The Hebrew University Magnes Press , known for short as Magnes Press , is the publishing house of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem .
109-700: Magnes Press was founded in 1929, four years after the founding of the Hebrew University, and is the oldest university book publishing house in Israel. The publication is named after Yehuda Leib Magnes , the first president of the university. The initial mission of the publishing house was to produce and distribute in the Land of Israel and the world scientific literature in general and Jewish topics in particular, in Hebrew and English, original and translated, for
218-659: A valedictorian in 1894. He then studied at the University of Cincinnati , where he gained a degree of notoriety in a campaign against censorship of the "Class annual" of 1898 by the university faculty. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati with an A.B. in 1898. He also attended rabbinical seminary at Hebrew Union College , and was ordained a rabbi in June 1900. He then went to study in Germany . He studied Judaism at
327-504: A March 1948 US trusteeship proposal , in which the UN would freeze the partition decision and force both sides into a trusteeship with a temporary government ruling Palestine, until conditions suited another arrangement, in the hope that there would be understanding and peace talks would be possible. He predicted that even if a Jewish state was established and defeated the Arabs, it would experience
436-681: A PhD in Philosophy from the University of Heidelberg, and returned to the United States in 1903. On October 19, 1908, Magnes married Beatrice Lowenstein of New York, who happened to be Louis Marshall 's sister-in-law. In America, he spent most of his professional life in New York City , where he helped found the American Jewish Committee in 1906. Magnes was also one of the most influential forces behind
545-512: A Reform rabbi were not at all within the mainstream. Magnes favored a more traditional approach to Judaism, fearing the overly assimilationist tendencies of his peers. Magnes delivered a Passover sermon in 1910 at Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York in which he advocated changes in the Reform ritual to incorporate elements of traditional Judaism, expressing his concern that younger members of
654-594: A central role in Marshall's life. On May 6, 1895, he married Florence Lowenstein, a cousin of his partner, Samuel Untermyer . Lowenstein "was the daughter of Sophia Mendelson Lowenstein of New York and Benedict Lowenstein, a wealthy Bavarian immigrant ... She had been educated at The Normal College (now Hunter College ) in New York". Within a few years, Louis and Florence Marshall had four children: James, Ruth, Robert (known as Bob), and George. They lived comfortably in
763-666: A keen interest in the natural environment. Marshall became a member of the Adirondack Mountain Club after its founding in 1922. Alienated by what he perceived as the populism of the Democratic Party, and the "half-baked theories" of the Progressive Party , Marshall was a lifelong Republican , endorsing Republican candidates for election and working closely with Republican congressmen and state legislators. Although sympathetic with labor he
872-543: A key role in founding the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1918 along with Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann . However, the three did not get along, and when, in 1928, Magnes, who was initially responsible only for the university's finances and administrative staff, had his authority extended to academic and professional matters, Einstein resigned from the Board of Governors. Einstein wrote: The bad thing about
981-574: A lawyer, joining his father's firm, later starting his own. James rose to prominence in New York City, where he served on and was president of the city's Board of Education under Mayor Fiorello La Guardia . James also co-founded the Natural Resources Defense Council and authored several books on psychology and the law. He married Lenore Guinzburg , who became noted for her writing as well as discovering and editing
1090-659: A member of the New York State Bar Association . According to Adler, "the day he was admitted to the Bar, Marshall became a partner in Ruger's firm". Later, when Ruger was appointed chief justice of the New York State Court of Appeals , "the law firm became Jenny, Brooks & Marshall." During this period, Marshall rose to prominence not only in New York, but nationally: "In 1891 he was part of
1199-488: A million acres (4000 km ) of pristine wilderness straddling the continental divide in northwestern Montana , is named after Bob, who was director of the Forestry Division of the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs , head of the U.S. Forest Service Division of Recreation and Lands, and co-founder of The Wilderness Society . George was involved with The Wilderness Society for more than 50 years, and served on
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#17327655801531308-677: A million dollars in donations. By the end of 1915 around five million dollars had been raised. In the spring of 1916 Magnes visited Germany and Poland to organise the distribution of the funds. The visit, via Scandinavia, started in Hamburg and Berlin, from there, with the assistance of the German authorities, he visited Poland and Vilna . He had to overcome the suspicions of the Zionist leadership in Europe, who suspected him of bias. Despite this, he
1417-649: A multitude will hold in grateful remembrance." Marshall, his wife, daughter Ruth, and son Bob are buried in the Salem Fields Cemetery , in Brooklyn, New York. According to his son's biographer, in 1923 Louis Marshall was named the fourth "most outstanding Jew in the world" by a "Reader's poll by the Jewish Tribune ... None of the three men who topped him in the poll— Albert Einstein , Weizmann, and Israel Zangwill —were Americans". In 1927, on
