The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People Jerusalem (CAHJP) PRIVATE COLLECTION JUDAH L. MAGNES – P 3 Introduction Judah Leib Magnes was born in San Francisco in July 1877 and died in New York in October 1948, while on a visit to the United States. Both in America and in Israel (then Palestine), where he settled in 1922, he was active in many spheres of Jewish and general public life. A few of the official capacities in which he served were: assistant rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, New York; secretary and later vice president of the Federation of American Zionists; Chairman of the Executive Committee of the New York City "Kehillah"; Chancellor and later President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Chairman of the Hadassah Emergency Council in Palestine; Chairman of the Middle East Advisory Council of the JDC Distribution Committee (during W.W. II). Every phase of his activity is reflected in his papers, which, in addition to their biographical importance, contain source material of great value to scholars conducting research on a wealth of subjects not necessarily connected to Magnes himself. Magnes' papers were deposited at the Jewish Historical General Archives by his widow, Beatrice Magnes, and his sons, David and Jonathan, on a number of occasions. In 1955 Mrs. Magnes gave the files relating to Magnes' American years. In 1961 she transferred files relating to his activities in Palestine. Upon her death in 1969, her sons deposited personal material, through the courtesy of Professor Aryeh Goren. The collection was completed upon the transfer of various files held until 1977 by the Department of Manuscripts and Archives of the Jewish National and University Library. Most of the files from Magnes' American period bore record numbers which had been assigned by his office staff at the "Kehillah" in New York. They were arranged in consecutively numbered series, each bearing the letter F (F1, F2, F3…), in which the files, in turn, were labeled consecutively by a number and the letter L. They thus bore P 3 - Judah L. Magnes numbers such as F2-L21 or F48-L127. A supplementary number of files were numbered SP 1 to SP 321. All these files were kept in the offices of the "Kehillah" and its successors until 1935, when Magnes designated from a file index the files he wished sent to him. The remainder were destroyed. The files sent pertained not only to "Kehillah" matters but to Mages' personal affairs, as well as to many of his other public activities in America. In Jerusalem a list of these files was made, consisting of no more than the original numbers and the original file names (not always indicative of the files' actual contents). For a long time this list was the Magnes archives' primary finding aid. The original file index and Magnes' correspondence on dispatching the files to him are now located in filed P3/1653. The rest of Magnes' files bore only temporary numbers, assigned in the course of their classification. The Magnes papers were ultimately arranged in one continuity. All the original file numbers were discarded and the files were renumbered, consecutively, in the order of their appearance in the list. The entire collection was accorded the symbol P3 and the files designated P3/1 to P3/2679, respectively. A key matching the new and old numbers enables the identification of files already quoted under old numbers. It is available at the Central Archives. The final inventory has three main divisions: Personal – ranging from childhood to 1948; Public activity in the United States – ranging until 1922 (when Magnes left America); Public activity in Palestine – from 1922 until 1948. Each division, in turn, has chronologically arranged subdivisions. The subdivision relating to "Kehillah" work was placed at the end of the American period because these files were not Magnes' own files, but the actual files of the "Kehillah" office. As Magnes' personal and public lives were so intertwined with one another, the study of any particular aspect of his public life requires an examination of his personal correspondence for that period. The inventory was compiled in English, the predominant language of the files. Names are generally given as they appear in the files. Hebrew or Yiddish terms are placed in quotation marks. A partial index is to be found at the end. Subjects appearing in the table of contents are not repeated in the index; however, cross-references have been made to them in the inventory itself. The abbreviation "incl." is employed in file 2 2 P 3 - Judah L. Magnes descriptions to highlight items of special interest; the term "intus" indicates material not directly connected to the file's subject. A number of people took part in the completion of the inventory, among them, the late Mrs. Rachel Blumenthal, Mrs. Vera Praussnitz, Eli Mizrachi and Robert Fisher. Among the many publications and exhibitions based on the Magnes papers are: Norman