Seminars for Adult Jewish Enrichment (SAJE) Presents: In Judgment and Mercy: The Turbulent Life and Times of the Judge Who Condemned the Rosenbergs, Martin J. Siegel offers an insightful and compelling biography of Irving Robert Kaufman, the judge infamous for condemning Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to death for atomic espionage.
Absorbingly told, Judgment and Mercy brings to life a complex man by turns tyrannical and warm, paranoid and altruistic, while revealing intramural Jewish battles over assimilation, class, and patriotism. Siegel, who served as Kaufman's last law clerk, traces the evolution of American law and politics in the twentieth century and shows how a judge unable to summon mercy for the Rosenbergs nonetheless helped expand freedom for all.
Recently nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award: John Leonard Prize for best first book in any genre.
Martin J. Siegel practices and teaches law in Houston. After clerking for Judge Kaufman, he served as an Assistant US Attorney in Manhattan and on the staff of the US Senate Judiciary Committee. His writing has been published in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Houston Chronicle, and legal journals.
Mr. Siegel will be joined in conversation by Judge Michelle Appel. Judge Appel obtained her Juris Doctorate law degree from the University of Detroit. She worked at a private law firm for twenty years and served as an Oakland County Commissioner before being elected judge to the 45B District Court in Oak Park in 2003.
SAJE is endowed by a generous gift from Cis Maisel and supported by Carol & Ronald P. Fogel, Sheri & David Jaffa, and Elaine & Michael Serling through The J’s Pillar of Light Program.
This program is co-sponsored by the Detroit Jewish Book Fair, Henry & Delia Meyers Library, JLearn, and University of Michigan Jewish Law Student Association.
Books available for purchase at the event through a partnership with Schuler Books.