1526-674: A national delegation that asked President Benjamin Harrison to intervene on behalf of persecuted Russian Jews." Before the age of 40, Marshall had argued over 150 cases before the Court of Appeals. Marshall was recruited by Samuel Untermyer , a classmate at Columbia, to join the law firm of Guggenheimer and Untermyer in New York City. Moving there in February 1894, he became heavily involved in Jewish religious and political affairs. He also
1635-506: A never-ending series of wars with the Arabs. Magnes returned to the United States in April 1948 to participate in an anti-partition campaign. When he left, his position at Hebrew University was in jeopardy, as more staff moved against him due to his views. According to Israeli historian Benny Morris , the Hadassah medical convoy massacre of April 13, 1948, was "in effect the final nail in
1744-482: A president once in twenty years". Following the United States' entry into the war in Europe in the spring of 1917, Magnes switched all his attention to campaigning against it. He became one of the movement's high-profile leaders. Like most of its leaders his sympathies were with the working classes. People such Eugene Debs who was sentenced to ten years in prison for his activities; Norman Thomas ; Roger Nash Baldwin ; Scott Nearing ; Morris Hillquit , who took 22% of
1853-675: A race. Although he had some differences with political Zionists, Marshall contributed to efforts that led to the establishment of Israel as a Jewish homeland in Palestine . He was instrumental in organizing the American Jewish Relief Committee , which brought together Zionists and non-Zionists for the management of Jewish colonization efforts. In 1920, Marshall also attempted to stop a newspaper owned by Henry Ford , The Dearborn Independent , from spreading anti-Semitic propaganda. Marshall and Untermyer entered
1962-473: A result of the Spanish–American War . Magnes believed it to be an "unrighteous" war. Following the assassination of President William McKinley , who had led the United States into war with Spain, by an anarchist activist, Magnes wrote to his parents from Europe that he was not "enraged at the anarchists for it at all. In my opinion, dishonest men in public office are greater anarchists than those who kill
2071-700: A three-story brownstone house at Number 47 East 72nd Street in Manhattan, a block and a half from Central Park ; the US Census of 1900 indicates that four servants resided with the Marshalls at this address. The children attended the Ethical Culture School across Central Park from their home. Adler relates that "... everything centered around the up-bringing of these children. He was a good pal to his boys, and used to play baseball with them,
2180-701: A trustee of Syracuse University . In 1911, he became president of the board of trustees of the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University (now the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry), a post he kept until his death in 1929. At the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1915, Marshall again served as a delegate, this time being elected to an at-large position. According to Adler, Marshall "was
2289-413: Is beginning to perceive a glimmer of the calamity that confronts it if a policy of forestation is not carried into execution speedily. Our water courses will dry up. Our most fertile agricultural lands will become arid. The wild life of the forest, the fishes that were once abundant in our streams are threatened with extermination unless there is a speedy remedy ..." At a more personal level, Marshall took
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#17327655801532398-484: Is not only a sin to kill a mockingbird, it is also a crime,’ Judge Valerie Caproni wrote in a forceful decision.". In an address at the University of the State of New York at Albany on October 21, 1921, Marshall argued passionately that "the people of this State have for a century been guilty of criminal recklessness in the manner in which they have permitted their magnificent forests to be destroyed. The entire country
2507-514: Is their publishing press the Magnes Press . Louis Marshall Louis Marshall (December 14, 1856 – September 11, 1929) was an American corporate , constitutional and civil rights lawyer as well as a mediator and Jewish community leader who worked to secure religious, political, and cultural freedom for all minority groups. Among the founders of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), he defended Jewish and minority rights. He
2616-595: Is very peculiar that it has not been until I arrived at the mature age of seventy-two that I should have received a letter which is addressed to me as a 'Dear Fellow Alumnus'. I attended the Law School from September, 1876, to June, 1877. ... I never received a degree because two years actual attendance was required." After completing his legal studies on January 1, 1878, Marshall joined the law firm of William C. Ruger in Syracuse. A few years later, in 1885, he became
2725-462: The 1929 Arab revolt in Palestine with a call for a binational solution to Palestine. Magnes dedicated the rest of his life to reconciliation with the local Arabs ; he particularly objected to the concept of a specifically Jewish state . In his view, Palestine should be neither Jewish nor Arab. Rather, he advocated a binational state in which equal rights would be shared by all, a view shared by
2834-426: The 1948 Arab-Israeli War , Magnes lobbied for an armistice, and proposed a plan for a federation between Israel and a Palestinian state which he called the "United States of Palestine", under which the two states would be independent, but operate joint foreign and defense policies, with Jerusalem as the shared capital. He spoke with American, Israeli, and Arab officials, who expressed some interest in his plans. During
2943-543: The American Jewish Congress . There, he helped formulate clauses for the "full and equal civil, religious, political, and national rights" of Jews in the constitutions of the newly created states of eastern Europe. These provisions Marshall believed to be "the most important contribution to human liberty in modern history." He fought a proposal to have the US Census Bureau enumerate Jews as
