How Einstein Divided America’s Jews – The Atlantic (December 2009).
Fascinating story and subtext for Einstein’s first visit to the U.S. in 1921, during which he aimed to raise money for what would soon become Hebrew University. The pathetic rifts among American Jewry were exposed, along with those between European and American Zionists, with the main actors being Louis Brandeis, Chaim Weitzmann, Rabbi Judah Magnes, and Louis Frankfurter. Not surprising that Einstein felt like a prize ox being paraded around, but even the modest $750K raised was enough to presage the founding of Hebrew U. Incidentally, before it was named Brandeis U., it was supposed to be called Albert Einstein Institute for Higher Learning.
