1. For the Agranat family genealogy, see Paula Agranat Hurwitz, The Agranat Family: These Are the Generations (Los Angeles, 1988), 43.

2. John M. Allswang, A House for All Peoples: Ethnic Politics in Chicago, 1890-1936 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1971), 20. break

3. Later in his life, Aaron gave a series of lectures in Haifa, on a diverse range of topics, from Maimonides, medical history, women in the Talmud, and Jewish liturgy, to the Jewish theater. Aaron Agranat, untitled, Agranat papers, Agranat family, Jerusalem.

4. Irving Howe, World of Our Fathers (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976), 205.

5. Simon himself attributed his dread of sailing to Palestine to his fear of sailing across Lake Michigan to visit his grandmother in Milwaukee.

6. Dorothy Kurgeans Goldberg, interview by the author, Washington, D.C., November 1983.

7. Von Humboldt Record 3 (January 1919).

8. Esther Schour, interview by the author, Chicago, Illinois, March 1983; Mary Satinover, interview by the author, Chicago, Illinois, March 1983; Leo Wolf, interview by the author, Tucson, Arizona, March 1983; Ben Sackheim, interview by the author, Tucson, Arizona, March 1983.

9. Ben Sackheim, letter to the author, 14 January 1983.

10. Elias Canetti, Crowds and Power, trans. Carol Stewart (New York: Viking Press, 1962), 394-96.

11. Richard Hofstader, The Age of Reform (New York: Vintage Books, 1955), 5, 11; Arthur A. Ekirch Jr., Progressivism in America (New York: New Viewpoints, 1974), 72.

12. Von Humboldt Record 3 (January 1919).

13. Simon Agranat, "School Spirit," Tuley High School Review 28 (December 1921): 3. Agranat's emphasis.

14. Von Humboldt Record 3 (January 1919).

15. Kevin Tierney, Darrow: A Biography (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1979), 203.

16. Upton Sinclair, ed., The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest (Philadelphia: John C. Winston, 1915; New York: L. Stuart, 1963), 22.

17. Ibid., 9.

16. Upton Sinclair, ed., The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest (Philadelphia: John C. Winston, 1915; New York: L. Stuart, 1963), 22.

17. Ibid., 9.

18. Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) was the founding father of political Zionism. His pamphlet The Jewish State ([ Der Judenstaat ], trans. Harry Zohn [New York: Herzl Press, 1970]) argued that the Jewish question in Europe could not be resolved unless Jews had a state of their own. In 1897 he organized the World Zionist Congress and served as its first president.

19. Yonathan Shapiro, Leadership of the American Zionist Organization, 1897-1930 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1971), 52.

20. The source of inspiration for both the Conservative movement and Young Judea was Professor Israel Friedlaender. Baila R. Shargel, Practical Dreamer: Israel Friedlaender and the Shaping of American Judaism (New York: The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1985), 12. In 1933, Simon married Israel Friedlaender's daughter, Carmel. See discussion on p. 54.

21. The Herzlite (1921), a private publication in the author's files.

22. Ibid.

23. Ibid.

21. The Herzlite (1921), a private publication in the author's files.

22. Ibid.

23. Ibid.

21. The Herzlite (1921), a private publication in the author's files.

22. Ibid.

23. Ibid.

24. Simon played Major Spence, who defended the young man in his military trial. Another indication that the issue of American Jewish identity was on continue

Simon's mind is the fact that his speech at his bar mitzvah was about the difficulties of growing up Jewish in America.

25. Philippa Strum, Louis D. Brandeis: Justice for the People (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1984), 266; Arthur Hertzberg, The Jews in America: Four Centuries of an Uneasy Encounter: A History (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989), 222-25.

26. Zionist Organization of America, Brandeis on Zionism: A Collection of Addresses and Statements by Louis D. Brandeis (New York: H. Wolff, 1942), 29. Agranat invoked this formula, quoting Brandeis, in C.A. 630/70, Tamarin v. State of Israel , 26(1) P.D. 197, 205 (1972).

