It's a shame for the American Jewish community that the ADL and, more recently the American Jewish Committee, have been hijacked by individuals who have been hell-bent on moving their organizations away from their original purposes (advocating for the welfare and dignity of the Jewish people as a whole by opposing antisemitism) and toward left-wing political activism.
Unlike the situation in many European countries where some individual or group had official authority to represent the minority Jewish community in dealings with the government, American Jewry does not have and has never had an official representative as such to speak for all. There were times, however, when some widely respected Jews and Jewish organizations had the moral authority to wield influence on issues of utmost importance to the Jewish community. Though the ADL and AJC were once among them, their current leaders (Abe Foxman at ADL and David Harris at AJC) have abandoned this legacy in favor of political partisanship toward the the Democrat Party.
Foxman, though, is a whole 'nother ball game from the ADL of old, even the most liberal one.
Actually, the Gedolei-HaTorah and Nesi'ei-HaDor officially represent the Jewish People. Even the secular government of Israel can't do it.
Its been a problem for a while now. Since the 70’s, actually. Many Jews just threw up their hands regarding the ADL and the Jewish Federation because they felt nothing was being accomplished-they became too political.
Back then, one of my uncles, a Rabbi, was so disgusted with their ineffectiveness, that he took his savings, gathered money from the rest of the family, his congregation, and the funds gathered by other Rabbis, and went over to the Soviet Union with 2 other Rabbis, bribed a bunch of Soviet officials, and brought out close to 100 Jews to the US and Israel ( We started calling him Moses...lol) From there, he, and the others, found them housing, training, jobs and schooling. He and the others did what others could not do. And since then, we learned to go directly to the need to give support.
The problem is that when there is a problem concerning the Jewish people as a whole- as there is now, the organizations, because of their political contacts, are afraid to actually do something. To take down these agencies would be a bad idea because they have the far reaching apparatus in place to effectively serve- and on a world-wide scale.. The solution is new leadership. And, the only answer is to cut the funding to the organizations until they replace the existing leadership with those people who would be effective, determined, and not bound to any political party.
You’re correct, though I don’t know anyone who considers the ADL or AJC representitive of Jewry, any more than they consicer the ZOA. I think that’s the way it should be.
The recent ‘blow below the belt’ election in NY (replacing A. Weiner with a Catholic, suported by religious conservative Jews) will be an important part in the new face of American Jewry. Democrats will HAVE to face it.