3052-665: The Galilee . Magnes agreed, however, with the overall anti-Zionist attitudes of Reform Judaism at the time; he strongly disapproved of nationalistic aspects within Judaism, which Zionism represented and supported. To him, Jews living in the Diaspora and Jews living in Palestine were of equal significance to Judaism and Jewish culture; he agreed that a renewed Jewish community in Eretz Israel would enhance Jewish life within
3161-646: The Hebrew Union College and from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and of these he was very appreciative." The University of Pennsylvania 's first Jewish student organization (that served as a dormitory, kosher dining room and a social center for the university's Jewish students), which was organized in 1924 and initially generically named the Jewish Students’ Association at Penn, after the death of Louis Marshall
3270-478: The Israeli Declaration of Independence , Magnes ceased advocating binationalism, and accepted the existence of the state of Israel , telling one of his sons "do you think that in my heart I am not glad too that there is a state? I just did not think it was to be." On May 15, 1948, following the declaration of independence, he called Israeli president Chaim Weizmann to express congratulations. During
3379-529: The Onondaga County Justice Center (county jail) is located. From childhood, Marshall was both a scholar and a linguist . His first language was German: "I spoke German before I knew a word of English, and so long as my mother lived (she died in 1910) I never spoke to her otherwise than in German." Louis' mother, Zilli (or Zella), was "well educated for her times ... reading to [her children] in German, Schiller , Scott and Hugo ,
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3488-603: The Russian Revolution with enthusiasm; in 1921 he was the spokesman at Philadelphia for the Society for Medical Relief to Soviet Russia . He also spoke on behalf of the Italians Sacco and Vanzetti . Magnes first visited Ottoman Palestine in 1907, growing a beard in solidarity with the Jewish colonists. At Jaffa he was told of the plans for a Jewish-only town, north of Jaffa, to be called Tel Aviv . He
3597-564: The "Forever Wild" clause, in the New York State constitutional Amendment to the New York State Constitution, which went into effect on January 1, 1895. The lands of the state, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall
3706-646: The ... Preserve he had helped create. The efforts of highway builders to slash roads through the woods, of power interests to divert the rivers to their own use, and of hunters and fishermen to act without restraint all met his unqualified opposition." A trustee of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks , he led a floor fight in 1915, successfully protecting the Forever Wild clause of
3815-524: The AJC's primary strategist and lobbyist. After being elected its president in 1912, he held the post until his death. In this position, he opposed Congressional bills that would prevent many illiterate Jews from entering the US. Despite a Presidential veto, one of the bills was enacted in 1917, after a Congressional override. Marshall was a strong advocate of abolishing the literacy test and said, "We are practically
3924-961: The American Jewish Relief Committee, associated with the Kehillah and the American Jewish Committee , the Central Relief Committee from the Orthodox community, and the People's Relief Committee set up by labour organisations. The result was the creation of a single body called the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee . In December 1915, a fund-raising effort was launched at the Carnegie Hall , at which he delivered an emotional appeal which raised
4033-630: The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, Marshall successfully persuaded the Court to uphold the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 , between the US and Canada. As characterized by Adler, Marshall argued that "the United States did have the power to create such legislation; that Congress was well within its rights; and that the Act was constitutional"; and further that, "If Congress possessed plenary powers to legislate for
4142-676: The Berlin Jewish College, Lehranstalt , and pursued his doctoral studies at Berlin University , where he studied under Friedrich Paulsen and Friedrich Delitzsch , and at the University of Heidelberg . It was while he was in Berlin that he began embracing aspects of Zionist thought, though always strongly opposing its nationalistic elements. He spent time traveling through Eastern Europe, and visited Jewish communities in Germany, Poland , and Galicia . In December 1902, he received
4251-525: The Bureau of Education was Henrietta Szold . A report by Mordecai Kaplan revealed that of some 200,000 Jewish children of school age no more than 50,000 received any form of Jewish education. By 1916 the Bureau directed or supervised 200 schools, 600 teachers and 35,000 pupils. Funding was dependent on wealthy New York Jews such as Jacob Schiff , Felix M. Warburg and Louis Marshall who made an endowment for girls' education. The Bureau eventually evolved into
4360-486: The Diaspora. Magnes emigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1922 and maintained that emigration to Eretz Israel was a matter of individual choice; it did not reflect any kind of "negation of the Diaspora" , or support for Zionism. He thought that the land of Israel should be built in a "decent manner", or not built at all. He was a "disciple" of the thinker and writer Ahad Ha'am. In both America and Palestine, Magnes played
4469-476: The Erie Canal to Syracuse, where he opened a hide, fur, and leather business. It was marginally profitable." Louis was the eldest of six children. He had one brother, Benjamin, two years younger, and four sisters: Marie, Bertha, Clara, and Ida; 13 years separated Louis and his youngest sister, Ida. The family resided at 222 Cedar Street, "in the old Seventh Ward of Syracuse", an area today approximately where