27. George L. Berlin, "The Brandeis-Weizmann Dispute," American Jewish Historical Quarterly 60 (1970-1971): 37, 40.

28. Shapiro, Leadership, 161-79; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press, 1975).

29. Chaim Weizmann, Trial and Error: The Autobiography of Chaim Weizmann (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1949), vol. 2, 267.

30. Norman Rose, Chaim Weizmann: A Biography (New York: Viking Press, 1986), 210.

31. The distinction is Ussishkin's. Urofsky, American Zionism, 295; see also Urofsky's analysis of American and European culture on pp. 283-98.

32. The Herzlite. Emphasis added.

33. Strum, Brandeis , 256.

34. Harry Barnard, The Forging of an American Jew: The Life and Times of Judge Julian W. Mack (New York: Herzl Press, 1974), 281.

35. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act V, Scene 5, line 68.

36. Ibid., Act I, Scene 2, line 169.

35. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act V, Scene 5, line 68.

36. Ibid., Act I, Scene 2, line 169.

37. The Herzlite. Agranat's emphasis.

38. Wolf, interview.

39. Theodor Herzl, Altneuland , trans. Lotte Levensohn (New York: Herzl Press, 1987); Rubin's Tel Aviv: A Salute to Tel Aviv on the Occasion of Its Seventy-Fifth Anniversary (n.p., n.d.).

40. Weizmann, Trial and Error, vol. 2, 318-19.

41. Ibid., 238.

40. Weizmann, Trial and Error, vol. 2, 318-19.

41. Ibid., 238.

42. Simon Agranat, "Bublik Speech" (a lecture given at the Hebrew University, July 1979).

43. Simon Agranat, "Concerning the Hebrew University," Chicago Yidisher Kuryer, 4 April 1925, English section of the weekend edition.

44. Agranat, "Bublik Speech" (emphasis added). Agranat had a long and complex relationship with the Hebrew University. He had served as a professor of criminal law since a law faculty had been established and is universally recognized as the founder of modern Israeli criminal law. The university, however, was not consistently kind to him. When told that he could no longer offer courses, he was stunned to learn that despite more than fifteen years of teaching he was not entitled to any pension. A proud man, he kept his pain to himself, but during the Bublik ceremony he did not resist the temptation to gently chide the university: "In 1950 I was asked by the Dean . . . to teach criminal law. . . . This is a position of an adjunct professor, he said to me, limited to one year only. . . . Despite this continue

constraint I agreed, with no hesitation, to take the task upon myself. . . . [The search for my replacement] took a long time." This remark was characteristic, both because of its subtle humor and because it captured the man: he would not forget wrongs done to him, but he detested fights for personal material gain.

45. 1348 Y.B. Liber Assisarium.

46. Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2d ed. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985), 613.

47. Oscar Kraines, The World and Ideas of Ernst Freund: The Search for General Principles of Legislation and Administrative Law (University: University of Alabama Press, 1974). See also Frank L. Ellsworth, Law on the Midway: The Founding of the University of Chicago Law School (Chicago: Law School of the University of Chicago, 1977).

48. Agranat contrasted the closed and open legal system in the following manner: "[A] 'closed' legal system [is] . . . one requiring the answers to all legal questions to be logically deduced from a fixed number of prescribed rules. . . . It is thus distinct from an 'open' system, which permits the gradual filling of legal gaps in accordance with changing circumstances, by the application of general standards and with the help of principles of equity considerations and of public policy." Simon Agranat, "The Supreme Court in Action," Jerusalem Post, 6 May 1973.

