2025-10-11 10:59:PM <br/> Tags: #AmericanJewry #people #EarlyZionism #Harvard ![[image-148.png|291x444]] # Julian William Mack (1866-1943) - Julian Mack was a prominent Jewish American judge and Jewish communal leader in the early 1900s. - Mack was born to German Jewish immigrants in San Francisco. - Mack graduated from Harvard Law School in 1887. - After studying in Europe for some years, Mack became a law professor in Chicago. - Mack was elected judge of the circuit court of Cook County in 1903. - Mack, at the urging of progressive women's groups, served as judge of the Chicago juvenile court. - At the juvenile court, Mack was notable for his "progressive" and "reformative" punishments, i.e., soft on crime. - As noted in [[Horace M. Kallen]]'s 11 page eulogy of Mack in the *American Jewish Yearbook*: "The children who came before him were never charged with crime." - Kallen, like Mack, came from Harvard Law School. #### Organized Jewry - Mack was a congregant of Chicago's Sinai synagogue. - Sinai's congregation was led by rabbi [[Emil G. Hirsch]], who was a considerable influence on Mack's activity within organized Jewry. - In 1906 Mack, [[Louis Marshall]], Cyrus Adler, and a number of elite Jews of German Jewish descent, founded the [[American Jewish Committee (AJC)]]. - Mack was elected vice president of the AJC, serving on its executive committee. - In his position at the AJC, Mack lobbied for relaxed immigration restrictions, and protection of Jews in Europe during WWI. - Although the AJC was not a Zionist organization, Mack helped [[Louis Marshall]] guide the organization to supporting the [[Balfour Declaration]]. - The Balfour Declaration was a 1917 written agreement by the British government to recognize a Jewish right to a homeland in Palestine. - From 1918-1921, Mack was president of the [[Zionist Organization of America (ZOA)]]. - In 1918 Mack presided over the first [[American Jewish Congress]]. - Mack attended the Paris Peace Conference in Versailles after WWI as a member of the American Jewish delegation. - Mack was a close ally of his era's most notable Zionist leaders: - [[Chaim Weizmann]] - [[Louis Brandeis]] - [[Felix Frankfurter]] - [[Louis Marshall]] - [[Nathan Straus]] - [[Stephen S. Wise]] - Mack was an initially an adherent of the "melting pot" premise, created by Jew [[Israel Zangwill]]. - Mack later adopted the idea of "cultural pluralism," created by Jew [[Horace M. Kallen]]. - Mack attended [[Jewish Agency]] meetings in the 1930s and later served on its governing council. - Mack was elected honorary president of the [[World Jewish Congress]] at its first meeting in Geneva in 1936. - He served in this position until 1943. - Ramat HaShofet, a Kibbutz in northern Israel, is named for judge Mack. - In 1920, Mack was the primary founder of a school in Jerusalem which, in 1937, was named the Julian W. Mack School. - Mack worked with [[Henrietta Szold]] to run the school. #### Other Activities - As a legal force in Chicago, Mack helped Grace Abbott found the "Immigrants' Protective League (IPL)." - The IPL provided free legal aid and social services to immigrants. - Mack often voiced his opposition to American nativism. - Mack strongly opposed the strict immigration restrictions passed in the 1920s. - Mack was an early supporter and financial backer of the [[NAACP]]. - Mack was a lifelong supporter of progressive women's initiatives. #### References - “Julian Mack.” _Wikipedia._ [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Mack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Mack) - _Federal Judicial Center._ “Mack, Julian William.” Federal Judges Biographical Directory. [https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/mack-julian-william](https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/mack-julian-william) - Kallen, Horace M. “Julian W. Mack (1866–1943).” _American Jewish Year Book_ 46 (1944–45). [https://www.bjpa.org/content/upload/bjpa/mack/mack.pdf](https://www.bjpa.org/content/upload/bjpa/mack/mack.pdf) - Rosenstock, Morton. “Mack, Julian William.” _Encyclopedia Judaica._ Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mack-julian-william - _World Jewish Congress._ “Julian Mack (1866–1943).” Biography. [https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/bio/julian-mack](https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/bio/julian-mack) - _Jewish Virtual Library._ “Zionist Organization of America (ZOA).” [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/zionist-organization-of-america](https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/zionist-organization-of-america) - Batlan, Felice. “Deja Vu and the Gendered Origins of the Practice of Immigration Law: The Immigrants’ Protective League, 1907-1940.” _Law & History Review_, 2018. [https://lawandhistoryreview.org/article/deja-vu-and-the-gendered-origins-of-the-practice-of-immigration-law-the-immigrants-protective-league-1907-1940/](https://lawandhistoryreview.org/article/deja-vu-and-the-gendered-origins-of-the-practice-of-immigration-law-the-immigrants-protective-league-1907-1940/). - _The Crisis (Magazine of the NAACP)._ Vol. 12, No. 5 (September 1916). p. 221.