Isaac Mayer Wise

Isaac Mayer Wise ( born March 29, 1819 in Steingrub, Bohemia, † March 26, 1900 in Cincinnati, Ohio; actually Isaac Mayer Weis ) was a religious history of major American rabbi Bohemian origin.

Life

He visited various Jewish schools in Bohemia, studied in Prague, Bratislava and Vienna. After three years as a religious sage ( employee with the duties of a rabbi ) in Radnitz 1846 he emigrated with his family to the United States and worked as a rabbi in the Jewish community of Albany. He led major reforms in the sense of Reform Judaism, a: he began to hold church services in the language of English, led a mixed choirs and counted as one of the first women to a minyan. In 1847 he became a member of a Beth Din in New York City, which was led by his longtime friend Max Lilienthal. He wrote a common prayer book for schools and was in the last eleven years of his life President of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. Outside the Jewish community, he enjoyed a high reputation. He received many honors, among others, in Charleston, South Carolina.