[2] Jacobs graduated from McGill University with a law degree in 1893 and went on to earn a Masters of Law from Laval University in Montreal[1] In 1897[3] Jacobs, Lyon Cohen, and several others founded the Jewish Times; the first English language Jewish newspaper in Canada.

[1][5] In the 1917 federal election, Jacobs was recruited by the Liberal Party to run in the newly created Cartier riding which had a large Jewish population (though never a majority).

[1] Jacobs is notable for having successfully introduced as an Opposition MP two private member's bills that were passed into law.

Jacobs was elected the reconvened Congress' first president and remained the CJC's leader until his death four years later.

[1] During this period Jacobs along with Sam Factor and Abraham Albert Heaps, fought a largely unsuccessful battle to force the Canadian government to lift quotas restricting the entry of Jews, particularly German Jews fleeing the Nazi regime, into Canada.