Schools Agenda Links Walton Family and Orthodox Jewish Group

The Christian owners of retail giant Walmart have become the largest financial backers of Agudath Israel of America, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish network that shares the Walton family’s support for public funding of religious schools, according to The Jewish Daily Forward.

The Arkansas-based Walton Family Foundation has given or pledged $3.1-million to Agudath Israel since 2008, making it the Jewish organization’s biggest single donor. Agudah, as the charity is commonly known, has expanded its lobbying staff and become involved in the foundation’s national school-reform push, which focuses on charter schools and private-school vouchers.

“They saw the Orthodox Jewish community as a natural support mechanism,” said Rabbi Yehiel Kalish, vice president of development and state relations for Agudah. The foundation did not respond to a request from the Forward for comment.