Stephen Wise |
|
Consider "Stephania"—the
code word of hope that spread from captive to captive in the Nazi
death camps. This symbol of longing for liberation from unutterable
atrocities sprang up in tribute to an American rabbi who was known
to be working with all his might to rescue victims of Hitler's reign
of horror. When people whine about the insignificance of American
religious leaders throughout the past generation, I think of Rabbi
Stephen Wise, the inspiration of the silent word, "Stephania."
That Stephen Wise decided early in his youth to become a rabbi was
not unexpected since his father was rabbi of Temple Rodeph Sholom
in New York City and his grandfather was Chief Rabbi of Hungary.
Born in March 1874, Stephen immigrated to America in 1875, attended
public schools, City College of New York, Columbia University, and
Oxford University. After his preparation for his active life of
scholarship and service, he served first as assistant and soon then
as rabbi of the Madison Avenue Synagogue in New York City. Following
a spirited public ministry in Portland, Oregon—where he also
completed his thesis for a doctorate in philosophy—Stephen
declined an invitation to become the rabbi of New York's "cathedral
synagogue," Temple Emmanu-el and pioneered in forming a new
type of synagogue with both a free pulpit and an active division
of social service: the Free Synagogue of New York.
How did the rabbi's relevance to today's reality express itself?
He worked constantly for interfaith activities before the ecumenical
movement began. He was a friend of organized labor in the midst
of early crucial labor-management disputes. His fighting spirit
was revealed in his work as a pioneer Zionist, as a champion of
minority civil rights, an exemplar of the Jewish way life as well
as an advocate of a creative liberal philosophy and as an undeceived
enemy of Nazism.
Rabbi Wise was an event, an American event and a world event. He
lives in his ongoing deeds:
- The founder of the first Zionist Federation of New York, 1897
- One of the founders of he National Advancement of Colored
People, 1906
- The founder of the Free Synagogue of New York City, 1907
- One of the founders of the American Jewish Congress, 1922
- A founder of the Jewish Institute of Religion, 1922
- President of the World Jewish Congress from its beginning
in 1936 until his death.
The life story of this relevant American rabbi
is Challenging Years: The Autobiography of Stephen Wise.
|
|
BACK ::
NEXT
INDEX |
Harvard Square Library • 2005 :: 
:: www.harvardsquarelibrary.org |