Leonard Stein (born 1887)
English barrister, Zionist official and historian; political secretary of the Zionist Organisation (1920–29), president of the Anglo-Jewish Association (1939–49) and a director of The Jewish Chronicle from 1936
| Leonard Stein
| |
|---|---|
| Image |  Leonard Stein, from David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (1994) |
| Born | 1887 London |
| Died | 1973 |
| Occupation | Barrister; Zionist official; historian; company director |
| Known for | Political secretary of the Zionist Organisation (1920–29); president of the Anglo-Jewish Association (1939–49); director of The Jewish Chronicle from 1936; The Balfour Declaration (1961) |
| Education | St Paul's School; Balliol College, Oxford |
Leonard Jacques Stein (1887 – 1973) was an English barrister, Zionist official and historian. He was political secretary of the Zionist Organisation from 1920 to 1929, president of the Anglo-Jewish Association from 1939 to 1949, author of The Balfour Declaration (1961), and, from January 1936, a director of the company that owned The Jewish Chronicle. The Encyclopaedia Judaica says he was a director of the paper for 36 years.[1][2][3]
Early life and career
The Encyclopaedia Judaica says Stein was born in London, the son of a merchant, and educated at St Paul's and at Oxford, where he was the first Jewish president of the Oxford Union, and was called to the bar in 1912.[1] The University of Southampton's catalogue of his papers says he went from St Paul's School to Balliol College, was president of the Oxford Union Society in 1910, was called to the bar of the Inner Temple in 1912, and served in the army from 1914 to 1920.[3] According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, he was a captain in the British Army in the First World War and afterwards a political officer in the military administration in Palestine and military governor of Safed; the Southampton catalogue says he worked for the Palestine Military Administration and on the political staff of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in 1918–20.[1][3] Cesarani writes that Stein "had been involved in Zionist affairs since before the First World War" and served in the Palestine administration as an army officer from 1918 to 1920.[2]
Zionist work
In 1920, according to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, Chaim Weizmann appointed him political secretary and legal adviser of the Zionist Organisation, a post he held until 1929, when he left over a disagreement on the leadership's policy. The same source says that in 1932 he returned to practising law and became a recognised expert on taxation, but continued to advise the Jewish Agency, and drafted the Zionist case before the Palestine Royal Commission (1936) and the Woodhead Commission (1938); it quotes Weizmann describing his testimony before the Shaw Commission on the 1929 riots as "the crowning glory of Stein's outstanding services to Zionism".[1] The Southampton catalogue lists him as political secretary of the World Zionist Organisation from 1920 to 1929 and honorary legal adviser of the Jewish Agency from 1929 to 1939.[3] Cesarani says he became a confidant of Weizmann and played a major part in the creation of the enlarged Jewish Agency and in the negotiations with the Government after the 1930 White Paper.[2]
Anglo-Jewish Association and other roles
Stein was president of the Anglo-Jewish Association from 1939 to 1949, and, according to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, exerted considerable influence on a body not favourably disposed towards political Zionism, although Zionist circles felt that in 1945–48 his representations to the British government on behalf of the Anglo-Jewish associations "were not always helpful to Zionist policy".[1][3] The Southampton catalogue adds that he was chairman of the ICA and was awarded an OBE in 1953.[3]
Writing
The Encyclopaedia Judaica lists his books: Awakening Palestine (1923, edited with Leon Simon), the anthology Promises and Afterthoughts, a number of standard works on revenue law, The Balfour Declaration (1961), which it calls "the most authoritative, documented, and detailed work on the subject", and, with Gedalia Yogev, the first volume of The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann.[1] Cesarani notes that Jewish Chronicle Publications was responsible for the publication of The Balfour Declaration.[4]
The Jewish Chronicle
Cesarani writes that in January 1936 Jacobus Kann was replaced on the board by Michel Oppenheimer and Stein "was appointed a director instead of" Mortimer Epstein.[2] The 1949 centenary volume says that the remaining vacancy, after Kann yielded his place to his son Maurits and Oppenheimer joined, "was filled, in 1936, by Leonard Stein, a former Political Secretary to the Zionist Organisation".[5]
Editorial policy
According to Cesarani, Stein took his directorial responsibilities "very seriously": each Friday copies of the paper were sent to his rooms in the Temple, or wherever he was on holiday, and he sent copious notes to the editor. In February 1938 he wrote to Leopold Kessler that he was "not fully in sympathy with the present Editorial policy in relation to Palestine"; as a director of the paper and a legal adviser to the Jewish Agency he felt he was in a "false position" and proposed to resign, but was persuaded not to, and narrowed his objections to the contributions of the diplomatic editor. In June 1938 he protested at an attack on Sir John Shuckburgh of the Colonial Office as unfair and potentially damaging to relations between the Zionists and Whitehall.[6][7] In January 1942 he repeated his offer to resign from the board, was persuaded to stand for re-election, and in April 1944 and early 1945 wrote personally to Ivan Greenberg to protest at the paper's treatment of certain Zionist leaders. Cesarani also notes that during the war he was, as president of the Anglo-Jewish Association, one of the directors who guided the paper with Oppenheimer, Alex Gumb and Neville Laski.[8][9][10]
In 1946, Cesarani writes, Stein and Laski wrote several times to David Kessler about the tone of the leading articles; on 24 May 1946 the board, with Oppenheimer in the chair and Stein present, told Greenberg it was dissatisfied with the paper's presentation of news. Stein then wrote to Oppenheimer threatening to resign unless the board dismissed Greenberg, and Kessler backed him on 26 June. On 2 July 1946, over Oppenheimer's objections, Stein and Kessler outvoted him and Greenberg's appointment was ended from 5 July; Oppenheimer tendered his resignation but put it in abeyance after Stein and Kessler "pleaded with him to reconsider".[11][12][13] In January 1947 he wrote to The Sunday Times, pointing out that terrorists in Palestine were repudiated throughout Anglo-Jewry; Cesarani says the letter was not printed in full.[14] After Gumb's resignation, only Oppenheimer, Kessler and Stein remained on the board.[4]
The Encyclopaedia Judaica says the paper established a lectureship in Medieval Hebrew at Oxford to mark his eightieth birthday in 1967.[1]
Death
The Encyclopaedia Judaica gives his dates as 1887–1973, as does the caption to his portrait in Cesarani's book (plate 11).[1][15]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Getzel Kressel, Stein, Leonard in Encyclopaedia Judaica (Encyclopedia.com), accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 156.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 MS 170 Papers of Leonard J. Stein, 1868–1972 (catalogue introduction), University of Southampton Special Collections, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 198.
- ↑ The Jewish Chronicle 1841–1941: A Century of Newspaper History (London, 1949), p. 169.
- ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 161.
- ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 162.
- ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 169.
- ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 185.
- ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 187.
- ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 189.
- ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 190.
- ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 191.
- ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 194.
- ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), list of illustrations and plates between pp. 146 and 147 (captions to plates 4 and 11).