Jacobson, Victor

(1869–1935)

   Russian Zionist leader. Jacobson, who came from the Crimea, was an ardent Zionist as a student, together with WEIZMANN and Leo MOTZKIN. He was a delegate to the early Zionist Congresses, and belonged to the faction that opposed HERZL and fought him over the Uganda Project. In 1906, he was appointed as manager of the Beirut branch of the Anglo- Israel bank (the forerunner of the present Bank Leumi) and two years later was sent to take charge of the Constantinople branch. Here he acted as the unofficial representative of the Zionist Organization with the Turkish authorities, and acquired a daily newspaper, Jeune Turc.

   In 1913, Jacobson became a member of the Zionist Executive, that then had its headquarters in Berlin. With the outbreak of World War I, the Executive set up an office on neutral soil in Copenhagen. In 1916 Jacobson succeeded Motzkin as its director. As such, he issued in 1918 the Copenhagen Manifesto, concerning post-war Jewish minorities in Europe.

   From 1925, Jacobson headed a liaison office with the League of Nations in Geneva and at the same time he was in charge of the Zionist political office in Paris. His functions included lobbying activities and the production of various periodicals. It is noteworthy that as early as 1932, he circulated to the members of the Executive a secret memorandum advocating the partition of Palestine. JAKOBOVITS, Immanuel, Baron b. 1921. Communal leader. Jakobovits was born in Konigsberg and spent the war years in London where he studied at Jews’ College and at the University of London. After serving various London congregations, he became Chief Rabbi of Ireland in 1949. In 1958 he moved to the United States where he became spiritual leader of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue in New York. Then in 1967 he was installed as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth. He received a knighthood in 1981 and became a Life Peer in 1988. He is widely respected as a religious leader and is an acknowledged expert on medical ethics. His books include Jewish Medical Ethics (1959), Jewish Law Faces Modern Problems (1965), Journal of a Rabbi (1966), The Timely and the Timeless (1977) and If only My People (1984). Lord Jakobovits retired in 1991.