His father wanted him to study for the rabbinate but with the intervention of Baron Wrangel, the governor of Płock, he enrolled in a secular school.

He was the first to translate Theodor Herzl's novel Altneuland into Hebrew, giving it the name Tel Aviv (literally, "An Ancient Hill of Spring").

In 1931, Sokolow was elected President of the World Zionist Congress and served in that capacity until 1935, when he was succeeded by Chaim Weizmann.

On 6 February 1917, a meeting was held in Maida Vale with Weizmann to discuss the results of the Picot convention in Paris.

[3] Historian Martin Kramer argues that securing the assent of Britain's French and American Allies and of the Vatican, which controlled many Christian Holy Sites in the Land of Israel, was a necessary precondition for the Balfour Declaration.

Sokolow secured the support of Pope Benedict XV on 4 May 1917, who described the return of the Jews to Palestine as "providential; God has willed it".

[5] Sokolow acted as Weizmann's eyes and ears in Paris on a diplomatic mission with Sir Mark Sykes to negotiate with the French.

The desiderata or things desired by the Jews for their new homeland were "facilities of colonization, communal autonomy, rights of language and establishment of a Jewish chartered company.

They expected a quid pro quo for support against Germany, which was further made urgent by the entry of the US on 6 April 1917 to the global conflict.

Sokolov came to Rome to gain support for the plan of a Jewish state in Palestine and spoke to Monsignor Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII.