The New International Encyclopædia/Wise, Isaac Mayer

WISE, Isaac Mayer (1819-1900). An American rabbi and educator, born at Steingrub, Bohemia. He graduated at the University of Vienna in 1843 and became a rabbi at Padnitz. So advanced were his opinions in both religion and politics that he decided to seek a land of greater liberalism, and went to the United States in 1846. His first charge was at Albany, N. Y., and from 1854 until his death he was rabbi of the Congregation Bene Yeshurun, Cincinnati. Here he became a recognized leader of progressive Judaism. In 1854 he established The Israelite (subsequently The American Israelite) and afterwards Die Deborah (published in German) and the Chicago Israelite. He remained the editor of these publications, and was president of the Hebrew Union College, which he founded at Cincinnati in 1875, up to the time of his death. In 1889 he organized the Central Conference of American Rabbis and became its president. His works include: History of the Israelitish Nation (1854), severely criticised by both Jews and Christians and said to be the first rationalistic account of Judaism in English; Origin of Christianity (1870); Judaism: Its Doctrines and Duties (1872); The Martyrdom of Jesus of Nazareth (1874); The Cosmic God (1876); Judaism and Christianity (1883).