Bentwich, For Zion's Sake A Biography of Judah L. Magnes, Philadelphia, 1954. Arthur A. Goren, New York Jews and the Quest for Community, New York, 1970. Judah Leib Magnes on the Centenary of his Birth, catalog of an exhibition in the Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, 1977. Jerusalem, December 1978, Hadassah Assouline In the ensuing years, a number of books about Magnes have been published, among them: Like all the Nations?: The Life and Legacy of Judah L. Magnes, edited by William M. Brinner and Moses Rischin, 1987 Dissenter in Zion, Arthur A. Goren, editor, 1982 From "Brit Shalom" to "Ichud": Judah Leib Magnes and the Struggle for a binational state in Palestine, Joseph Heller, 2003 Judah L. Magnes: an American Jewish non-conformist, Daniel Kotzin, 2012 3 3 P 3 - Judah L. Magnes Table of contents PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE WITH FAMILY p. 8 CORRESPONDENCE IN THE USA p. 8 CORRESPONDENCE IN PALESTINE General p. 10 Alphabetically arranged files of personal correspondence Palestine p. 11 America p. 11 Greetings p. 12 FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENCE p. 12 DIARIES p. 12 NOTES AND DRAFTS p. 13 PRINTED SPEECHES AND ARTICLES p. 14 ARTICLES ABOUT MAGNES p. 15 PERSONAL – MISCELLANEOUS p. 16 MRS . BEATRICE MAGNES (NEE LOWENSTEIN ) p. 16 PUBLIC ACTIVITY (UNITED STATES) RABBINICAL , SCIENTIFIC AND GENERAL PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITIES Rabbinical activity and Reform Judaism p. 16 Jewish Self-Defence p. 17 Jewish religious societies p. 18 The Jewish Theological Seminary p. 18 The Pro-Falasha Committee p. 18 The American Jewish Committee (AJC) p. 19 The American Jewish Congress p. 20 Philanthropic work in Palestine p. 20 Miscellaneous activities p. 21 Correspondence concerning aid to people and organizations p. 22 in matters of literature and scholarship Correspondence on support of the Jewish theater p. 22 Correspondence concerning the support of Jewish artists p. 22 and art institutions Correspondence on support of various Jewish periodicals p. 23 Correspondence regarding assistance to various individuals p. 23 ZIONISM – ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIVITY The Federation of American Zionists (later Zionist p. 23 Organization of America ZOA) The Actions Committee of the World Zionist Organization p. 24 The Provisional Executive Committee for General Zionist p. 24 Affairs, USA The "Bnei Zion" Order (Sons of Zion), New York p. 25 Young Judea p. 25 4 4 P 3 - Judah L. Magnes Correspondents p. 25 Miscellaneous p. 26 ZIONISM – ACTIVITIES IN PALESTINE Economic activity and land development p. 27 Education p. 28 Health and Sanitation p. 29 RELIEF WORK FOR JEWISH WAR SUFFERERS Coordination, fundraising, etc. p. 29 Central Relief Committee p. 30 People's Relief Committee p. 30 American Jewish Relief Committee (AJRC) p. 30 Joint Distribution Committee on the American Fund for p. 31 Jewish War Sufferers Palestine and the Middle East p. 33 Central and Western Europe p. 34 Rumania and the Balkans p. 35 Eastern Europe p. 35 ANTI -WAR AND RELATED GENERAL PUBLIC ACTIVITY Pacifism p. 38 The People's Council of America p. 39 Civil liberties p. 39 Socialism p. 39 Soviet Russia p. 40 Soviet Jewry p. 40 Miscellaneous p. 41 Printed matter p. 42 "K EHILLAH " (N EW YORK ) General "Kehillah" constitution and incorporation p. 43 Advisory Council p. 43 Executive Committee p. 43 Conventions p. 44 Finances p. 46 Organization and Propaganda Committee p. 46 "Kehillah" and the "American Jewish Committee" p. 46 "Kehillah" and East-Side bank failures p. 46 Activities against anti-Semitism p. 47 "Kehillah" reorganization p. 47 Correspondence on various "Kehillah" matters p. 47 Miscellaneous p. 49 Press clippings and printed matter p. 49 Correspondence on the formation of other "Kehillah"s p. 50 Education Committee on Education p. 50 General Education Board p. 50 Bureau of Education p. 50 The League of Jewish Youth p. 51 General correspondence on education between p. 51 Magnes and others 5 5 P 3 - Judah L. Magnes Education activities related to the "Kehillah" – The p. 52 Jewish Education Association The Board of Jewish School Aid p. 53 "Menorah" Societies p. 53 Crime (Bureau of Social Morals, also called Vigilance p. 53 Committee, Welfare Committee and Vice Committee) Social and philanthropic work Statistics p. 54 Committee on Social Philanthropic Work p. 54 Bureau of Philanthropy p. 54 Vocational guidance and employment p. 54 The School for Jewish Communal Work p. 55 The Federation of Jewish Philanthropies p. 55 Activities on behalf of aliens and immigrants p. 55 Miscellaneous p. 55 Industry Bureau of Industry p. 56 Arbitration p. 56 Mediation in various industries p. 56 Religion Committee on Religious Organizations p. 57 Bureau of Religious Affairs p. 57 Conference of Orthodox Congregations p. 57 "Va'ad Harabbonim" p. 57 "Kashrut" p. 57 "Milah" (circumcision) p. 57 Divorce p. 58 Action on behalf of Sabbath observers p.