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4578-681: The Jewish Education Committee of New York. Magnes was also closely involved with the Social Morals Bureau which held investigations into the white-slave-traffic and the Jewish underworld. Its work is held responsible of reducing Jewish juvenile delinquency from 30% of the New York total to 14% twenty years later. In the Bureau of Industry he was Chairman of the Conference of the Furriers Trade. At
4687-401: The Madison Square Gardens anti-war rally in 1917; but in Palestine, where Hebrew was insisted on at public gatherings, he was not able to have the same impact. Memorializing his passing, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations wrote of Magnes that he was: ...One of the most distinguished rabbis of our age, a son of the Hebrew Union College , a former rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, New York,
4796-410: The New York State Constitution. Marshall's interest in conservation extended to the national stage. In an intervention at the US Supreme Court, he had a key influence on a landmark case underscoring the right and responsibility of the Federal government for environmental protection and conservation. In a friend of the court brief on The State of Missouri v. Ray V. Holland, US Game Warden on behalf of
4905-439: The Supreme Court was the only elected or appointed office Marshall had ever wanted or sought; Taft eventually chose two other men for the positions. In 1914, he was part of the legal team representing Leo Frank , a Jewish pencil factory manager convicted of raping and murdering a 13-year-old employee named Mary Phagan. Marshall initiated an ultimately unsuccessful appeal of the case to the United States Supreme Court . Marshall
5014-415: The Zionist mainstream's revised demand for a "Jewish Commonwealth". As a result, he and Henrietta Szold founded the small, binationalist political party, Ihud (Unity). Magnes opposed the Partition plan . He submitted 11 objections to partition to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine . By mid-1948, when the conflict between the Jews and Arabs of Palestine was in full swing, Magnes
5123-439: The alarm: With the permission of the Arabs we will be able to receive hundreds of thousands of persecuted Jews in Arab lands [...] Without the permission of the Arabs even the four hundred thousand [Jews] that now are in Palestine will remain in danger, in spite of the temporary protection of British bayonets . With partition a new Balkan is made [..] New York Times , July 18, 1937. With increasing persecution of European Jews,
5232-408: The atmosphere there totally and to keep the level of the institution low Magnes served as the first chancellor of the Hebrew University (1925) and later as its president (1935–1948; followed by Sir Leon Simon as acting president, 1948 to 1949). Magnes believed that the university was the ideal place for Jewish and Arab cooperation, and worked tirelessly to advance this goal. Magnes's responded to
5341-455: The benefit of those about him—altogether an eminent American citizen whom a multitude will hold in grateful remembrance." In 1905, Marshall was promoted to chairman of the board of directors of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America , Conservative Judaism 's rabbinical school. After serving as an officer for several years at Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York , a Reform congregation, he became its president in 1916. (Marshall
5450-412: The board of directors of the Sierra Club , as well. James Marshall's son Jonathan Marshall owned and published the Scottsdale Daily Progress newspaper. Jonathan ran unsuccessfully for United States Senate against Barry Goldwater in 1974. Louis Marshall died on September 11, 1929, at age 72, while attending a Zionist conference in Zurich , Switzerland . The occasion of his visit to Switzerland
5559-508: The business was that the good Felix Warburg , thanks to his financial authority ensured that the incapable Magnes was made director of the Institute, a failed American rabbi, who, through his dilettantish enterprises had become uncomfortable to his family in America, who very much hoped to dispatch him honorably to some exotic place. This ambitious and weak person surrounded himself with other morally inferior men, who did not allow any decent person to succeed there ... These people managed to poison
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#17327655801535668-413: The case of Nixon v. Herndon that the Texas white primary law was unconstitutional." Marshall had both a public and a personal interest in conservation . In his home state of New York, he spearheaded efforts to protect the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains ; at the state's 1894 constitutional convention, he helped establish the New York Forest Preserve . Louis Marshall was a framer of Article 14,
5777-466: The city at the time. The Kehillah's aim was: "to wipe out invidious distinctions between East European and West European, foreigner and native, Uptown and Downtown Jew, rich and poor; and make us realize that the Jews are one people with a common history and with common hopes." The committee proceeded to set up a series of boards, or bureaus: Education (1910), Social Morals (1912); Industry (1914); and Philanthropic Research (1916). The first secretary of
5886-420: The coffin of Magnes' binationalism. It was not that he publicly recanted. But he understood that it was a lost cause - and that his own standing in the Yishuv had been irreparably damaged." At the funerals of the victims, eighteen staff members from Hebrew University signed a petition protesting Magnes' view. The campaign was led by Professor Shimon Fritz Bodenheimer , who called Magnes a "traitor". Following
5995-470: The congregation were driven to seek spirituality in other religions that cannot be obtained at Congregation Emanu-El. He advocated for restoration of the Bar Mitzvah ceremony and criticized the Union Prayer Book , advocating for a return to the traditional prayer book. The disagreement over this issue led him to resign from Congregation Emanu-El that year. From 1911–12 he was Rabbi of the Conservative Congregation B'nai Jeshurun . In New York he set himself
