Creating American Reform Judaism

Book excerpt: Sefton Temkin has provided us with a much-needed critical and balanced portrayal of Wise ...The best scholarly work on Wise to date. It presents an admiring yet critical picture of Wise's achievements and personality ...a welcome contribution to our understanding of the man and his times.' George L. Berlin, AJS Review 'Thorough and extremely competent ...Temkin contributes a great deal through his careful use of materials ...The book will be of interest to general readers ...who wish not only to understand Isaac Mayer Wise but, moreover, to comprehend the attitudes and events that led to the formation of a truly American form of Judaism.' A. J. Avery-Peck, Choice 'An important book which illumines a formative era of American Jewry and of the United States itself ...scholarly and readable.' William Frankel, Jewish Chronicle American Reform Judaism's major institutions-Hebrew Union College, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and the Reform prayer book Minhag America-were all due to the singular efforts of Isaac Mayer Wise (1819-1900). Sefton Temkin's biography captures the vigour of Wise's personality and the politics and concerns of Jewish life and leadership in America at that time. It is a lively portrait of a rabbi who was a pivotal figure in the naturalization of Jews and Judaism in the New World.