, OH
This historic synagogue symbolizes the work of one of the most important figures in nineteenth-century American Jewry, Isaac Mayer Wise (1819-1900). The Bohemian-born rabbi’s many achievements include the establishment of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1873, Hebrew Union College in 1875, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis in 1889. Wise’s leadership made Cincinnati a center for Reform Judaism in America. The Plum Street Temple, designed by Cincinnati architect James Keys Wilson and built in 1865-1866 for the B’nai Yeshurun congregation during Wise’s tenure, is one of the best-preserved Moorish Revival buildings in the United States. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1975.
, OH
Hebrew Union College (HUC), founded in Cincinnati in 1875, is the oldest institution of higher Jewish learning in the United States. Its founder, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise (1819-1900), was a leading proponent of Reform Judaism in America. In 1950, the college merged with the Jewish Institute of Religion (JIR), a liberal Jewish seminary in New York founded by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise (1874-1949) in 1922. A third center opened in Los Angeles in 1954 to serve Jewry on the West Coast and, in 1963, a fourth campus opened in Jerusalem. As of 2003, HUC-JIR educates rabbis, cantors, communal, and educational professionals. It also offers advanced academic training for scholars of all faiths. The holdings of the school’s Klau Library constitute one of the most extensive Jewish libraries in the world.
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