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Felix Warburg and American Non-Zionists’ Early Involvement with the Hebrew University

Mon, December 17, 5:00 to 6:30pm, Seaport Hotel & World Trade Center, Federal 1 Complex

Abstract

This paper will address the role that Felix Warburg, member of the famed Warburg banking family and a noted Jewish philanthropist in his own right, played in the early years of the Hebrew University project. He aligned himself with the amorphous group of American Jewish leaders, which historians describe as non-Zionists, who advocated support for the development of Palestine but stopped short of endorsing the Zionist project entirely. Warburg was brought into the fold of the Hebrew University administration by Chaim Weizmann, who saw an opportunity to tap into the rich vein of American funding. Weizmann did receive the money, but in doing so opened the door for non-Zionists to exert influence over the University. In this paper, I will underscore the impact that Warburg was able to have between Weizmann’s first overtures in 1921 and the end of the Hebrew University’s first academic year, in 1926. While the history of the Hebrew University has a large historiography of its own, most scholars have neglected to devote sufficient analytical space to the contribution of the group of non-Zionists and of Felix Warburg, who fought hard to ensure that the University reflected the spectrum of Jewish ideological adherence, rather than simply acting as an agent of the World Zionist Organization. My analysis will seek to bring the non-Zionists more fully into the historical conversation.

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