice_headquarters](https://www.bendthearc.us/100_rabbis_lead_jewish_community_protest_outside_ice_headquarters). [^11]: “Sines v. Kessler,” _Wikipedia_, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sines_v._Kessler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sines_v._Kessler). [^12]: JewishBoston, “Taking White Supremacy to Court: The Charlottesville Case,” event held October 13, 2020, [https://www.jewishboston.com/events/taking-white-supremacy-to-court-the-charlottesville-case/](https://www.jewishboston.com/events/taking-white-supremacy-to-court-the-charlottesville-case/). [^13]: The Workers Circle, “The Workers Circle and JALSA File Amicus Brief Against Voter Intimidation,” [https://www.circle.org/news/blog-post-title-two-bew2r](https://www.circle.org/news/blog-post-title-two-bew2r). [^14]: Jewish Council for Public Affairs, “Over 150 Jewish Groups Unequivocally Reject Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate,” October 17, 2023, [https://jewishpublicaffairs.org/over-100-jewish-groups-unequivocally-reject-islamophobia-and-anti-arab-hate/news/](https://jewishpublicaffairs.org/over-100-jewish-groups-unequivocally-reject-islamophobia-and-anti-arab-hate/news/).