Isaac Mayer Wise: The Founder of American Reform Judaism

Reform movement in Judaism emerged in Germany and reached its full scope in America. Socio-political conditions of Europe limited advance of Reform movement in the continent. American social environment, which offered freedom of religion and expression to individuals, was a fertile soil fort he Reform ideas in Judaism. This article tries to illustrate the influence of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, who immigrated to America from Germany, on American Reform movement through the establishment of three instituti- ons he pioneered. Although not all the American Jews follow his views of Jewish belief and practice, the institutions he initiated for Reform movement have become a model of communal organisation for all of them.