Political Quotes

“I rise today with my colleague from Ohio, Sherrod Brown, to mark the bicentennial anniversary of the birth of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise. Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise founded the Central Conference of American Rabbis in 1889, and this year, its members are celebrating the 130th anniversary of its establishment at their annual convention in my hometown of Cincinnati, OH. Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise is widely acknowledged as one of the fathers of American Reform Judaism. We would like to recognize the bicentennial anniversary of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise's birth, as well as his extraordinary professional achievements, which have had an indelible effect on the religious life of the American nation. He created three major American institutions, all still vibrant today: the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, now the Union for Reform Judaism, in 1873; the Hebrew Union College, HUC, in 1875; and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, CCAR, in 1889. As founding president and faculty member of HUC for 25 years, Wise shaped and established Jewish seminary education in America. As CCAR president, he guided a fledgling American rabbinate to take its place within the broader American clergy as equal partners. Celebrating the 130th anniversary of its founding in 2019, the CCAR is today the world's oldest and largest rabbinical association. In 1854, Wise founded and edited a weekly newspaper, the Israelite-- later, The American Israelite--in Cincinnati.…”