6104-404: The creation of an independent Palestinian state with all citizens having equal rights and each community having autonomy, writing that it offered the 'portals to an agreement' between Jews and Arabs in Palestine. This proposal was a document put together by leading a British Arabist , Colonel Stewart Newcombe , and prominent British Jewish binationalist, Albert M Hyamson . Magnes then tried to use
6213-517: The document to work with moderate Arabs towards an alternative to partition that was not tainted by official British endorsement, however this did not work out. Magnes's enthusiasm for the Newcombe-Hyamson proposal can be explained by his commitment to Arab-Jewish cooperation, a binational state and his acknowledgement of the importance of demographic balance for Arab negotiators. When the Peel Commission made its 1937 recommendations about partition and population transfer for Palestine, Magnes sounded
6322-426: The end of 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War, Magnes became involved in collecting funds for the Jewish population in Palestine. The following year, a greater crisis arose with the war on the Eastern Front , devastating the Jews of the Pale of Settlement . Magnes devoted all his energies to this issue. Firstly he set about coordinating the three bodies that had been set up to face the catastrophe. These were
6431-447: The family name had been spelled "Marschall", with a "c", in " Rhenish Bavaria ... near the French boundary". Marshall's friend and colleague, Cyrus Adler noted in his remembrances of Marshall that the latter's "father migrated to the United states in 1849, the year which marked the beginning of migration from Germany following the failure of the revolutionary movements of 1848 ." From New York City, Jacob Marshall had "worked his way up
6540-434: The fight against the alleged libelous attacks featured in the paper, which led to a 1927 lawsuit against the automaker in federal court. Over the course of his career, Marshall served in a variety of notable public service positions, at every level. "In 1890, at the age of thirty-four, he was appointed by Governor Hill to a special commission to revise the judiciary article of the [New York state] constitution ...". In 1894,
6649-439: The formation of a representative community, the Kehillah , and gave Magnes the power to appoint an executive committee. The 25 man committee included Professor Solomon Schechter and Joseph Silverman . They called a convention in February 1909 to form a constituent assembly. Two hundred and twenty-two organisations responded, including 74 synagogues and 42 mutual benefit societies, out of some 3,500 Jewish organisations existing in
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#17327655801536758-416: The founder and first chancellor of the Hebrew University , the leader of the movement for good will between Jews and Arabs in Palestine , a man of prophetic stature by whose life and works the traditions of the rabbinate, as well as the spiritual traditions of all mankind were enriched. The Judah L. Magnes Museum , in Berkeley, California, the first Jewish Museum of the West, was named in Magnes' honor, and
6867-415: The group Brit Shalom , an organization with which Magnes is often associated, but never joined. In a speech given at the reopening of the university following the 1929 riots Magnes was heckled by members of the audience for speaking of the need for Jews and Arabs to find ways to live and work together. He was also attacked in the Jewish press. In late 1937, Magnes welcomed the Hyamson-Newcombe proposal for
6976-417: The help of Louis Marshall before the present New York State Forest Ranger system was finally established in 1912. Marshall was also a driving force behind the establishment of the New York State Ranger School in Wanakena, New York , which was founded in 1912, and a similar school was established at Paul Smith's College . Later, "an ardent conservationist, he fought earnestly every effort to encroach upon
7085-482: The leadership of American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee , a welfare organization he had helped establish. The reason was that the AJJDC had not answered his plea for help for the Palestinian refugees: "How can I continue to be officially associated with an aid organization which apparently so easily can ignore such a huge and acute refugee problem?" Magnes' Yiddish and German -speaking father arrived in San Francisco in 1863 where he abandoned Yiddish. His mother
7194-475: The most widely recognized voices of 20th century American Reform Judaism . Magnes served as the first chancellor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1925), and later as its president (1935–1948). Magnes was born in San Francisco to David and Sophie (Abrahamson) who named him Julian. He changed his name to Judah as a young man. As a young boy, Magnes's family moved to Oakland, California , where he attended Sabbath school at First Hebrew Congregation , and
7303-407: The museum's Western Jewish History Center has a large collection of papers, correspondence, publications, and photographs of Judah Magnes and members of his family. It also contains the conference proceedings of The Life and Legacy of Judah L. Magnes, an International Symposium that the museum sponsored, in 1982. The main avenue in Hebrew University's Givat Ram campus is named after Magnes, and so
7412-426: The newly-formed National Civil Liberties Bureau which defended pacifists and conscientious objectors . In America more than 2,000 prosecutions were brought against war-resisters under the Selective Service Act of 1917 or the Espionage Act of 1917 ; Magnes avoided prosecution since he was over conscription age. Despite coming from a wealthy background—by 1920 he had become financially independent—Magnes reacted to
7521-424: The occasion of Marshall's 70th birthday, the accolade "Champion of Liberty" was bestowed upon him by US Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo : "He is a great lawyer; a great champion of ordered liberty; a great leader of his people; a great lover of mankind." In his memorial essay on Marshall's life, Adler notes that Marshall "had received several honorary degrees: LL.D. from Syracuse University, and D.H.L. from
