Our History

Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity was inspired by Richard J. H. Gottheil, a professor of languages at Columbia University and a leader in the early American Zionist movement. On December 29, 1898, Professor Gottheil gathered together a group of Jewish students from several New York City universities to form a Zionist youth society. The society was called Z.B.T.

During this brief period, the society came to serve as a kind of fraternal body for college students who, as Jews, were excluded from joining existing fraternities because of the sectarian practices which prevailed at the end of the nineteenth century in the United States. The continuing need for a Greek-letter fraternity open to Jewish students prompted Z.B.T. to change its raison d’etre, structure and emphasis and to become Zeta Beta Tau in 1903.

Early years

Zeta Beta Tau expanded rapidly. By 1909, it had established 13 Chapters throughout the Northeast and a14th at Tulane University at New Orleans, thereby taking on a truly national dimension. In 1913, it established its first Canadian Chapter at McGill University in Montreal. Five years later, it founded its first West Coast chapter at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. At the 1954 National Convention, the delegates amended Zeta Beta Tau’s Constitution, Ritual and internal procedures both in theory and in practice to eliminate sectarianism as a qualification for membership.

Spearheaded by the growth of state and municipal university systems, hundreds of new institutions were opened in the quarter-century following World War II. By the 1960s virtually every American had an opportunity to attend college. From 1945 to 1969, the number of ZBT chapters increased from 30 to 80 units.

The history of mergers in the Zeta Beta Tau Brotherhood followed a pattern of linking common traditions. In 1959, Phi Alpha merged into Phi Sigma Delta, and in 1961 Kappa Nu merged into Phi Epsilon Pi. In 1969-70, Phi Sigma Delta and Phi Epsilon Pi merged into Zeta Beta Tau.

Traumatic experiences were generated by the polarization over the Vietnam conflict. The American fraternity system — including Zeta Beta Tau, was subsequently affected by the great wave of anti-establishment feeling that was pervasive throughout the country. Many of the Chapters which survived this period of turmoil did so in a weakened condition. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, there was a renewed interest in fraternity life, resulting in increased initiation statistics, revival of many dormant Chapters and expansion to new campuses.

Making modern history

In 1989, in a revolutionary effort to stop hazing, ZBT eliminated pledging and all second-class statuses. The 1990s brought a “recruitment recession” to the fraternity movement. In response to economic hardships and the concern about the negative image of fraternity, students did not rush fraternities as aggressively as in the 1980s. For ZBT, happily, the late 1990s marked a time of celebration and Brotherly Love — Zeta Beta Tau, the world’s oldest Jewish fraternity, turned 100 years old in December 1998.

ZBT’s place at the front of the fraternal world as a leader against hazing with our nonpledging practices created an interest in having a ZBT chapter on many campuses. By the mid-2010s, ZBT followed a vision to create more innovative programming and educational experiences for our brothers that enrich the traditional fraternity experiences like social, philanthropy, service and brotherhood. ZBT faced the COVID-19 pandemic with the rest of the world in 2020, and hosted our first all-virtual International Convention.  In 2023, ZBT hosted a year’s worth of celebrations to mark 125 years of brotherhood, including a return to our historic home with International Convention in New York City.

Through good times and bad, ZBT has been in the forefront in pioneering new concepts — as evidenced by its very founding, its elimination of sectarian membership practices, its acceptance of mergers, its elimination of pledging, and its ability to solve enormous problems when others abandoned the effort.

ZBT has built foundations and reached milestones that no other Greek fraternal organization has — we opened our arms to all men of good character while continuing to embrace our Jewish heritage, we rescinded all second-class status in our brotherhood when we abolished pledging, and now we are reaching and teaching our brothers using technology that few other groups have been able to adopt.