Kahn was born on May 31, 1881, in Smolensk, Russia, the son of Solomon and B. Lena Ben Zionoff.

[citation needed] From 1916 to 1918, he was chairman of the People's Relief Committee, which raised $7 million for war sufferers.

In 1919, he became a member of the executive board of the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society of America.

[3] Kahn was active in the Socialist Party and the trade union movement as a worker and speaker since 1897.

[5] In the 1932 United States House of Representatives election he was the Socialist candidate in New York's 17th congressional district.

[6] In the 1934 United States House of Representatives election, he was the Socialist candidate in New York's 7th congressional district.

[11] Deeply interested in Labor Zionism, he visited Israel with his wife shortly after the country's founding and was honored by Histadrut.

In 1961, the Israeli government presented him with a silver-bound Bible for his work on behalf of the Israel Bond Organization in America.

[12] Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jewish Labor Committee chairman Adolph Held, New York Supreme Court Justice Matthew M. Levy, Federal Judge Paul R. Hays, the Forward's acting editor Dr. Lazar Fogelman, Joint Distribution Committee executive vice-chairman Moses A. Leavitt, Israel Bond Organization executive vice-president Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, Workmen's Circle leader Nathan Chanin, and Liberal Party president Alexander Rose all spoke at his funeral.