7630-419: The only man who sat in three [New York state] constitutional conventions ..." In 1923, Marshall was honored with an appointment as a director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In that post, "he fought against racial segregation in housing and against the disenfranchisement of the white primary. ... Defending the rights of Negro voters, he secured a ruling of the Supreme Court in
7739-434: The only ones who are fighting [the literacy test] while a 'great proportion' [of the people] is 'indifferent to what is done'". Marshall was also the leader of the movement that led to the abrogation , in 1911, of the US-Russian Commercial Treaty of 1832. At the end of World War I, Marshall attended the Paris Peace Conference at Versailles, France, in 1919, as President of the American Jewish Committee and Vice-President of
7848-491: The organization of the Jewish community in the city, serving as president throughout its existence from 1908 to 1922. The Kehillah oversaw aspects of Jewish culture, religion, education and labor issues, in addition to helping to integrate America's German and East European Jewish communities. He was also the president of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism from 1912 to 1920. The religious views Magnes extolled as
7957-584: The other major European language used in the Middle East. He also studied Arabic but never gained a command beyond formal exchanges. Hebrew was the instructional language at the Hebrew University. In May 1927 Martin Buber , a friend of Magnes', was invited to lecture at the university. When a group of students demanded that he lecture in Hebrew rather than German he refused and had to be persuaded by Magnes not to cancel his speech. The same year David Shapiro,
8066-663: The outbreak of World War II and continuing violence in Mandate Palestine, Magnes realized that his vision of a voluntary negotiated treaty between Arabs and Jews had become politically impossible. In an article in January 1942 in Foreign Affairs he suggested a joint British-American initiative to prevent the division of Mandate Palestine. The Biltmore Conference in May that year caused Magnes and others to break from
8175-438: The people who, like himself, were of Jewish origin. ... His was an intense Americanism. ... He was a man who helped humanity. ... unafraid, a man whose hand was ready to lift a load ... necessary for the lessening of misfortune or oppression, a worker in our common life who because he was a worker, became a leader, a man who crowded his years with service for the benefit of those about him- altogether an eminent American citizen whom
8284-404: The protection of the public domain, then it had to take into account all possibility for such protection", including protection of migratory birds, "these natural guardians" against "hostile insects, which, if not held in check ... would result in the inevitable destruction" of "both prairie and forest lands". According to Handlin, Marshall's intervention "was a major factor in the decision.". "It
8393-502: The publisher accepts are brought up for discussion in the academic council of the publisher, which serves as an editor. The scientific council's decisions are presented to the publisher's management, which incorporates commercial and economic considerations into the decision whether to publish. Magnes Publishing publishes every year about 60 new books and journals in all fields of academic activity in Israel. In addition, it prints reprints and re-editions of previously printed books. Some of
8502-487: The publisher of the New York Yiddish daily Der Tog announced he would raise $ 50,000 for an endowed chair of Yiddish at the university. This provoked such a strong reaction, with posters around the city accusing the university of treason and demonstrators outside Magnes' house under the slogan "The chair of Jargon, the end of the university", that Magnes was forced to decline the offer. It was not until 1949 that
8611-483: The scientific journals published by Magnes Press: Judah Leon Magnes Judah Leon Magnes ( Hebrew : יהודה לייב מאגנס ; July 5, 1877 – October 27, 1948) was a prominent Reform rabbi in both the United States of America and Mandatory Palestine . He is best remembered as a leader in the pacifist movement of the World War I period, his advocacy of a binational Jewish-Arab state in Palestine, and as one of
8720-460: The sport which he most admired.". In 1899, together with five other families, the Marshalls bought 500 acres (2.0 km ) of shoreline on Lower Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks and hired architect William L. Coulter to design and build a "great camp" to be called Knollwood . Many summers were spent there. According to James Glover, Since the Marshall family never owned a car, they would travel by rail ... to Saranac Lake Village. From there it
8829-609: The standard literature of mid-century." Marshall attended "the Seventh Ward Public school" and later Syracuse High School, from which he graduated in 1874, one of eight males in a graduating class of 22. In addition he attended German and Hebrew schools along with his sisters. In his various school settings, Marshall applied himself to studying French, German, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. The latter he also learned from his father. Later in life, Marshall taught himself Yiddish . Upon high school graduation, Marshall "began
8938-507: The study of law, in accordance with the fashion of that day, in a lawyer's office, that of Nathaniel B. Smith", where he served a two-year apprenticeship. This under his belt, his next step towards a career in law was to "enroll in Columbia University's law school (then Dwight Law School)". According to Marshall, "I really do not know if I am considered an alumnus of the Law School at Columbia University or not. If I am, then it
