Isaacs, Isaac

Youth, Family, and Education

Isaac Isaacs is the son of Alfred Isaacs, a Jewish-born tailor from Mlawa in Poland . In search of improving his financial condition, Alfred left Poland and reached the territories now called Germany , and spent several months in Berlin and Frankfurt . By 1845, he reached Paris and arrived at work in London , where he met Rebecca Abrahams, in 1849 they were married. After news of the Victorian gold rush of 1851 reached Great Britain , Isaacs decided to emigrate. In June 1854, they sailed from Liverpool and in September arrived in Melbourne ^[1] . Some time after arriving, Isaacs moved to a cottage with a shop on Elizabeth Street in Melbourne , where Alfred continued his sewing business. Isaac Alfred Isaacs was born in this cottage on August 6, 1855 ^[2] . His family moved to various locations throughout Melbourne, and finally, in 1859, they settled in Yakandandah in northern Victoria , not far from family friends ^[3] . At this time, Yakandandakh was a center of gold mining with a population of 3 thousand people.

Isaac Isaacs had three brothers and sisters, John, who later became a lawyer and a member of parliament, Victoria, Carolyn and Hannah were born in Yakandandah. Another brother, born in Melbourne, and a sister born in Yakandandah, died at an early age ^[4] . His first formal schooling took place in a small private institution around 1860 . At eight, he won a school arithmetic prize. The public school in Yakandandakh was opened in 1863 and Isaacs immediately went there to study. Here he excelled in his studies, especially in arithmetic and languages, although he often skipped classes to spend time in nearby mountain camps. To help Isaacs get a better and quality education, in 1867 his family moved to nearby Beechworth, where he enrolled in a general school, and then to the gymnasium ^[5] . He excelled at the gymnasium, becoming a leader in the first year and winning many prizes ^[6] . In the second year, he worked part-time as an assistant teacher at school, and after school he taught classmates. In September 1870 , when Isaac was only 15 years old, he passed the teacher exam and has since taught at the school until 1873. ^[7]

While working at a public school, Isaacs first clashed with laws at a failed trial in the county court in 1875. He challenged the payment arrangement with the principal of his school. After returning to teaching at the gymnasium, he expanded his interest in laws; began to read legal literature and participate in court hearings ^[8] .

As a child, Isaacs learned and became fluent in Russian , which his parents often spoke, as well as English and German . Later, Isaacs received various degrees of mastery in Italian , French , Greek , Hindi, and Chinese ^[9] .

Legal and political career

In 1875 he moved to Melbourne and got a job in the office of the protonotary in the Legal Department. In 1876 , working full-time, he studied law at the University of Melbourne , graduating in 1883 with a master ’s degree in law . On July 18, 1888, he married Deborah "Daisy" Jacobs at her parents' house in St. Kilda. They had two daughters born in 1890 and 1892 . The first daughter, Marjorie (Mrs. David Cohen), died in 1968 , having survived the son of Thomas B. Cohen, the second - Nancy (Mrs. Sefton Cullen) ^[10] . Lady Daisy died in 1960 in Bowral, New South Wales .

In 1892, Isaacs was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Victoria by the Liberal Party. In 1893, he became deputy minister of justice. He was a member of the Bogong constituency from May 1892 to May 1893 and from June 1893 to May 1901 . In 1897, he was elected to the Convention, which drafted the Constitution of Australia , where he supported those who advocated a more democratic project. In 1899, he became a royal lawyer. ^[11]

In 1901, Isaacs was elected to the first Australian parliament as the most important supporter of Edmund Barton and his protectionist government. He was one of a group of backbenchers — more radical politicians who deserved the dislike of many of their colleagues for being alienated and more likely to be complacent about politics.

In 1905, Alfred Deakin appointed Isaacs Attorney General, by 1906 Deakin was interested to leave him out of politics, appointing him to the position of judge of the High Court of Australia . In the High Court, he joined Henry Higgins, the head of a radical minority at the trial in opposition to Chief Justice Sir Samuel Griffith. He served in court for 24 years. In 1928, Isaacs became Cavalier of the Order of St. Michael and St. George for serving in the High Court ^[12] .

In 1930, Labor Prime Minister James Skullin appointed the 75-year-old Isaacs Chief Justice. Shortly afterwards, however, Scullin decided to appoint Isaacs as Governor General of Australia . Scullin personally advised King George V to make an appointment during his trip to Europe in 1930 . The king reluctantly agreed ^[13] , although he gave his own preference to field marshal Sir William Bidwood , commander of ANZAC during the First World War . Isaacs agreed to pay cuts and abandoned his official residences in Sydney and Melbourne. Although he was sworn in at the office of the Legislative Council in Melbourne and not at the Canberra Parliament, he was the first governor-general to reside in Canberra Government House. In April 1932, Isaacs became Cavalier of the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George ^[14] . The term of his governorship came to an end on January 23, 1936 , and he retired to Victoria. ^[6] In 1937, he became Cavalier of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath ^[15] .

Opposition to Political Zionism

Isaacs was 81 years old when in 1936 his political tenure ended, but his social life was far from over. He remained active for another decade and often wrote about constitutional law issues. In the 1940s, he became embroiled in a dispute with the Jewish community, both in Australia and internationally, about his overt opposition to Zionism . His main critic was Julius Stone ^[16] . And Isaacs was supported by Rabbi Jacob Dunglow and Harold Boas. Isaacs insisted that Judaism was a religious identity and not a national or ethnic component. He opposed the very notion of a Jewish state in Palestine.

Isaacs distinguished between Zionism cultural, political and religious ^[17] , partly because he did not like nationalism of all kinds and saw Zionism as a form of Jewish national chauvinism and partly because he saw Zionist agitation in Palestine as disloyal to the British Empire, which he was faithful to . When in 1946, Zionist terrorists blew up the King David Hotel , he wrote that “the honor of Jews around the world demands the rejection of political Zionism” ^[18] . Isaacs stated that:

Isaac Alfred Isaacs died on February 11, 1948 in Melbourne, half a year before the establishment of the State of Israel .

In 1966, a suburb of Canberra was named after Isaacs. In 1973, Isaacs was honored with a portrait on the postage stamp of Australia Post ^[20] .

• The new agriculture , 1901, Melbourne: Department of Agriculture
• Opinion of the Hon. Isaac A. Isaacs, KC, MP, re the case of Lieutenant Witton , 1902, Melbourne: [sn]
• The Riverina Transport case , 1938, Melbourne: Australian Natives' Association, Victorian Board of Directors
• Australian democracy and our constitutional system , 1939, Melbourne: Horticultural Press
• An appeal for a greater Australia: the nation must itself take power for its post-war reconstruction; the constitutional issue stated; dynamic democracy , 1943, Melbourne: Horticultural Press
• Referendum powers:: a stepping stone to greater freedom , 1946, Melbourne: [sn]
• Palestine: peace and prosperity or war and destruction? Political Zionism: undemocratic, unjust, dangerous , 1946, Melbourne: Ramsey Ware Publishing

• Isaac Alfred Isaacs , University of Melbourne
• Isaac Alfred Isaacs , Australian Biography Dictionary
• Isaac Alfred Isaacs Papers , National Library of Australia
• Isaac Alfred Isaacs
• The results of the elections of 1901