Wise, Isaac Mayer (1819-1900)

Bohemian rabbi. As rabbi of Orthodox congregations in Albany, New York, and Cincinnati, Ohio, he changed them into Reform synagogues, and soon became the preeminent leader of Reform Judaism in the USA. In 1873 he organized the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and in 1875 he founded the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, serving as its president until his death. In 1889 he established the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

Born in Steingrub, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic), he studied in Vienna, Austria and settled in the USA in 1846. He was founder and editor of the American Israelite and Deborah. A prolific writer, he published many historical and religious works, including History of the Israelitish Nation (1854), as well as novels, plays, and a memoir, Reminiscences (1901).