WISE, ISAAC MAYER: American Reformed
rabbi; b. at Steingrub, Bohemia, Mar. 20, 1819; d.
at Cincinnati, O., Mar. 26, 1900. He received his
education at Prague, and from 1843 to 1845 was
rabbi
at Radnitz, Bohemia. In the following year
he emigrated to the United States, and was soon
appointed rabbi of Congregation Beth-El at Albany,
N. Y., and when, in 1850, a split occurred in this
congregation, Wise was chosen to be the head of
the new Congregation Anshe Emeth. Here he
remained until 1854, when he accepted the position
which he was to occupy for the remainder of his
life, the rabbinate of Congregation Bene Yeshurun,
Cincinnati.
Wise took a foremost place among the Reformed
Jews of America almost from his first arrival in
America, beginning with his work in the Congrega
tion Beth-El. As early as 1847 he
sought to end
the lack of uniform services in the American Jewish
Wishart congregations by his
Minhag America, though it
was not until 1855 that his efforts were successful.
The
Minhag which then appeared was practically
all prepared by Wise, who
himself withdrew it on
the issuance of the
Union Prayer Book
in 1$94. In 1848 he began the agitation which, in 1873, re
sulted in the organization of the Union of American
Hebrew Congregations; and to him is also due, after
the short-lived Zion Collegiate Association (1855),
the foundation, in 1875, of the Hebrew Union Col
lege (see
Theological Seminaries, VI., 1),
of which he was president until his death; while he
was likewise the ultimate inspirer of the Central
Conference of American
Rabbis, over which he pre
sided from its inception in 1889 until his death.
Besides editing the
American Israelite
and
Deborah, and in addition to a number of novels in German
and English (first appearing as serials in the two
periodicals just mentioned), and even a couple of
German plays, Wise wrote
History of'the Israelitish
Nation from Abraham to the Present Time
(Albany, 1854),
Essence of Judaism (Cincinnati, 1861),
Origin of Christianity, and a Commentary on the Acts of the
Apostles (1868),
Judaism, its Doctrines and Duties
(1872),
The Martyrdom of Jesus of Nazareth
(1874),
The Cosmic God (1876),
History of the Hebrews' Sec
ond Commonwealth (1880),
Judaism and Christian ity, their Agreements aced Disagreements
(1883),
De fense of Judaism vs. Proselytizing Christianity
(1889), and
Pronaos to Holy Writ (1891).