9047-499: The summer of 1948, he also began to lobby increasingly for a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem. Magnes had been suffering from increasingly-poor health in 1948, and was already seriously ill when he left Palestine in April. On June 10, he suffered a stroke and had to be hospitalized for several weeks. Magnes died in New York of a heart attack on October 27, 1948, at the age of 71. Just before his death, he withdrew from
9156-688: The task of uniting the Jewish communities. In 1880 the city contained around 50,000 Jews mostly of German origin. By 1900 there were nearly a million Jews, most coming from what is now Poland, Hungary, Romania, Belarus and Ukraine, making it the largest Jewish population outside of Europe and the Russian Empire. On 11 October 1908 he was chairman of a conference of Jewish organisations, the invitations to which, in English and Yiddish, had also been signed by labour leader Joseph Barondess and Judge Otto A. Rosalsky , amongst others. The conference authorised
9265-490: The timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed. The devastating forest fires of 1899, in the Adirondack Forest Preserve, which burned 80,000 acres (320 km ) provoked Colonel William F. Fox , Superintendent of New York's state-owned forests, to urge replacing fire wardens with a cadre of professional forest rangers. However, it took more than a decade, the terrible forest fires of 1903 and 1908, and
9374-610: The university had a chair in Yiddish with David Sedan as its first lecturer. Magnes could speak Hebrew eloquently on great occasions, but it was with an American accent and in a literary style. He was more comfortable with English. In New York he had been capable of moving large audiences with his public speaking, such as his 1915 fundraiser for the Joint Distribution Committee at the Carnegie Hall, or
9483-405: The use of students and researchers in the scientific community and among the general public. Magnes Press accepts proposals for the publication of books from researchers from all academic institutions in Israel. Magnes Press is careful about the academic level of the books it publishes through a peer review process, as is customary among university book publishers. After that, the manuscripts that
9592-449: The values and principles by which he led his life, in his last will and testament, he tithed ten percent of his personal net worth to the " Jewish Theological Seminary of America and to twelve other educational and charitable institutions". The Syracuse Post-Standard ' s editorial, written upon Marshall's death in 1929, depicts his motivation as: "Always, it was justice. ... justice to all who were in need of justice. ... justice to
9701-640: The vote in New York's Mayoral elections on an anti-war platform; and Oswald Garrison Villard . Most of these men were involved in what became the People's Council of America for Democracy and the Terms of Peace with Magnes its first chairman. On 30 May 1917 he gave the keynote address to a mass meeting of fifteen thousand people in the Madison Square Gardens . A follow-up meeting in Minneapolis
9810-548: The work of author William Faulkner . Together, James and Lenore founded the New Hope Foundation "to foster world peace and understanding". Ruth married Jacob Billikopf , a Philadelphia labor arbitrator 16 years her senior; like her mother, Ruth died young of cancer, at age 38. Drawing deeply from their childhood experiences in the Adirondacks, the younger boys, Bob and George , became noted conservationists. The sprawling Bob Marshall Wilderness , comprising over
9919-487: The work-week, where they would debate each other, with Loewenstein, the waiter, serving as Judge and jury. During the years 1910 and 1911, while William Howard Taft was president, two openings occurred on the United States Supreme Court. Several of Taft's prominent friends urged him to appoint Marshall, who had the reputation of an outstanding Constitutional lawyer and public citizen. A justice of
10028-664: Was a booming transportation, financial, and manufacturing hub on the Erie Canal , as the United States expanded West . On the brink of the American Civil War , the city was also a well-known stop on the Underground Railroad . Marshall's father, Jacob Marshall, had arrived in New York City at 19 years of age on September 1, 1849, from Neidenstein, Bavaria , in Germany; his mother arrived from Württemberg , Germany, in 1853. According to Louis Marshall,
10137-597: Was a mile and a half ride by rowboat across the lake, or a four-mile surrey ride around the lake. ... The walls were decorated with an assortment of moose antlers, prize fish mounted on plaques, and the heavily antlered head of an elk ... If the elk could have seen with its glass eyes, it ... never would have seen the water, for Louis Marshall would not allow any of the trees blocking the view to be cut. Upon Florence Lowenstein Marshall's death of cancer on May 27, 1916, at age 43, daughter Ruth became surrogate mother for her younger siblings. Marshall found respite in nature: There
10246-605: Was able to organise the distribution of funds bridging the gulf between the Central and Eastern European Jewish communities. Amongst the leaders he met were Max Warburg , head of the German Jewish Society ( Hilfsverein ), and Rabbi Leo Baeck , then Jewish Chaplain in the German Army. He returned to America in the winter of 1916 and launched a fresh relief appeal to raise ten million dollars. At one meeting he
10355-579: Was active in protecting the human and civil rights of Jews and on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (of which he was a director), and fought major legal battles on behalf of all minorities. By the end of his legal career, Marshall had "argue[d] more cases before the U.S. Supreme Court than any other private lawyer of his generation." The Syracuse Post-Standard' s editorial on Marshall, written upon his death in 1929, portrayed his motivation as: "Always, it
10464-469: Was again able to raise a million dollars in donations and pledges in a single evening. With President Woodrow Wilson 's decision to enter the war, he switched his attention to anti-war campaigning. Magnes was a Pacifist activist. According to Israeli professor Arthur A. Goren , he considered himself a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and the prophet Jeremiah , and opposed all forms of nationalism by military force. He had developed Pacifist views in 1898 as
