The rise of anti-Semitism in the 1930s—from the American Nationalist group the Silver Legion of America, or Silver Shirts, to a volatile gubernatorial political campaign in 1938 with an overtly anti-Semitic campaign against Elmer Benson—galvanized the state's Jewish community to action.

Through the Second World War, the group continued to combat rising interreligious and intergroup tension while also raising concern over employment discrimination directed against Jews.

"[5] By 1947, the City Council of Minneapolis banned the dissemination hate literature and Minneapolis mayor Hubert H. Humphrey ordered an assessment of "intergroup relations" led by a collaboration of the NAACP, League of Women Voters, and the Minnesota Jewish Council.

When Samuel Scheiner retired in 1974, new director Morton Ryweck ushered in a new era, merging with the local B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to form the JCRC/ADL.

[8] Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas continues to monitor and combat violations of church-state separation in public schools, work to promote legislation to answer the needs of the underprivileged in Minnesota, and works as part of the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition.