Aguda (z jid. Agudas Jisroel; z hebr. Agudat Israel)
Agudat Israel in Poland (Hebrew Association of Israel): the global organization of Orthodox Jews, founded in 1912 in Katowice. Its purpose was to maintain the separateness of the Jews and the fight against assimilation. In Poland since 1916 this organization operated under the name Union of Orthodox, and since 1919 as Agudat Israel; it existed until 1939 (also informally during the period 1945-49). It was one of the strongest Jewish parties in the Second Republic of Poland, the most widely represented in the Polish parliament. One of its founders and key activists was Tzadik Abraham Alter of Mount Calvary, which provided Agudat with broad support of Polish Hasidim. Its goal was to defend the principles of Judaism, the establishment of religious schools, to defend the civil rights of Jews and the widely understood social and philanthropic activity.