49. Morton J. Horwitz, The Transformation of American Law, 1870-1960: The Crisis of Legal Orthodoxy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 17; G. Edward White, Patterns of American Legal Thought (Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill, 1978), 97-191. It is quite possible that in the University of Chicago the struggle was less manifest than it had been at Yale, Harvard, or Columbia. The Law School at the University of Chicago was established on an understanding that there was room for both approaches. See Ellsworth, Law on the Midway, 74-77. Most Chicago law professors tried to pay lip service to Freund's insistence on the interdisciplinary approach. James Parker Hall, for example, said:

The case method . . . which has achieved so complete a mastery of American legal education of the better sort, has certain unrivaled advantages in dealing with fundamental or difficult legal problems. . . . But, as has often been observed, it is a slow method, and in a given time [more] . . . ground can be covered . . . by . . . didactic, or descriptive, or informational [methods]. It is not so often perceived, however, that this is not so much a criticism of the case method as a statement . . . that there is no easy and rapid method of acquiring an adequate professional knowledge of . . . law. History, economics, politics, religion, and all the important emotional reactions of society have affected the reasoned processes by which its doctrines have been wrought. (James Parker Hall, "Some Observations on the Law School Curriculum," 5 Am. Law School Rev. 61 [1923].)

In addition, people like Hall had been influenced not only by the father of the case method, Christopher Columbus Langdell, but also by Roscoe Pound, one of the founders of sociological jurisprudence, and they imparted to their students the notion that legal rules reflected the balancing of interests.

50. This tendency, which became more pronounced in later years and typified his performance as a judge, could have also contributed to his failure in his first bar examination in 1929. See discussion on pp. 37, 69.

51. Until his last year of law school, Simon lived with his family in Albany Park, worked as a teacher in a Reform synagogue, and commuted to law school. Thus he was probably remote from the school's social life. break

52. Benjamin L. Sacks, letter to the author, 14 February 1983.

53. "After the law school graduation ceremony, Simon wanted me to go to Palestine to practice law. He assured me that there were great opportunities for us in that country. He suggested, after studying Turkish and English laws, we would become successful lawyers in the Holy Land. I declined--he immigrated to Palestine. Simon did have the ability to look into the future and anticipate the possibilities in Palestine for our people." Samuel J. Benjamin, letter to the author, 3 April 1983.

54. Leon M. Despres, letter to the author, 14 February 1983.

55. Kraines, Ernst Freund, 154.

56. Joseph S. Shubow, "When We Lighted the Torch," Avukah Annual 5 (1930): 37, 38.

57. Ibid., 39. With the rise of European Fascism and anti-Semitism and the simultaneous collapse of the British commitment to the Jewish National Home, Avukah grew militant. It agitated in favor of a Jewish state, a "non-minority Jewish center in Palestine." It became a burden on the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), which took a cautious diplomatic approach toward Britain and the future of Palestine and feared that Avukah was under Communist influence. By the end of 1941, the Executive Committee of the ZOA recommended that recognition of Avukah as the sole Zionist Junior Organization be rescinded. See The Avukah Problem: A Special Report by the American Zionist Youth Commission (New York: American Zionist Youth Commission, 1942), Jewish Archives, Cincinnati. Avukah closed down in 1943, after a majority of its membership had enlisted or been drafted into the armed forces. See Melvin I. Urofsky and David W. Levy, eds., Letters of Louis D. Brandeis, vol. 5 (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1978), 645.

56. Joseph S. Shubow, "When We Lighted the Torch," Avukah Annual 5 (1930): 37, 38.

57. Ibid., 39. With the rise of European Fascism and anti-Semitism and the simultaneous collapse of the British commitment to the Jewish National Home, Avukah grew militant. It agitated in favor of a Jewish state, a "non-minority Jewish center in Palestine." It became a burden on the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), which took a cautious diplomatic approach toward Britain and the future of Palestine and feared that Avukah was under Communist influence. By the end of 1941, the Executive Committee of the ZOA recommended that recognition of Avukah as the sole Zionist Junior Organization be rescinded. See The Avukah Problem: A Special Report by the American Zionist Youth Commission (New York: American Zionist Youth Commission, 1942), Jewish Archives, Cincinnati. Avukah closed down in 1943, after a majority of its membership had enlisted or been drafted into the armed forces. See Melvin I. Urofsky and David W. Levy, eds., Letters of Louis D. Brandeis, vol. 5 (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1978), 645.

