Magnes, Judah Leon (1877–1948)

US rabbi and educator. Educated at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, he became a Reform rabbi and an ardent Zionist. He was rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in New York 1906–10, after which he tried to create a Jewish community structure in New York, known as a Kehilla (1910–22), with the goal of coordinating Jewish religious cultural and other activities. In 1923 he moved to Jerusalem, Palestine (now Israel), and became the first chancellor of the Hebrew University (1925–35). He supported the idea of an Arab-Jewish state, often criticized Zionist policies, and opposed the 1947 partition of Palestine. Magnes was born in San Francisco, California.