Isaac M. Wise as Women's Liberation Advocate
By JACOB R. MARCUS
Director,
American Jewish Archives
The blessing recited daily
in the traditional Orthodox
prayer book, "Thank you,
God, for not having made
me a woman," roused the
anger of Isaac Mayer Wise,
the organizer of Reform
Judaism and the founder of
Hebrew Union College in
Cincinnati.
Wise was one of the first
Jews in this country to fight
for women's rights. Within
a few months after he opened
the college in October, 1875,
he enrolled a girl in the first
class. She was 11 years old,
in the seventh grade of the
public school. Wise was
proud of her and, had she re-
mained, would probably have
ordained her.
During the 25 years he
served as president of the
school, there was nearly al-
ways at least one female stu-
dent, but it was not until
1972 that a woman received
her ordination at the Cin•
cinnati college. Today there
are about half a dozen wom-
en studying for the rabbin-
ate in American Reform and
Reconstructionist seminaries.
Wise was a peculiar com-
bination of the liberal and
the conservative. He refused
to accept Darwinism — he
could not accept the idea
that man was descended
from the anthropoid apes.
The "Higher Criticism" of
the Bible was rejected in
large part by him, for it was
his firm conviction that God
himself had given the Ten
Commandments to Moses on
Mount Sinai. But women?
They too were made in God's
image. They were as smart
as men and much kinder,
gentler, and more pious. To
some extent, Wise may have
been influenced to look sym-
pathetically upon them in his
new school because Oberlin
and Antioch in Ohio had be-
gun admitting- them nearly
a generation earlier. He was
well aware of the fact that
Protestants had already seen
fit to ordain women as min-
isters. Every human being,
even a woman, he said, is
endowed with inalienable nat-
ural rights, the right to life,
liberty and happiness, the
right to real equality.
Back in Albany, when he
was about 30 years of age,
this fiery rebel had brought
women into the choir of his
Orthodox soul — something
unheard of in a day when
the oldest and most prestigi-
ous synagogue in all Amer-
ica, Shearit Israel of New
York City, still relegated its
womenfolk to the gallery. In
1800, the Spanish-Portuguese
synagogue had refused to al-
low unmarried women to sit
even in the front row of the
gallery lest they look down
upon the men below and be
tempted to nurse unvirginal
thoughts.
In 1850, after Wise en-
gaged in fisticuffs with his
synagogue president and
created a liberalistic temple
of his own, he bought a
church with pews and invited
the women to sit with their
husbands and children. He
wanted them on synagogue
committees. spoke of estab-
lishing a female seminary.
and insisted on the equality
of women in the marriage
ceremony.
Almost 107 years ago, in
the spring of 1867. Wise
wrote an article in his Cin
cinnati German weekly, Die
Deborah, on "Women's Rights
in the Congregation." Here
are a few brief excerpts:
"When we first admitted girls
to the synagogue choir in 1846,
and in 1851 instituted family
seats in the temple at Albany,
we were denounced as godless
by one party and as fantastic by
the other. Yet these reforms
paved the way for the emancipa-
tion of the women in the congre-
gation. In those reforms we start-
ed out from the principle that
Judaism had to be freed from
the disgrace of having neglected
the Jewish woman; that this
absurd custom, which had been
taken over from the pagan Ori-
ent and from the Christian Mid-
dle Ages, had to be put an end
to, and that the woman had to
be emancipated in the congrega
tion . . .
Bern to Send Funds
to Israeli Children
12-Irr1'dt4; Dee.14, 1973
seem far-fetched to suggest
that he would have seen it,
BERN (JTA) — This city
to a large extent at any rate, has decided to contribute *
as justifiable.
600,000 francs to Israeli chil- *
dren who were victims of
Israel In Exile
the recent war.
to
sand.
Israel is likened
As sand is moved from place
The donation, offered by
to place without a sound, so the Bern Parliament, is the
Israel is exiled from place to maximum sum it is author-
place without complaint.
ized to give in its own
—intro. to Tanhuma Buber capacity.
THE' DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
111.
Harry and Ann Schwartz and all the Girls wish all
their friends and customers a Happy. Healthy Hanuka
%Mall
Oak Park.
* * * * * * * 23077
* * * * Coolidge,
* * * -A-
* * * * * * *
"Here a reform is necessary;
this is clear to everybody. If hus-
bands expect their wives to take
their seats in the temples and to
maintain the choir, they must as-
sure them, as the first step in the
direction of this reform. of the
right to vote, of the passive and
active election rights in the con-
gregation, just as this is the case
in many Christian American con-
gregations, because it belongs to
them by right . . .
May your Hanuka Candles Burn
Brightly and Safely With hope
of Freedom for all Humanity.
"Now if, for example, a woman
were to become a member of the
board of directors of a congrega-
tion, that a terrible humiliation
would that not be for the digni-
fied, wise, and experienced rulers
of all creation appointed by the
grace of God! But it would real-
ly not be so bad. An intelligent
woman who understands how tO
order and direct her home, to
bring up her children, and, in
addition, to guide her husband
.
MICHIGAN NATIONAL BANK
on the right path, has excellent
executive and frequently also
diplomatic talents, certainly suf-
ficient for aiding in the direct-
ing of a congregational establish-
ment. She would certainly under-
stand and fulfill the duties
•
of the
board of directors just as well
and just as precisely and consci-
entiously as her husband . ."
One can only guess what
Wise's attitude would be to
the Women's Lib movement
of today, but it does not
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