Albert Einstein Disagrees with Louis Brandeis; Argues that Palestine is Not the Key to Jewish Survival

The crux of the issue was simple, and twenty-seven hundred years old: could anti-Semitism be eradicated so long as Jews lived among gentiles? Louis D. Brandeis, the first Jewish Justice on the Supreme Court, said no; the creation of a Jewish state, he thought, was the Pilgrims inspiration and impulse all over again. Here, however, Einstein says no to Brandeis, no to nationalism, and yes to the “durability of the Jewish community” which, he believes, is “to a large degree based on our geographical dispersion, and the fact that we consequently do not possess instruments of power that will allow us to commit great stupidities out of national fanaticism.” The persecutions, he concludes, will never cause the Jews to perish.

Typed Letter Signed (“A. Einstein”), in German, 1 page, quarto, on his personal letterhead, 112 Mercer Street, Princeton, New Jersey, January 25, 1936. To Mrs. Leibowitz.