Abraham The World's First (But Certainly Not Last) Jewish Lawyer

by DERSHOWITZ, ALAN

• ISBN13: 9780805242935
• ISBN10: 0805242937
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-10-06
• Publisher: Schocken

Summary

Part of the Jewish Encounter series

One of the world’s best-known attorneys gives us a no-holds-barred history of Jewish lawyers: from the biblical Abraham through modern-day advocates who have changed the world by challenging the status quo, defending the unpopular, contributing to the rule of law, and following the biblical command to pursue justice.
 
The Hebrew Bible’s two great examples of advocacy on behalf of problematic defendants—Abraham trying to convince God not to destroy the people of Sodom, and Moses trying to convince God not to destroy the golden-calf-worshipping Children of Israel—established the template for Jewish lawyers for the next 4,500 years. Whether because throughout history Jews have found themselves unjustly accused of crimes ranging from deicide to ritual child murder to treason, or because the biblical exhortation that “justice, justice, shall you pursue” has been implanted in the Jewish psyche, Jewish lawyers have been at the forefront in battles against tyranny, in advocating for those denied due process, in negotiating for just and equitable solutions to complex legal problems, and in efforts to ensure a fair trial for anyone accused of a crime.
 
Dershowitz profiles Jewish lawyers well-known and unheralded, admired and excoriated, victorious and defeated—and, of course, gives us some glimpses into the gung-ho practice of law, Dershowitz-style. Louis Brandeis, Theodor Herzl, Judah Benjamin, Max Hirschberg, René Cassin, Bruno Kreisky, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Irwin Cotler are just a few of the “idol smashers, advocates, collaborators, rescuers, and deal makers” who helped to change history. Dershowitz’s thoughts on the future of the Jewish lawyer are presented with the same insight, shrewdness, and candor that are the hallmarks of his more than four decades of writings on the law and how it is (and should be!) practiced.

Author Biography

ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ is the New York Times best-selling author of more than thirty books. His articles have appeared in hundreds of publications, including The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, Harvard Law Review, The Yale Law Journal, The Jerusalem Post, and Haaretz. He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus, at Harvard Law School, and has worked for more than fifty years in the areas of civil liberties, human rights, and criminal law. Honors he has received include the Anti-Defamation League’s William O. Douglas First Amendment Freedom Award.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Jewish Lawyer
 
PART I 
The Biblical Narrative: The Lawyer Abraham
1. God Meets Abram—and So Do We
2. God Tests Abraham and Abraham Passes—at Least the First Test
3. Abraham Refuses to Argue with God and with His Wife over the Lives of His Children—Failing God’s Next Test
4. Abraham Negotiates to Buy a Burial Cave for Sarah
 
PART II 
In the Footsteps of Abraham: Jews on Trial, as Defendants and Defenders
Introduction
5. The Trial of Jesus, the Conviction of the Jews, and the Blood Libel
6. Alfred Dreyfus, Leo Frank, Rudolf Slansky, Anatoly Sharansky, and the Nation-State of the Jewish People on Trial
7. The Jewish Lawyer as Abrahamic Idol Smasher, Advocate, Collaborator, Rescuer, and Deal Maker
Epilogue: The Future of Abraham’s Descendants
 
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index