Jonah Wise

Rabbi Wise was chosen to lead the Central Synagogue in Manhattan, the oldest Reform congregation in continuous use in New York City and whose cornerstone had been laid by his father in 1870.[1][2] Rabbi Wise had been selected in 1931 to head the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, working to restructure the organization's finances in the face of efforts to liquidate the philanthropy which had suffered financially during the Great Depression.[1] After Adolf Hitler came to power, Wise traveled to Germany, where he created a program to provide temporary relief to the Jewish community there and arranged for financial assistance to those who had fled the country.He was chosen by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938 to serve as a delegate to the Évian Conference, where representatives of 32 countries met at Évian-les-Bains, France, to discuss the problem of Jewish refugees.[3] At a 1954 ceremony honoring his fiftieth year as a rabbi, Wise received a proclamation from the Hebrew Union College that described him as "one of the most contributive and distinguished leaders of American Judaism of this generation".
ManhattanNew York CityUnited Jewish AppealAlma materHebrew Union CollegeUniversity of CincinnatiReform JudaismCentral SynagogueIsaac Mayer WiseUniversity of BerlinUniversity of BernChattanooga, TennesseePortland, OregonGreat DepressionThe New York TimesAdolf HitlerGermanyFranklin D. RooseveltÉvian ConferenceÉvian-les-BainsFranceJewish refugeesAmerican Jewish Joint Distribution CommitteeAbba Hillel SilverUnited Palestine AppealWilliam RosenwaldPalestineSolomon FreehofPittsburghDoctors HospitalWayback Machine