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Stephen Samuel Wise (March 17, 1874 – April 19, 1949) was an early 20th-century American Reform rabbi and Zionist leader in the Progressive Era. Born in Budapest, he was an infant when his family immigrated to New York.
Stephen Samuel Wise was a Reform rabbi, a leader of the Zionist movement in the United States, and a liberal activist who influenced the development of Reform Judaism in that country. Wise earned his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1901 and received his rabbinical training from private teachers.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Stephen Wise (1874–1949) was a prominent US Jewish leader in the 1933–1945 period. Born in Budapest in 1874 and the grandson of the Chief Rabbi of Eger, Hungary (a town about sixty miles northeast of Budapest), Stephen Wise immigrated to New York as a child.
Stephen Samuel Wise was born in Budapest in 1874, but as a child emigrated to New York, where he received his Jewish and secular education. He was ordained as a rabbi in the new Jewish Theological Seminary and went on to become a Reform rabbi.
- Political Activist
- Zionist Leader
- Further Reading
- Additional Sources
Wise's career was marked by a long and distinguished record of service to the American public. In Oregon he had been active in civic affairs and served as commissioner of child labor. In New York City he became active in efforts to improve municipal government and served as a member of the City Affairs Committee. He fought to better the lot of the ...
As a leader of the Zionist movement, Wise represented the movement on many historic occasions. He advised Woodrow Wilson with regard to the British government's Balfour Declaration, which supported the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine (1917). He attended the Paris Peace Conference (1918) and the London Conference of Arabs and Jews (1939...
The main source of information on Wise is his autobiography, Challenging Years (1949). This is supplemented by two collections of his correspondence: Personal Letters, edited by Wise's children, Justine Wise Polier and James Waterman Wise (1956); and Stephen S. Wise: Servant of the People, selected letters edited by the Protestant clergyman Carl He...
Shapiro, Robert Donald, A reform rabbi in the progressive era: the early career of Stephen S. Wise,New York: Garland Pub., 1988. Urofsky, Melvin I., A voice that spoke for justice: the life and times of Stephen S. Wise, Albany: State University of New YorkPress, 1982. Voss, Carl Hermann, Rabbi and minister: the friendship of Stephen S. Wise and Joh...
Oct 19, 2022 · Publicly engaged rabbis and a Judaism committed to social justice and Zionism — these are the legacies of Rabbi Stephen S. Wise. Though little known now, Wise was one of the most prominent rabbis in the United States in the first half of the 20th century and had a profound influence on shaping the political liberalism practiced by American ...
A founder of the Jewish Institute of Religion, 1922. President of the World Jewish Congress from its beginning in 1936 until his death. — Abridged from “The Relevant Reverend” by Rev. Dr. Herbert F. Vetter. Resources Recommended by Harvard Square Library. Wise, Stephen Samuel.
