Haim Cohn

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Haim Cohn

| native_name = {{Nobold|{{Script/Hebrew|חיים כהן}}}}

| native_name_lang = he

| image = Cohen haim.jpg

| birth_date = {{birth date|1911|03|11|df=y}}

| birth_place = Lübeck, German Empire

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2002|04|10|1911|03|11|df=y}}

| death_place = Jerusalem, Israel

| office1 = Ministerial roles

| suboffice1 = Minister of Justice

| subterm1 = 1952

| office2 = Other roles

| suboffice2 = Attorney General

| subterm2 = 1950–1960

}}

Haim Herman Cohn ({{langx|he|חיים הרמן כהן}}; 11 March 1911 – 10 April 2002) was an Israeli jurist and politician.

Biography

Haim Cohn was born in Lübeck, Germany in 1911 to a religious family. His father was the author and philologist Leopold Cohn. Haim was chairman of a World Agudath Israel branch in Hamburg. At age 18 he came to the British Mandate of Palestine to study at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva in Jerusalem, where he studied under rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/may/10/guardianobituaries.israel|last=Beck|first=Mordechai|title=Haim Cohn|work=The Guardian|date=2002-05-09|access-date=2019-03-24}} He was also a Hazzan in Mea Shearim. He returned to Germany to complete his law studies at Frankfurt University.{{Cite news

| last = Lubitch

| first = Vered

| author2=David Hacohen

| title = השופט חיים כהן הלך לעולמו

| work = Ynet

| access-date = 2008-06-20

| date = 2002-04-10

| url = http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-1826929,00.html

| language=he}} He emigrated to Palestine 1933 due to the rise of Nazism in Germany. He had earned with a PhD in law. In 1936 he was certified as a lawyer and the following year he opened an office in Jerusalem.{{Cite news

| title = חיים כהן (הרמן) / Cohen (Herman) Haim

| work = nfc

| access-date = 2008-06-20

| date = 2003-12-19

| url = http://www.nfc.co.il/Archive/006-D-129-00.html?tag=09-46-04

| language=he}}

After the establishment of the State of Israel, he was appointed manager of the legislation department of the Ministry of Justice, and later became State Attorney. In 1949 he was made CEO of the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General of Israel a year later. As Attorney General, he decided to indict Malchiel Gruenwald, starting the Rudolf Kastner trial{{Cite web

| title = Kastner Affair

| work = Knesset website

| access-date = 2008-06-20

| url = https://www.knesset.gov.il/lexicon/eng/kastner_eng.htm

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160306041236/http://www.knesset.gov.il/lexicon/eng/kastner_eng.htm

| archive-date = 2016-03-06

| url-status = dead

}}

and decided to ignore the (British based) law "and refrained from pressing charges on the conduct of homosexual relations between consenting adults".

{{Cite news

| last = Asa-El

| first = Amotz

| title = Middle Israel: Oy gay!

| work = Jerusalem Post

| access-date = 2014-11-01

| date = 2006-11-06

| url = http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Middle-Israel-Oy-gay

}}

In 1952 he was also Minister of Justice, without being an MK.{{Cite web

| title = חיים כהן חבר בכנסת ה-

| work = Knesset website

| access-date = 2008-06-20

| url = https://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/heb/mk.asp?mk_individual_id_t=699

| language=he}} In 1960 he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Israel, a position he held until his retirement in 1981.

In addition to his civil service, he was also a visiting lecturer in the Tel Aviv University (from 1956 to 1969) and Hebrew University of Jerusalem (from 1954 to 1976) law schools, a representative of Israel in the United Nations Human Rights Council and a member of the International Court of Justice in The Hague.{{Cite news

| title = Haim Cohen, 91, Israeli Judge And Human Rights Advocate

| work = The New York Times

| access-date = 2008-06-20

| date = 2002-04-13

| url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504E4DC153CF930A25757C0A9649C8B63

}} He was a member of the "T'hila" Movement for Israeli Jewish secularism.

He wrote five books, including The Trial and Death of Jesus in 1968, in which he argued that it was the Romans, not the Sanhedrin, who tried and executed Jesus.{{Cite magazine

| issn = 0040-781X

| title = An Attempt to Save Jesus?

| magazine = Time

| access-date = 2019-12-02

| date = 1967-11-10

| url = http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,837540,00.html

}}

Cohn's relationship with Orthodox Judaism was generally perceived as strained, however, in at least one instance, in 1975, Cohn was honored by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic dynasty with participation in the annual Simchat Torah ceremonies.{{cite web|title=An Israeli evening in the courtyard of the Rebbe of Lubavitch|first=K.|last=Naftali|url=https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/mar/1975/10/01/01/article/158/?e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxTI--------------1|website=Maariv|publisher=National Library of Israel (Maariv - 1 October 1975, Page 19)|date=1 October 1975|access-date=4 September 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/5150171/jewish/What-Did-the-Rebbe-Say-to-the-Anti-Religious-Chief-Justice-Who-Came-for-Simchat-Torah.htm|title=What Did the Rebbe Say to the Anti-Religious Chief Justice Who Came for Simchat Torah?|first=Tzvi|last=Freeman|website=Chabad.org}}

He died in 2002. President of the Supreme Court Aharon Barak cited him as one of the founders of Israeli law.

Awards and honors

In 1980, Cohn was awarded the Israel Prize in 1980, in jurisprudence.{{Cite web| title=תש"ם|website=Israel Prize Official Site| language = he | url = http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashlag/Tashmab_Tashlag_Rikuz.htm?DictionaryKey=Tasham}}

He received honorary doctorates from several American universities, including Georgetown University.