Person of the Week: Issac Mayer Wise

Person of the Week: Issac Mayer Wise

The history of Judaism in America is a fascinating one filled with great innovations and more than a few colorful characters. The United States is the birthplace of the Reform movement, a mindset that has driven progressive thinking in the Western hemisphere for nearly 200 years. Without a doubt one of the most important people behind the Reform movement is Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise.

Wise was born in 1819 in Bohemia, a region in the Austrian Empire that would later come to be known as Czechoslovakia and then the Czech Republic. His father was Rav Leo Wise who, like all rabbis prior to the 20th century, balanced his responsibilities as a religious leader with his separate professional duties. He was a school teacher, so it only stands to reason that Isaac would grow up to be an educator himself. Isaac studied both Jewish and secular topics in his home town of Steingrub then later pursued higher academics in Prague. For a brief two years, the certified Rabbi Isaac Meyar Wise took a pulpit in the town of Radnitz, not far from the famous beer-making region of Pilsner.

Like many European Jews of his time, especially those with a Judaic education, his services were of high value in America. He emigrated to Albany, New York in 1846 to be the rabbi at the synagogue there. Wise was a reformer at heart and a passionate one at that. The early Reform movement had a habit of adopting structural elements from Christian neighbors. Among those that have persisted into the modern day is the practice of giving sermons or d'varim during shabbat services. One that has waned in popularity in recent years is the use of family pews instead of separated chairs. Rabbi Wise's temple was the first to use pews in America. This and many other drives toward change and modernization put Rabbi Wise at odds with many of his peers. He was particularly progressive in terms of gender for his time. He was one of the first to permit a co-ed choir in his services and also took the radical step of including women in the minyan, the mandatory ten adults required to conduct a proper service.

Before leaving Albany (under some pressure from disagreeing parties within the synagogue leadership), Isaac Mayer Wise helped plant the seeds of a national union of Jewish organizations in America. This union wouldn't come to fruition for several years, long after Wise moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. After one failed attempt at creating a young men's Judaic seminary, Wise managed to establish Hebrew Union College, which is still today the premiere Jewish seminary in America and one of the most highly regarded in the world. Such is Isaac Mayer Wise's balanced philosophy toward modern Judaism. He fought for decades to convince the Jewish organizations of America to form a definitive union to foster communication and create universal standards. On the other end of this balance was his perceived need for a centralized seminary where the nation's religious leaders could all receive an equal education and the pervading philosophies of the time could be debated in as efficient a way as possible.

Rabbi Wise was also a tireless fighter for civil rights. His letters to President Lincoln during the American Civil War directly led to the repeal of General Grant's infamous Order No. 11 which required the Union military to expel all Jews from occupied territories under unfounded suspicions of collaboration with the Confederacy.

The hope and freedom brought to all immigrants by the promises of a new life in the United States created countless innovators and leaders. This drive for modernization and equality made it possible for passionate agitators like Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise to change not only the way Judaism is practiced, but the way this entire country operates.