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11 Gown and Town ARNOLD J. BAND Given the historical circumstances, Judah Magnes's stewardship as Chancellor, then President, of the Hebrew University, was one of the most paradoxical chapters both of his life and of modern Jewish intellectual history. His background, his history of brilliant failures in New York, his spiritual and psychological distance from the temper of the Yishuv from 1921 through 1948, all mitigated against success; yet, when one has to assess the enduring contributions of Magnes's intensely active community life, one is forced to concede that his most enduring achievement was the Hebrew University. The history of this stormy period has yet to be written. One thing is certain: neither Bentwich 's hagiographic treatment in For Zion's Sake nor Goren's pages on the period in his Introduction to Dissenter in Zion are adequate assessments of his tale. While both report his struggles with Weizmann and other members of The Board of Governors, they slight the constant internal political struggle and the fascinating ideological and temperamental chasm which separated Magnes from most of his colleagues. Magnes, after all, was not a scholar in the academic sense, certainly not in the Germanic-philologic tradition of many of his leading professors; he had no real experience in university administration; and he was by no means in tune with the burgeoning extra-academic intellectual community, mostly of Eastern European background. Magnes, it is true, had a vision of what a Hebrew University should be, but no vision could carry a man through such perilous times and formidable adversaries unless it was accompanied by meaningful that is, financially backed, political connections and the cunning for bureaucratic infighting. Magnes, fortunately, had both. The support 155 156 PART IV. THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY of wealthy Jews in America and England has been well documented; as yet, however, no description of the internal battles at the Hebrew University during Magnes's reign has been written. While this history is beyond the scope of this paper, we cannot approach our topic without noting the absence of any serious study of Magnes's administration of the Hebrew University. To gain some perspective on Magnes's achievement at the Hebrew University, it would be helpful to study the image Magnes projected in modern Hebrew literature, specifically in the works of two of the key writers of the period. S. Y. Agnon and Uri Zvi Greenberg, both probably much better known today in Israeli intellectual circles than Magnes himself. Both, consequently, have contributed - and still do contribute - much to the formation of the historical image of the man and his activities. Before approaching Agnon or Greenberg, however, I conjure up, by way of introduction, the oracular figure of BerI Katznelson , the cultural Nestor of the Labor Movement during most of Magnes's tenure at the Hebrew University.l It was BerI who set the cultural tone of the Labor intelligentsia - which included most of the influential figures in the Yishuv - through his articles, his seminars, his editorial control of Davar and his launching of its literary supplement in the 1930's. If there was any other postsecondary institution of import in the Yishuv during the Magnes period at the Hebrew University, it was obviously the institutions of the Labor Party where all cultural paths - ideational, publications, organized seminars - led to and from BerI Katznelson. One cannot talk about the Hebrew University in this period without assessing the alternative postsecondary institution of culture. Magnes and BerI first met when Bed came to New York in November 1921 to raise funds for a wo:rker's bank in Palestine. Although he was in one of the most politicailly difficult periods of his life, Magnes extended himself to assist Berl and his delegation: he introduced him to Abe Cahan, the prestigious editor of the Forverts, a Bundist hence, anti-Zionist, newspaper, and even persuaded Cahan to publish a letter that Magnes wrote warmly endorsing the aims of the delegation while concealing their Zionist orientation. Magnes, in fact, became the Treasurer of the "Committee of American Workers for the Worker's Bank in Eretz Israel;' Bank ha-Poalim, which throughout the years has developed into one of Israel's leading financial institutions . A year later in December, together with Einstein and Ahad HaAm ,2 Magnes attended the Third Conference of BerI's Ahdut haAvodah in Tel Aviv. A close friendship developed between them that endured even through the periods of great tension: 1929, the Hebron Gown and Town 157 massacres...
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