58. Anita Shapira, Herev ha-Yonah [Land and Power] (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1992), 141-56. Shapira sees the events of Tel Hai as the first to form "the defensive ethos" in Zionist historiography, according to which the Yishuv was peace seeking and nonbelligerent but at the same time determined to defend its settlements against aggression. According to the myth, the last words of Yosef Trumpeldor, the commander of the small force in Tel Hai, who died in the battle, were, "It is good to die for our country." This statement has become a motto in Israeli education. For a more provocative historical interpretation, see Idith Zertal, "Ha-Meunim veha-Kdoshim: Kinunah shel Martirologiyah Leumit [The Tortured and the Saints: The Establishment of a National Martyrology]," Zmanim 48 (1994): 28; Yael Zerubavel, Recovered Roots: Collective Memory and the Making of Israeli National Tradition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).

59. See A. D. Gordon, "On Labor," Avukah Annual 5 (1930): 128. The political sympathies of Avukah also lay with labor Zionism. Max Rhoade, the president of Avukah, observed that "[w]e have set for ourselves . . . the goal of bringing the living creative Palestine of today--Erets Yisrael ha-Ovedet--Laboring Palestine--to the Jewish Youth of America--insofar as we are unable to bring them to Erets Yisrael ha-Ovedet." Max Rhoade, "Avukah Convention," New Palestine, 2 November 1928, 345.

60. Simon appended to the proposal correspondence with the leadership of the Youth Movement in Palestine and with the Keren Kayemet (Jewish National Fund), inquiring about the viability of his project. The responses from Palestine were at best lukewarm. break

61. Palestine Project for Avukah, Avukah's Future (Chicago: Chicago Chapter of Avukah, 1928).

62. Ibid., 7.

61. Palestine Project for Avukah, Avukah's Future (Chicago: Chicago Chapter of Avukah, 1928).

62. Ibid., 7.

63. New Palestine, 11 November 1927, 379, announced that "on Dec. 4th Chicago Avukah will present a Forum and Musicale, the proceeds of which are to go toward the Avukah project in Palestine."

64. Ibid., 13-20 July 1928, 55.

63. New Palestine, 11 November 1927, 379, announced that "on Dec. 4th Chicago Avukah will present a Forum and Musicale, the proceeds of which are to go toward the Avukah project in Palestine."

64. Ibid., 13-20 July 1928, 55.

65. Annual Avukah Report, Yivo Archives, New York, 1928.

66. Not only did the national leadership oppose them, but their correspondence with the institutions of the Yishuv made it clear that there was no enthusiasm for the project in Tel Aviv. Palestine Project for Avukah, Avukah's Future .

67. Shlomo Avinery, Arlosoroff (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989), 11-59, 99-112.

68. Miriam Getter, Hayim Arlozorov: Biyografyah Politit [Chaim Arlosoroff: A Political Biography] (Tel Aviv: Ha-Kibuts ha-Meuhad, 1977), 176-81, 227.

69. Simon Agranat, letter to Louis and Mini Orloff, 26 January 1930, Agranat papers, Agranat family, Jerusalem.

70. Ibid.

69. Simon Agranat, letter to Louis and Mini Orloff, 26 January 1930, Agranat papers, Agranat family, Jerusalem.

70. Ibid.

71. "Shvirderlishe Shkhita in Tsfat, A Tsveyte Hevron, 22 Yiden Toit, Wilde Shvatim fun Siriyen Marshiren auyf Palestina," Chicago Yidisher Kuryer, 1 September 1929, 1.

72. "Ganze Yidishe Bafelkerung Antloyft fun Haifa," ibid., 10 September 1929, 1.

73. "Palestine Pool of Blood," Sunday Jewish Courier, English section of ibid., 8 September 1929, 1.

74. "The Ferment in Arabia," ibid., 1 September 1929, 1 (quoting the Chicago Daily News ).

75. Agranat, letter to Louis and Mini Orloff, 26 January 1930.

76. Ibid.

75. Agranat, letter to Louis and Mini Orloff, 26 January 1930.

76. Ibid.

77. Simon Agranat, letter to Louis and Mini Orloff, 23 February 1930, Agranat papers, Agranat family, Jerusalem.