ISAAC

See also:

• MAYER, JOHANN TOBIAS (1723-1762)
• MAYER, JULIUS ROBERT (1814-1878)

MAYER

See also:

• WISE, HENRY ALEXANDER (1806-1876)
• ISAAC MAYER WISE (1819-1900)

WISE (1819-1900)  , American Jewish theologian, was born in Bohemia, but his career is associated with the organization of the Jewish reform movement in the United States . From,the moment of his arrival in America (1846) his influence made itself felt . In 1854 he was appointed rabbi at Cincinnati . Some of his actions roused considerable opposition . Thus he was instrumental in compiling a new prayer-book, which he designed as the " American Rite " (Minhag America) . He was opposed to political Zionism, and the Montreal Conference (1897), at his instigation, passed resolutions disapproving of the attempt to establish a Jewish state, and affirming that the Jewish Messianic hope pointed to a great universal brotherhood . In keeping with this denial of a Jewish nationality, Wise believed in national varieties of Judaism, and strove to harmonize the synagogue with local circumstances and sympathies . In 1848 he conceived the idea of a union, and after a campaign lasting a quarter of a century the Union of American Hebrew Congregations was founded (1873) in Cincinnati . As a corollary of this he founded in 1875 the " Hebrew Union College " in the same city, and this institution has since trained a large number of ,the rabbis of America . Wise also organized various general assemblies of rabbis, and in 1889 established the Central Conference of American Rabbis . He was the first to introduce family pews in synagogues, and in many other ways " occidentalized " Jewish worship . See D .

Philipson, The Reform Movement in Judaism (1907) . (I .