Judah Magnes (1877–1948)

Victor Ries (Germany 1907-2013 California)
USA, 1969
Bronze, h. 1 ¾ x w. 1 ¾ in.
Cincinnati Skirball Museum, Jewish-American Hall of Fame Collection, gift of Mel and Esther Wacks, Debra Wacks, and Shari Wacks, 2019.7.1

Born in San Francisco, Magnes grew up in Oakland and was the first native Californian to receive a rabbinical degree from Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. He spent most of his professional life in New York, where he served Temple Israel in Brooklyn and Temple Emanu-El in New York City. A leader in Jewish communal affairs, Magnes helped found the American Jewish Committee in 1906. Magnes also helped found the Yiddish daily Der Tag, the Society for the Advancement of Judaism, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Joint Distribution Committee. He was Secretary of the Federation of American Zionists and a lifelong friend of Henrietta Szold, with whom he helped turn a small women’s social group into Hadassah, the world’s largest Zionist organization. Magnes emigrated to Palestine in 1922 and became intimately involved in the establishment of Hebrew University where he served as chancellor and later president. Magnes felt that the university was the ideal place for Jewish and Arab cooperation and worked tirelessly to further this objective. His compassion for people led him to appeal for a bi-national state of Jews and Arabs. Just before the United Nations made its momentous decision establishing the State of Israel, Magnes spoke before the world body. He became ill shortly after and was buried in his beloved Jerusalem.