Wednesday, March 29, 2000
The rabbinical wisdom of Isaac M. Wise
As the community prepares to honor the 100th anniversary of Rabbi Wise's death, a Jewish leader reflects on his legacy
BY RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Isaac M. Wise
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Isaac Mayer Wise came to the New World in July 1846 with a wife and child, $2 in his pocket and a dream. He arrived in Cincinnati eight years later, fresh from a tempest of controversy at his former congregation in Albany, N.Y. Rabbi Wise set out to fulfill his vision of unifying American Jews and professed that faith should reflect the community and evolve with it.
Rabbi Wise didn't found Reform Judaism. But he built its foundation.
Rabbi Wise established the three main institutions of Reform Judaism: Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Central Conference of American Rabbis. He started The Israelite, an English-Jewish weekly newspaper, and used it as a mouthpiece for the movement.
Lewis H. Kamrass is senior rabbi at Plum Street Temple, a national landmark built in 1866.
(Tony Jones photo)
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A century after his death, his legacy resonates. The 100th anniversary of Rabbi Wise's death will be celebrated at Plum Street Temple — built during his Cincinnati tenure in 1866 — with a special service on Friday.
Cincinnati boasts an out-of-proportion national prominence in Judaism, despite a Greater Cincinnati Jewish population of only about 23,000.
Considered the heart of Reform Judaism, Cincinnati is home to the only Reform seminary in North America, the oldest English-Jewish weekly newspaper in the country and one of the largest Hebrew libraries in the world.
Rabbi Lewis H. Kamrass, senior rabbi at the Plum Street temple, talked recently about the daring, faith, tenacity and optimism that propelled Rabbi Wise to the top echelon of American Jewish leaders. Here are excerpts:
Question: What does Rabbi Wise mean to Cincinnati?
Answer: Rabbi Wise gave this city a prominence in Jewish life that's felt 100 years after his death. (We have) a fuller Jewish religious, cultural and intellectual life as a result of his work and the institutions he founded that we otherwise would not have.
Q: Would he recognize the city today?
A: No. But no one could. We wouldn't want him to recognize the city, and he wouldn't have wanted to recognize the city either. Rabbi Wise was never afraid of the future or of change.
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IF YOU GO
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A service commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise will be at 8:15 p.m. Friday at Wise Temple, 720 Plum St., downtown. 579-9441.
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CONTRIBUTIONS
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• Minhag America: Rabbi Wise wrote this prayer book, American Custom, in 1857.
• Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise (1819-1900): Considered the father of the Reform Judaism Movement. There are no theological differences among the three main branches of Judaism: Orthodox, Conservative and Reform. Differences are in interpretation of scripture, liturgy and daily living practices.
• Hebrew Union College: Rabbi Wise opened the rabbinical seminary in 1875. Now known as Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the school has three satellite campuses, in Los Angeles, New York and Jerusalem. It offers rabbini cal study and numerous graduate degrees and houses the American Jewish Archives and a large Hebrew library.
• Plum Street Temple: Built in 1866 under Rabbi Wise. The Byzantine-Moorish style temple was built to hold 1,200 people — even though the congregation numbered only 220 families. Today, 1,380 families belong.
• The American Israelite: Founded as The Israelite in 1854 by Rabbi Wise. It is the oldest English-Jewish weekly newspaper in the United States. The following year, Rabbi Wise began publishing Die Deborah, a German newspaper aimed at women.
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Q: How did Rabbi Wise end up in Cincinnati?
A: K.K. B'nai Yeshurun (now known as Plum Street Temple) congregation was interested in reform ideology. Rabbi Wise had already gained a reputation in his short time in the United States both for his oratorical skills and his strong commitment to reform. They contacted him about the possibility of coming here.
He insisted that for him to be successful in doing the work, he would want to have a lifetime tenure, which he asked for and received.
Q: What made the city a fertile place for change?
A: I think it was a very forward-thinking city. At that time, Cincinnati was one of the largest, most enterprising, most entrepreneurial cities. These were the days of riverboat travel, and its spirit was very forward-thinking.
I think that appealed to him, and it gave the people of his congregation the soil in which to imagine themselves and their future in a prominent way. The Plum Street Temple really is a testament to that kind of bold thinking.
Q: Why?
A: Its grandeur. The statement of permanence. And the possibilities it represents. The Jewish community was a small community; they were all essentially immigrants. This was a statement to build (such a temple) that they were here to make this place home. Not just for their children, but people like us who would be enjoying it.
Q: What role did Rabbi Wise play in reform Judaism?
A: He essentially was the architect and builder of the reform movement and specifically, a uniquely American Judaism. His goal was to create an American rabbinical seminary that would train American Jews for leadership positions for a new time in a new world.
But to do that, he recognized that he needed not only just a dream or just a school, he needed congregations that would come together in a coherent, practiced theology and mutual support.
It was only through his work that reform went from being ideology to a movement of congregations and a people that could sustain themselves for the future.
Q: How did worship change under Rabbi Wise?
A: Worship changed under his tenure incrementally. There were no radical changes.
He believed people had to adjust to change for it to be lasting. (His influence) included mixed seating, women and men sitting together, mixed choirs, women singing with men, instrumental music being added, and the transformation of service from being entirely in Hebrew to a mixture of Hebrew and English.
Q: What is his legacy?
A: His legacy is the grandeur of the Plum Street Temple. His legacy is the Hebrew Union College here and on three other campuses in the United States and in Jerusalem.
His legacy is a spirit that says that Jews should live fully and comfortably in the modern world and that their religion should embrace and respond to the changes that brings.
Q: What would Rabbi Wise think of the world today?
A: It's hard to go back to the past and see how someone would read the future. I would say he would be delighted with the pluralism of American life and with the full integration of Jews and other groups in American life. I think his optimism would have expected it, but even so, he would be delighted by the scale and depth of it.
By the same token, I'm not sure he could understand some of the feelings of skepticism and uncertainty in the future, because he lived in an age of inevitable progress, and he, himself, was such a great optimist.
I don't know that he could begin to fathom how our age is different.
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