Isaac Mayer Wise

Cincinnati at the Center of Reform Judaism

Isaac Mayer Wise (1819-1900) was born in Steingrub, Bohemia. He studied in Europe, was ordained as a rabbi in 1842, and immigrated to New York in 1846. He became the rabbi of congregation Beth El in Albany, but the congregation disagreed with his reforms, so he left and started congregation Anshe Emeth, also in Albany. In 1854, Wise became the rabbi of Bene Yeshurun in Cincinnati, a post he retained until his death. Simultaneously, Wise started the weekly Jewish newspaper The Israelite. In 1873 he started the Union of American Hebrew Congregations with thirty-four Reform congregations. It became the union of the Reform movement, but he hoped that this union would include all American synagogues. In 1875, he opened Hebrew Union College, the first rabbinical seminary in the U.S. Wise had ten children with his wife Therese Bloch, and after her 1874 death he married Selma Bondi, with whom he had four children. His farm in Cincinnati now has a plaque commemorating his life: "Isaac Mayer Wise: Creator of American Reform Judaism, Founder of the Hebrew Union College, Rabbi of the Plum Street Temple."