Isaac Mayer Wise

Isaac Mayer Wise (1819-1900), American Jewish religious leader, was the builder of Reform Judaism in the United States.

Isaac M. Wise was born on March 29, 1819, in Steingrub, Bohemia. He attended various traditional Jewish schools in Bohemia, studied at the Universities of Prague and Vienna, and was ordained a rabbi in 1842. After several years as rabbi in the Bohemian town of Radnitz, he emigrated to the United States in 1846. His first pulpit in America was Temple Beth El in Albany, N.Y., where he served from 1846 until 1854, when he became rabbi of Congregation Bene Yeshurun in Cincinnati. He held this post until his death on March 26, 1900.

Reform Judaism

Wise's greatest achievement was the establishment of the three key institutions of Reform Judaism in America. In 1873 he founded, and was elected president of, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the organization of Reform Jewish congregations in the United States. Feeling that a rabbinate trained in America could best serve American Judaism, Wise founded in Cincinnati in 1875 the Hebrew Union College, the Reform rabbinical seminary. He served as its president and as a professor of theology for the rest of his life. In 1889 he founded the main organization of American Reform rabbis, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and served as its president for 11 years. These three organizations provided the structure for Reform Judaism in America.

Wise's philosophy of moderate Reform Judaism affirmed the historicity of the revelation at Sinai and the divine origin of the Ten Commandments. The latter was for him the basis of Judaism as a universal, rational religion whose destiny was to be mankind's universal religion. Wise accordingly proceeded to "reform" American Jewish ritual and ceremony, removing many of the features of rabbinic Judaism and formulating a new synagogue liturgy (Minhag America) in 1857. Influenced by the universal ideals of American nationalism as well, Wise became an outspoken opponent of the Zionist movement.

His Writings

In addition to his ministerial and organizational labors, Wise was a prolific writer. He edited (1854-1900) the weekly publication Israelite (later American Israelite), and he published in it numerous articles on Jewish theology and history as well as novels in serial form. The Israelite served Wise not only as a platform for expounding his views on Judaism but also as a vehicle for defending Jewish rights. He wrote a number of books on Jewish theology, including The Essence of Judaism (1861), Judaism, Its Doctrines and Duties (1872), and The Cosmic God (1876). In addition he published works on the relationship between Judaism and Christianity: The Origin of Christianity, and A Commentary to the Acts of the Apostles (1868), The Martyrdom of Jesus of Nazareth (1874), Judaism and Christianity: Their Agreements and Disagreements (1883), and A Defense of Judaism versus Proselytizing Christianity (1889). Among his works on Jewish history and literature were The History of the Israelitish Nation from Abraham to the Present Time (1854), The History of the Hebrews' Second Commonwealth (1880), and Pronaos to Holy Writ (1891).

Further Reading

The most comprehensive work on Wise is James G. Heller, Isaac M. Wise: His Life, Work, and Thought (1965), a lengthy study published by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. A shorter, more popular work is Israel Knox, Rabbi in America: The Story of Isaac M. Wise (1957).

Additional Sources

Temkin, Sefton D., Isaac Mayer Wise, shaping American Judaism, Oxford England; New York: Published for the Littman Library by Oxford University Press; Washington, DC, USA: Distributed in the U.S. by B'nai B'rith Book Service, 1992. □

Wise, Isaac Mayer (1819–1900), rabbi and leader of Reform Judaism.Born in Steingrub, Bohemia (present day Kamenny Ovu, Czech Republic), Wise officiated in Radnitz, near Prague, before immigrating to America in 1846. He then served as the rabbi of Albany's Congregation Beth El. His ritual innovations aimed at improving decorum proved divisive, and in 1850, following a fracas in the synagogue, his followers formed Congregation Anshe Emeth around him. In 1854 he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, accepting a life contract from Congregation Bene Yeshurun.

Wise sought to unite American Jews around a modernized form of Judaism. He established and edited two national Jewish newspapers to promote his ideas, the English‐language Israelite (later American Israelite ) and the German Die Deborah. He also produced an influential new prayer book (1857), Minhag America (The American rite). In a dramatic symbol of Judaism's rising status, he moved his congregation in 1866 into a palatial synagogue (“the Plum Street Temple”) across from Cincinnati's city hall. In 1873, his lay leaders founded the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, and two years later at his urging it established in Cincinnati what was then America's only rabbinical seminary, Hebrew Union College. Presiding over this school until his death, he trained legions of rabbis who followed in his footsteps. In 1889, he helped to organize the school's graduates and rabbinic supporters into the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

Usually an advocate of moderate as opposed to radical reforms within Judaism, Wise was a pragmatist rather than a systematic or consistent thinker. The institutions he created remain central to American Reform Judaism.
See also Religion.

Bibliography

James G. Heller , Isaac M. Wise: His Life, Work and Thought, 1965.
Sefton D. Temkin , Isaac Mayer Wise: Shaping American Judaism, 1992.

Jonathan D. Sarna

Isaac Mayer Wise 1819–1900, American rabbi, founder of organized Reform Judaism in the United States, b. Bohemia, studied at the Univ. of Vienna. He settled in the United States in 1846. Wise was liberal in his religious and political views. He was rabbi of Orthodox congregations in Albany, N.Y., and (from 1854) Cincinnati, both of which he turned into Reform synagogues. He energetically pursued his goal by founding (1875) the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati and by organizing (1873) the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Central Conference of American Rabbis (1889). He presided over these organizations until his death. He founded and edited two periodicals, the American Israelite, in English, and Deborah, in German. He wrote several novels, two plays, his reminiscences (1901), and many historical and religious works, including History of the Israelitish Nation (1854).

Bibliography: See study by A. F. Key (1962); J. G. Heller, Isaac Wise: His Life, Work, and Thought (1965).