10573-596: Was also German-speaking. Magnes grew up with English as his first language but his command of German was sufficient for his two years studying in Germany. In 1895 he heard Russian orator Rabbi Hirsch Masliansky lecture in Hebrew and this awoke his interest in modern Hebrew . While in Germany he joined a group of young Zionists dedicated to learning Hebrew. He also made a determined effort to learn Yiddish which he put to good use when working with new immigrants in New York. Once in Palestine he studied and became fluent in French,
10682-557: Was also a conservationist , and the force behind re-establishing the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University , which evolved into today's State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF). Louis Marshall was born on December 14, 1856, in Syracuse, New York , to two Jewish immigrants, recently arrived from Germany. Founded just eight years earlier, in 1847, Syracuse
10791-572: Was banned and hastily reconvened in Chicago but with a military force threatening to break it up. Magnes moved home in Connecticut because of hostility from his neighbours and was interviewed by an agent from the Department of Justice . One of his colleagues from the "Joint", B. D. Bogen, was questioned by Attorney-General Thomas Watt Gregory about Magnes' activities. Magnes worked with
10900-407: Was doubtful about the constitutionality of many laws passed on its behalf. He was suspicious of politicians like Theodore Roosevelt or Woodrow Wilson who choreographed their political campaigns to appeal emotionally to the masses; and he considered those in favor of a direct primary or a referendum "misguided", "demagogues" or "rogues". As full as was his professional life, family played
11009-599: Was elected to serve as delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention, representing the 24th District. In 1902, Marshall was appointed chairman of a commission investigating the slum conditions on New York City's Lower East Side, where many Jewish immigrants had settled. In 1908, he was appointed chairman of the New York State Immigration Commission . In 1910, Marshall was appointed
11118-419: Was involved in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), acting with Louis Brandeis as the mediator in a strike of 60,000 to 70,000 cloakmakers in New York City in 1910, and in 1919 was the arbitrator in a clothing-workers' strike. As his life became stable and more organized he acquired a circle of intimate friends. It was his habit to have lunch and relax at Monch's Restaurant with a group of lawyers during
11227-435: Was justice ... Justice to all who were in need of justice ... justice to the people who, like himself, were of Jewish origin. ... His was an intense Americanism. ... He was a man who helped humanity ... unafraid, a man whose hand was ready to lift a load ... necessary for the lessening of misfortune or oppression, a worker in our common life who because he was a worker, became a leader, a man who crowded his years with service for
11336-553: Was perhaps deeply ironic, as Marshall had been a non-Zionist for most of his life. At the time of his death, he was president of the American Jewish Committee , and was attending the conference in that capacity. Marshall was in Zurich for the first gathering of the Extended Jewish Agency , an institution organized by him and Chaim Weizmann to enhance Zionist perspective and foster diaspora-Jewish identity. True to
11445-564: Was pessimistic, and feared an Arab victory due to the Arabs' overwhelming numerical superiority. Magnes expressed the hope that if a Jewish state were declared, the United States would impose economic sanctions, saying that there could be no war without money or ammunition. During a conversation with George Marshall on May 4, 1948, he asked the US to impose sanctions on both sides. Calling the Yishuv an "artificial community", he predicted that sanctions would halt "the Jewish war machine". He supported
11554-531: Was related by marriage to Emanu-El's spiritual leader, Rabbi Judah L. Magnes , whose wife, Beatrice Lowenstein, was Marshall's sister-in-law.) Despite the implicit contradiction, to Marshall there was only one Judaism. In 1906, with Jacob Schiff and Cyrus Adler, Marshall helped found the American Jewish Committee (AJC) as a means for keeping watch over legislation and diplomacy relevant to American Jews, and to convey requests, information, and political threats to US government officials. Marshall eventually became
11663-460: Was scarcely a day, in New York, when he did not walk through Central Park; and he treasured the periods he could spend at Knollwood. The silence of the forest paths brought a "healing to the soul." Feasting his eyes upon the hemlocks and the birches, often he felt as if his lost wife were at his side, and that made of Knollwood "one of the sacred places of the earth." In adulthood, Marshall's children followed in his footsteps. The eldest, James, became
11772-577: Was sceptical that it would ever come about. He made an extensive tour of the region, travelling on horseback and camping at night. The tour included reaching the summit of Mount Hermon . He returned to America by way of the seventh Zionist Congress in The Hague . His wife accompanied him on his second visit in 1912. They stayed in Jerusalem where there was some discussion of establishing a Hebrew University . They also visited Merhavia and Degania in
11881-484: Was taught by Ray Frank , the first Jewish woman to preach formally from a pulpit in the United States. Magnes's views of the Jewish people was strongly influenced by First Hebrew's Rabbi Levy, and it was at First Hebrew's building on 13th and Clay that Magnes first began preaching. His bar mitzvah speech of 1890 was quoted at length in the Oakland Tribune . Magnes graduated from Oakland High School as
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