Yeshiva University - Masmid Yearbook (New York, NY)

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MASMID New Deal. In it he said: To stay experimentation in things social and economic is a great responsibility. Denial of the right to experiment may be fraught witli serious consequences to the nation. It is one of the happy incidents of the Federal system that a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory, and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country. This court has the power to prevent an experi- ment . . . But, in the exercise of this high power, we must be ever on guard lest we erect our prejudices into legal principles. If we would guide by the light of reason we must let our minds be bold. The last sentence is typically Brandeisian. As a jurist Mr. Brandeis is classed among those who interpret liberally the Constitution of the United States. With other liberal judges he be- lieves that the Constitution was purposely written in vague terms so as to allow for future develop- ments and adaptation to new conditions. Differing with the radicals, he does not see the necessity for a new constitution. It must be added, however, that in common with the right wing of the New Dealers, Brandeis does not look for a radical transformation of our present social system. Fundamentally, he seeks only for betterment within the broad lines of existing institutions. For fifty years of a very active life Mr. Brandeis took no part in the interests of the Jewish com- munity. Indeed, when past fifty he did enter the Jewish areria, many were surprised to learn of his Jewishness. Here also it was indirectly that he came in contact with what is generally referred to as the Jewish Problem. In 1910 he was asked to serve as arbitrator in a strike in the clothing industry of New York city. Since that time he has been a student of the Jewish people and its prob- lems. For a number of years he served as president of the Zionist Organization of America, and was in.strumental in influencing the British Government to issue the Balfour Declaration. President Wilson ' s support of Jewish causes at the Peace Conference may be traced directly to the influence of Justice Brandeis. To Brandeis there is no conflict or con- tradiction between his Zionism and Americanism. As he himself declared: I am a better American for being a good Zionist. They are one and the same thing to him. In an article in the Menor.ah Journal in 1915 he tells us that the ability of the Russian Jew to adjust himself to America ' s essentially democratic conditions is not to be ex- plained by Jewish adaptability. The explanation lies mainly in the fact that the 20th century ideals of America have been the ideals of the Jew for more than twenty centuries. When the history of the New Deal, the American revolution with a small R, will be written, the name of Brandeis will go down in its annals as one of its founding fathers. The reader must already have noticed the similiariry between legislation recently enacted or about to be proposed, and the ideals of Brandeis as he has expressed them in his various writings. His m- fluence on the New Deal and representative New Dealers continues even to the present, though in an indirect manner. Should the New Deal prove successful, Brandeis will occupy a place in American history similar to that of Abraham Lincoln, to whom he bears more than a superficial resemblance. If the New Deal should prove to be, as some fear or hope, only a period of transition, to give way soon to a sharp turn to the right or to the left, Brandeis will still be remembered as a constructive and prophetic leader who, by example and guidance, lessened the grave dangers inherent in a period of transition, and as a jurist who sought, found, and applied justice in a changing world. Thirty

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M A S M 1 D Realism, cxpc-ricncv, ilirul l)iii lilc, ilicsc liclp him jiiilgc the merits of a case, ami they supply him with the facts to defend his opinion. In this approach to justice, both as a lawyer ,muI .i jud c, he was a pioneer, the first, in each lasc, lo i.ikc full accoimt of what is happening ouisidt the I ' oirr walls (if the jiidi e ' s chamhcr. i ' lir this .ilocc Hraiidtis will ixinain ininuiri.il, ' Ihoiigh Mr. Urandeis has no ildiniiu philosophy of law, a few fundamental iHlitl ' s of .ilniost axiomatic strength may he discerned through all his writings. They arc his credo as a man and his guiding stars as a jurist. Once turned a liberal he agitaicil lor and de- fended in court such liberal legislation as minimum wage laws, shorter hours for women, rights of labor, woman ' s suffrage, workmen ' s compensation, protection of holders of life insurance policies. A warm sympathy for the underprivileged and a deep sense of righteousness are the latent forces that have now come to the fore and demanded expression in social propaganda and political action. ' ct Mr. Hrandeis is a firm individualist. This he has shown not only in his fights against tlic trusts and other concentrations o f power in the econoinic arena, but also in defending self-expres- sion by the individual in the press and the public forums, at home and at work. In one place he speaks of the right to be left alone as the most comprehensive of rights, and the right most valued by civilized man. Individual liberty, however, cannot be achieved without econoinic freedom. Worshipping not words but facts, he demands a society where in- dividual freedom of action is just as much a part of the rights of a orker as it is of his employer. The Roosevelt plan for insurance of every . merican person against the usual contingencies of modern life was long ago advocated by Brandeis in the following statement: We must find means to create in the individual financial independence against sickness, accidents, unemployment, old .ige and the dread of leaving his family destitute if he suffer premature death. We have become practi- cally a world of employees; anti if a man is to have real freedom of contract in de.iling with his employer he must be financially indcix-ndcnt of the.se ordinary contingencies. Unless wc protect him from this oppression it is useless to call him free. Brandeis is a democrat. But his belief is in democracy as a practice, not merely as an ideal. He started with the assumption that in this tountry every person of voting age belongs (or should belong) to the ruling class. Therefore he is in favor not only of high minimum wages but also of a minimum of leisure so that e ' cn the workingman may have ample time to study and understand the problems that his country is faced with. The individual, whoever he be-, must not bc separated from his rights in the continuous flux of affairs. But no right whatsoever should be absolute in a world where everything is subject to change. For all rights are derived from the purpose of the society in which they exist; above all rights rises the duty to the country. Here we see Brandeis the Individualist sacrificing of his liberty for the benefit of the group. The concept of social justice is superior to that of individualism. And who shall hold the balance between the two but the government. ' The government must keep order not only physical but social. While on the bench Mr. Brandeis continues his close contact with the social and economic phases of modern life even as he did before, and he grows with them. From advocating the removal of the more prominent abuses of modern industry- he has advanced to the sanaion of social experi- mentation which demands as a prerequisite definite checks on individual enterprise. The Legislature of Oklahoma found that more ice w.is being pro- duced in that state than was being demanded. Ir tlierefore passed a Law forbidding the building of new ice faaories until warranted by the demand. On appeal, the Supreme Court declared this law to be unconstitutional. Justice Brandeis delivered a dissenting opinion that has already become classical and which reads like a charter for the

