Handwritten German with English translation.
| July 30, 1868 My most honored friend, Dr. Huebsch! In the few hours that I had the pleasure of passing with you, I grew so fond of you that it would pain me to think of you as anything other than a friend. With this premise, I hereby answer your honored letter from 23rd of this month. The matter of having a conference is so important that I certainly would not like to cause it any hindrance, rather I would like to contribute as much as possible to the realization of the project. The legal development of Judaism in America will not be secured until we have a conference that meets on a regular basis. Concerning the liturgy, I ask for patience so that I may explain myself completely. |
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| When I claim that ?I know no reform congregations, Judaism and all of its congregations are for me an inseparable and untouchable whole,? then I am certainly not identify anything that constrains legal advancement, for to a certain point every congregation has a right to develop freely; I want to deny everything that rips up the [Hebrew], this is where the rights of the individual congregations end. If we publish a prayer book that is appropriate for some congregations and not for others, then we have contributed and sanctioned a separation of the congregations from each other, which I must not do according to my conviction. I want one united Israel, the reform efforts are merely a means to re-establish unity under the pressure of the times and stormy circumstances. Dear Dr., we are certainly not reformists, we are restorationists. Since, however, Judaism only has a future as a national concept, which is the zeitgeist, we must play the most rational tunes |
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| in order to preserve it. The prayer book is the popular expression of the religion?s system. Therefore, it must be completely rational; it must be acceptable to all congregations; it must give the united Israel an appropriate form of expression. That is why I agree with you completely that the Hebrew section must be predominant and ask you to see for yourself in the preface to my hymns, prayers, [Hebrew]. I only ask that you also grant due importance to the [Hebrew], I have temporarily noted several things there. As they are, the prayer pieces and prayer arrangements, I am not talking about every word or each passage, but overall, have completely imprinted themselves into Jewish mind. Overall, it is all mainly a [Hebrew]. One could, of course, write a new prayer book, but imprinting it into the religious mind, that is an insurmountable difficulty. This was the committee?s consideration when composing the Minhag America. Changes were only made where the principle required a change, but it should be mainly untouched |
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| as a whole, and remain a Minhag America and not a prayer book for individual congregations. The German and English section should be added later once the congregations have been won over to accept the principle. This is how and why Minhag America made its way, which was impossible with a new prayer book; this is why I am firmly convinced that Minhag America will create liturgical unity among American Israel. If you, Dr. Adler (I have no secrets from Dr. Adler, he is a dear friend to me), Dr. Milziener, and other high teachers of Israel take matters into your hands, improve and sanction Minhag America, then victory shall be sure and quick, a victory that guarantees American Judaism peace and unity for a century and that will have an invigorating, exalted effect on its development; a victory that is worth the struggle. A new prayer book, dear Dr., would start a new struggle that would not lead to victory, but rather to a new [Hebrew] in our camp. I could not dissuade myself of this conviction even if I wanted to. As I said, I can step back, can keep silent, God knows I have worked enough |
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| [Hebrew] . You and other colleagues can help this idea to victory without me; I cannot, however, change my convictions. I am, however, in favor of a liturgical conference and would also myself attend as the Chairman of the Liturgical Committee appointed by the Cleveland Conference to present a report, which, of course, would present the entire Minhag America with ?Hymns, Prayers, etc.? to the conference as negotiating basis. Aside from myself, the only member of that commission that remains alive is Isidor Kalisch, who has also introduced Minhag America in Indianapolis, Detroit, and Leavenworth. However, Minhag America congregations will be poorly represented at the conference, but that is because they are content with their liturgy and absolutely do not want something else, and because New York is too far away for most of them. But this will not matter, if I can count on your support, we should be able to stand our ground. I consider Dr. Adler nonpartisan and loyal-minded. Orthodoxy should not be feared. On the other hand, we are dealing with Doctors Einhorn, |
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| Hirsch, Deutsch, Chronick[Hebrew], and Felsenthal, this is worth considering. These are very important forces and they can hardly be overestimated as adversaries. They definitely want to Germanize the American Synagogue, and that would be the greatest misfortune that it could befall; it would not only separate it into two linguistic camps and alienate a whole part of Judaism, but would also leave the other behind as a foreign element. How can this be helped? I suggest that you, Milziener, and other gentlemen call a conference with your congregations, which also did not adopt a special liturgy, that is nonpartisan terrain ; you can ensure the collaboration of Dr. Adler and the good will of the [blank] congregation, this is of utmost importance; (of course, if Dr. Adler or the congregation would sign the call for the conference, it would be even better) the objective of the conference is to achieve liturgical unity among the American-Jewish congregations and to discuss other urgent current questions regarding Judaism. That is a platform for all. At the first sign of your call, I will publicly announce my participation in the conference and stand behind it. |
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| One more word in closing. My dear Doctor: I have worked so much in this field that I am met with worry when I think about entering it again. Therefore, I ask you to let me remain as passive as possible. I do recognize the importance of the matter, but there are so many other areas open to me and I feel so obligated to till new soil that I would like to see this matter come to a conclusion. Trusting on your friendship and Dr. Adler?s benevolence, I am willing to cooperate once again. Yours, Isaac M. Wise |
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Timeline: Life of Isaac Mayer Wise
Correspondence
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