2025-07-25 21:18 <br/> Tags: #people #EarlyZionism #ReligiousJudaism #Lobby #AmericanJewry #KeyPeople ![[image-59.png|290x370]] # Stephen S. Wise (1874-1949) - Stephen S. Wise was an American immigrant, reform Judaism rabbi, and a major leader in American early Zionism. - Wise was a close associate of the founder of political Zionism [[Theodor Herzl]] until his death in 1904. - Wise was a very early leader in the Federation of American Zionists (FAZ), which was later renamed the [[Zionist Organization of America (ZOA)]]. - He served as president of the ZOA from 1936-38. - Wise worked with Supreme Court Justice [[Louis Brandeis]] and Brandeis's right hand man [[Felix Frankfurter]] to lobby Woodrow Wilson to support the [[Balfour Declaration]]. Wise was a close personal friend of President Wilson. That connection gave Wise considerable influence on US Jewish policy. - Wise, Brandeis, and Frankfurter were founders of the [[American Jewish Congress]] in 1918 although they began organizing it ~4 years prior. - Wise became chairman of [[Keren Hayesod]] in 1925. - Wise became chairman of [[United Israel Appeal|United Palestine Appeal]] in 1925. - Wise was forced to resign from the UPA after delivering a sermon that was somewhat positive towards Jesus Christ. - *The Jews hate Jesus. They always have. They still do.* - Like with President Wilson, Wise was a close associate of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. - When [[Hitler]] came to power, Wise was in FDR's ear influencing US policy against Germany. - In 1933 Wise led [[American Jewish Congress]] to organize a Jewish boycott of Germany. - Wise, [[Nahum Goldmann]], and Leo Motzkin were involved in forming the [[World Jewish Congress]] with the express purpose of fighting Nazism. - Wise worked with [[Abba Hillel Silver]] leading the American Zionist Emergency Council (AZEC) in the 1940s. The two eventually became rivals. - The AZEC became the [[American Zionist Council (AZC)]] in 1949. - The American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs (AZCPA) was formed within the AZC in 1954. - The AZCPA changed its name to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, [[AIPAC]], in 1959. - Wise was a liberal reform Judaism rabbi. The Orthodox Jews were his lifelong opponents. They believed he was too involved with government officials and specifically FDR. - Peter Bergson, real name [[Hillel Kook]], the chief Irgun operative within the United States during WWII, became Wise's Zionist adversary as a result of the war. - Wise was an early supporter of the pro-black civil rights group [[NAACP]]. - Wise became an NAACP board member around 1914. #### References - Medoff, Rafael. 2003. “60 Years Ago This Week: Abba Hillel Silver’s Rise to Zionist Leadership.” _Wyman Institute_, August 24. [http://new.wymaninstitute.org/2003/08/60‑years‑ago‑this‑week‑abba‑hillel‑silvers‑rise‑to‑zionist‑leadership/](http://new.wymaninstitute.org/2003/08/60%E2%80%91years%E2%80%91ago%E2%80%91this%E2%80%91week%E2%80%91abba%E2%80%91hillel%E2%80%91silvers%E2%80%91rise%E2%80%91to%E2%80%91zionist%E2%80%91leadership/). - Weir, Alison. _Against Our Better Judgment: The Hidden History of How the U.S. Was Used to Create Israel_. Washington, D.C.: If Americans Knew, 2014. - Wikipedia, _“Stephen Samuel Wise,”_ [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Samuel_Wise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Samuel_Wise). - World Jewish Congress. _“Rabbi Stephen S. Wise.”_ [https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/bio/rabbi-stephen-s-wise](https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/bio/rabbi-stephen-s-wise). - “Stephen Samuel Wise.” _Encyclopedia Judaica_. 2nd ed. Edited by Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. - Medoff, Rafael. _The Jews Should Keep Quiet: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and the Holocaust_. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2019.