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M A S M I IJ yyaiilcJ: Tiuo ami a llalj Soldiers and a (jniih(nil By I.oiiis SiMSf)Vi ' iy, It was liaiilly li.ili ' a century ago iliai ' I ' licotloic Herzl— prophet and visionary, dreamt tiic flowing dream of tlic redemption of his people. Herzl saw wiiliiii hiiiuan rc.uli Jewisii National Solida- rity, a tiling whicli had torcver been scoffed at as fanciful and impossible. In his poetic imagina- tion he envisioned the return to Zion. He painted a glowing pictine of the emancipation of the despised and down-trodden Children of Israel, and their return to their Jewish consciousness, to their national existence in the Jewish Homeland. He visioned the fulfilment of centuries of prayer, the realization of an age-old hope, the return to Zion and the Renaissance of his people, so that they might once again replenish the well of Jewish culture, and that the ideals of Judaism might once again radiate from Zion. Herzl ' s dream was noble and beautiful, but callous reality brought with it bitter disappoint- ment. Formidable obstacles beset the path to its realization. Herzl ' s Zionism drew storms of protest from many cente rs. Specious leaders, tak- ing advantage of Jewry ' s disintegrated existence, ptoclaimed themselves spokesmen for their people. These so-called leaders advanced the absurd claim that a revival of Jewish National consciousness would but serve to intensify existing anti-semitism. They were content to lie supinely, to allow them- selves to be ground into dust, and to leave the Jewish people hopelesss and helpless. Loudest in its protest and most violent in its denunciation of Herzl was the Alliance Israelite. They were as- sisted in their outcry by organized Jewish Labor — who politically were diametrically opposed to the capitalistic Alliance. Both the Alliance Israelite and Jewish labor organizations had begun their careers with the avowed purpose of embracing all Jewry within their respective folds. The Alliance, originally organized as a philanthropic organization, liad li jped to establish its branches in every land and to organize all Jews for ii. purpose. The Jewish Labor groups had similarly aniiiipated forging an international Jewish labor organization. However, when a plan was advanced for achieving genuine Jewish solidarity, for a genuine organization of scattered Jewry, both op- posed it vehemently. Hxponents of capitalism united with proponents of Socialism and world revolution for the purpose of thwarting Herzl ' s efforts. Herzl ' s prophetic ambitions were thus tempo- rarily frustrated. The time for redemption, it seemed, was not yet ripe. The Jew, to all ap- pearances, was doomed to continue his bedraggled existence and to remain, as of old, a persecuted and down-trodden people. Anyone else confronted with the situation in which Herzl found himself would surely have thrown up his hands in despair. His aspirations would have died a premature death. But the spirit of prophecy burned in Herzl. warming him to action. Prophets are neve: daunted. Their zeal is unflagging. They are neither rufHed by temporary successes nor discouraged by momentary setbacks. Their hopes and ideas are eternal. Mob protests fail to silence the words of one divinely inspired. And Herzl was a seer in every respect. He was endowed with that super- human strength which enabled him to buffet the tempestuous waves of opposition that surgeJ around him from all sides. He enthusiastically preached his message and converted many to bis doctrines. He organized the Zionist Congress. He- negotiated with monarchs and governments. And. most important of all. he gave his brethren a nev lease on life. With his aid Jewry began to raise itself from the mire of despondenq- into which it had sunk. But the burden w.vs far too great for the TbirtycKC