An outspoken critic of American Jewish assimilation, Lewisohn is born in Germany in 1882, immigrating to South Carolina, US in 1890. A writer and scholar, beginning his career teaching at Ohio State University and the University of Wisconsin, he leaves academia in the early 1920s to serve as editor for “New Palestine” and “American Zionist,” two Zionist publications. In 1948, he returns to academia to help found Brandeis University, where he teaches until his death.