We are a world-wide Jewish service organization, established more than 150 years ago, in New York. Today, with international headquarters in Washington D.C., we have more than 100,000 members in more than fifty countries on six continents. Tens of thousands of young people are connected with BB through our youth groups and through the Hillel Foundation. B'nai B'rith District 21 encompasses 25 grass-roots groups in Australia and New Zealand. Most of these are in Melbourne and Sydney, with others in Adelaide, Auckland and Wellington.
Attempts are currently under way to re-establish units in Perth and on the Gold Coast.
B'nai B'rith's central aim is to reach out to all members of the Jewish community, across all age groups, and to unite them in the task of serving the best interests of the Jewish and the wider community and giving support to the state of Israel. Our basic purpose is to help assure the creative continuity of the Jewish people by strengthening our members' identification with the moral and ethical values of their tradition, culture and heritage. We seek to achieve this through grass-roots groups which encourage active involvement, rather than merely nominal membership or financial contributions. We are committed to the value of harmonious relations amongst members and tolerance for divergent religious and political views. Social functions are important for helping to build cohesive groups, but we recognise that there is more to Jewish life than simply social activity.