Leon Simon (Zionist)

Sir Leon Simon CB (אריה (לאון) סימון; born 1881 in Southampton; died 1965 in London) was a leading British Zionist intellectual and civil servant who took part in the drafting of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and served on the Zionist Commission with Chaim Weizmann.[1] An advocate of cultural Zionism and the reviver of Hebrew language, Simon was a scholar and translator of Ahad Ha'am, and produced the first modern Hebrew translations of Plato.[2] He served as the Chairman of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Executive Council, and from 1949-50 as the university's President.[3]

Sir Leon Simon
Sir Leon Simon in 1944 from the National Portrait Gallery
Born	(1881-07-11)11 July 1881 Southampton, United Kingdom
Died	27 April 1965(1965-04-27) (aged 83) London, United Kingdom
Citizenship	British, Israeli
Alma mater	Balliol College, University of Oxford
Occupation	Civil Servant
Years active	1904 - 1949
Known for	Cultural Zionist, writer, Hebrew scholar, political activist
Spouse(s)	Ellen Simon ( m. 1916)

Early life

Leon Simon

Simon was the son of Rabbi Isadore Simon of the South Manchester Synagogue and Kitty Avner, both of whom had moved to Britain in the late 19th century from Lithuania.[4] He studied at Manchester Grammar School and read Greats at Balliol College at the University of Oxford.[2]

In Manchester he became a core part of a group of young anglicised Jewish intellectuals that congregated around Chaim Weizmann.[4] The group included the journalist Harry Sacher, Samuel Landman, Israel Sieff and Simon Marks of Marks & Spencer. All of them had studied at Manchester Grammar School.[4]

The group were members of the Manchester Zionist Association, where Simon and his brother Maurice Simon would hold discussions in Hebrew.[5] Charles Dreyfus, Weizmann's employer in Manchester, was the President of the Society.[6]

Simon edited the newspaper "The Zionist Banner" with Sacher and the monthly journal "Palestine".[7]

In 1904 Simon joined the General Post Office and rose to become Director of Telegraphs and Telephones and later Director of Savings.[8] He was made CB in 1931[9] and was knighted in 1944.[10] He married Ellen Umanski, (later called by the name Lady Ellen Simon), and they had two daughters.[11][12]

Zionist and author

Under the influence of Chaim Weizmann, whose family had immigrated from Belarus to Manchester, Simon belonged to the first generation of leading British Jews who preferred Zionism to conventional religiosity and who pressed for Hebrew to supplant Yiddish as the main language of the diaspora.[4]

Simon came under the influence of Ahad Ha'am (Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg), a leading figure of cultural Zionism, and went on to translate many of his works into English[13] as well as writing his biography.[14] Simon wrote several works on Zionism, including Zionism and the Jewish Problem published in 1917 and "Studies in Jewish Nationalism" published in 1920.

He also wrote the first translations into modern Hebrew of John Stuart Mill's Essay on Liberty, and of several of Plato's Dialogues, work for which he received Tchernichovsky Prize.[15]

Simon accompanied Weizmann as a member of the Zionist Commission alongside Israel Sieff, M. D. Eder and others in 1918 to begin talks with the government of David Lloyd George on the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine.

A draft of the Balfour Declaration, written by Simon on paper of London's Imperial Hotel on July 17, 1917 was auctioned off in 2005 through Sotheby's for $884,000 US in New York. It is the only known surviving handwritten draft of the declaration.[16]

The draft of the declaration noted down by Simon read:

"H(is) M(ajesty's) G(overnment) accepts the principle that P(alestine) should be reconstituted as the Nat(ional) Home of the J(ewish) P(eople). HMG will use its best efforts to secure the achievement of this object, and will discuss the necessary methods and means with the Z(ionist) O(rganization)."[16]

From 1946 to 1953 Simon lived in Jerusalem where he served as Chair of the Executive Council of the Hebrew University and from 1949-50 as its President, preceded by Judah Leon Magnes and followed by Selig Brodetsky (1949-1952).[17] He also served as President of Israel Postal Company Bank.[18] A collection of his papers are held at Duke University.[19]

Works

• Zionism and the Jewish Problem (1917)
• "Studies in Jewish Nationalism" (1920)
• Ahad Ha-Am (1927, Biography)
• Synopsis of the Haskalah Movement (1934)
• The Elements of Zionism for Young Zionists (1934)[20]

See also

• Chaim Weizmann
• Tchernichovsky Prize Recipients
• Knight Bachelor
• 1944 Knighthood Awardees

References

1. "The birth of modern Israel: A scrap of paper that changed history". The Independent. 26 May 2005.
2. Comay, Joan (2002). Routledge who's who in Jewish history : after the period of the Old Testament (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. p. 362. ISBN 9780415260305.
3. "Chairman of Board of Governors of Hebrew University Reveals Plans for Expansion". Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
4. "Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Manchester - Manchester School".
5. "Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Manchester - Leon Locker".
6. Halpern, Ben (1987). A clash of heroes--Brandeis, Weizmann, and American Zionism ([Online-Ausg.]. ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 320. ISBN 978-0195040623.
7. "Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Manchester - Harry Sacher".
8. editores, edited by William D. Rubinstein ; associate; Jolles, Michael A.; Rubinstein, Hilary L. (2011). The Palgrave dictionary of Anglo-Jewish history. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 636. ISBN 9781403939104.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
9. "Jews in the Honours List, Knighthoods for Lion Simon and Montague Burton: Distinctions for Albert Hy". Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
10. "Review of the Year: Appendices (1944-1945) - AJC Archives" (PDF).
11. "British Jewry Birth & Marriage Records".
12. Lyon, Meghan. "David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University".
13. "Selected Essays by Ahad Ha-am". Academic Studies Press. Archived from the original on 2015-04-26. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
14. "Ahad Ha-am : Asher Ginzberg : a Biography" (PDF). Varda Books.
15. "Collection of Documents from the Estate of Sir Aryeh (Leon) Simon". Kedem Auction House.
16. "Draft of 1917 Balfour Declaration Sells at Auction for $900,000". Haaretz.com.
17. "Office of the President".
18. "Sir Leon Simon".
19. "Leon Simon letters, 1915-1916, 1918, Duke University Library".
20. "Collection of bibliography of Leon Simon". google.com.