Judah L. Magnes: An American Jewish Nonconformist

6. The Chancellor of the Hebrew University

• • 169 6 The Chancellor of the Hebrew University W h i l e h e wa s i n E u rope during the summer and early fall of 1922, Judah Magnes worked with Jews in Poland, concentrating on methods of raising standards in their schools and outlining ways for the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) to help. Through the JDC, Magnes felt, American Jewry could show that after the war it continued to support Jewish institutions throughout the world.1 In October 1922, as planned, the Magnes family crossed the Mediterranean for Palestine and docked in Jaffa on November 2—Balfour Day, the day marking the official British statement in 1917 that supported the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine. Although he had already sent his report about his activities in Europe to the JDC, while still on board the ship, Magnes added notes attached to some documents to complement the report. This dispatch reasserted and highlighted the need for American funds to help Jewish education in Poland; as he disembarked in Palestine, he was still thinking about how to revitalize Jewish culture in Europe, with American Jewry playing a central role.2 The year the Magnes family arrived in Palestine, they were joined by about one hundred sixty other American Jews who were immigrating to Palestine. From 1922 to 1931, 277 Americans immigrated annually. But even as American Jewish immigration peaked in 1935 when 1,826 landed on the shores of Palestine, during the entire period between 1919 and 1939 the population of American Jews was proportionally small, comprising about 3 percent of the entire Jewish immigration into Palestine. Moreover, many of the American Jews who immigrated to Palestine during this time had vastly different backgrounds and interests than Judah Magnes. Although some were American-born, middle-class urban professionals, most were either 170 | J u d a h L . M a g n e s Orthodox Jews from Eastern Europe or chalutzim, American Jews eager to work the land in Palestine as agriculturalists.3 The story of American Zionism during the 1920s is a complex history . Despite the enthusiasm for the Balfour Declaration, membership of the Zionist Organization of America significantly decreased during the 1920s, from two hundred thousand in 1918 to approximately twenty-two thousand in 1926. This was part of a more general decline in membership for organizations in America during the 1920s. But the decline in membership also reflected an increasing lack of interest in Jewish causes by “acculturating” Jews. The internal divisions within American Zionism also contributed to the decline. Immigrant Zionists split from Brandeis and his supporters (known as the “Brandeis Group”). In an effort to dispel suspicions of dual loyalty, American Zionists as a whole tended not to promote immigration to Palestine. But American Zionism remained vibrant. American Zionists promoted the upbuilding of Palestine and economic development. The Brandeis Group focused their attention on investment like the Palestine Economic Corporation while Labor Zionists focused on aiding the Histadrut (General Federation of Jewish Workers in the Land of Israel). American Zionism thus became increasingly philanthropic, intent on raising money. American Zionism was also idealistic. Ignoring or unaware of the actual experience of Jews living in Palestine, American Zionists formulated an idealistic vision of Palestine that failed to consider the practical needs of the Jewish community in Palestine. The Brandeis Group projected a utopian image of Palestine that incorporated American progressive ideals of equality and social justice.4 Moreover, while membership of the Zionist Organization of America declined, the idea of building a Jewish home in Palestine was increasingly accepted within the broader American Jewish community. Chaim Weizmann needed the financial resources of wealthy American non-Zionists and sought to form an alliance with them. They were interested, they wanted to involve themselves in philanthropic endeavors to aid the upbuilding of Palestine, and as will be discussed later in this chapter, they wanted to have a voice in the Jewish Agency.5 In Judah Magnes, wealthy non-Zionists had an American Zionist ally who would enable them to have a foothold on Palestine. In a letter dated April 11, 1924, he assured the American Jewish financier Felix Warburg of an alliance between Jews in Palestine and American Jews in the upbuilding of the Hebrew University. In so doing, Magnes defined his own role as that of the link between Palestinian and American Jewry.6 The Chancellor of the Hebrew University...