Isaac Mayer Wise

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Isaac Mayer Wise was born in Steingrub, Bohemia in 1819. After studying in various yeshivot in Prague, Czechoslovakia and Vienna, Austria he became a rabbi in Radnitz, Bohemia. Because of the poor prospects in Europe at the time, Wise immigrated in 1846 to New York. He shortly thereafter became the rabbi at Congregation Beth El in Albany. There he became an advocate for reforms such as confirmation, choral singing and mixed pews. Moving to Cincinnati, Ohio,in 1854, he remained at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun in that city for the remainder of his life. Shortly after his arrival in Cincinnati, he created the weekly paper known as The Israelite and a German supplement titled Die Deborah. He also started the Zion College- a school for Hebrew and secular studies. It folded a short time later. Isaac Mayer Wise is known as the founder of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1875. Wise was president of HUC until his death- ordaining more than 60 rabbis and outgrowing their first campus. He was also involved in the formation of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Source: americanjewisharchives.org

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