With so many different variations of Jewish beliefs and so many ways of practicing Judaism, unity amongst the Jewish people was a far call. Until the nineteenth century, Jewish communities were generally united as a people and had the same beliefs. When the Cleveland Conference was held in 1855, instead of uniting rabbis around the country, it tensed relations between Isaac Mayer wise and his supporters, and on the other side, rabbis in the eastern part of the country. Wise’s other attempts in establishing unity and peace was generally ineffective and only proved how difficult these challenges have become.
In the early 1860’s, the Civil War further divided American Jews. The bulk of Jews that were living in the North supported the union, …show more content…
Many important synagogues became reform including Temple Israel, Rodeph Shalom, and B’nai Jeshurun. To help achieve his goals of spreading reform, Isaac Mayer Wise following the lead of Isaac Leeser, used the religious and educational potential of the printing press as an advantage. He edited two lively Jewish weeklies- the Israelite in English and Die Deborah in German. In 1875, Wise established the Hebrew Union College where young men could receive a proper Jewish education. Few years later when the first class graduated, a banquet was held where a number of non-kosher foods was served, which came to be known as the Trefa Banquet. Wise perhaps, was not responsible for the decision, but refused to condemn it, and criticism from him and his movement spurred the splitting-off of Conservative Judaism from Reform. His many other attempts succeeded him in spreading Jewish Reform amongst a wide Jewish population. By 1880, more than 90 percent of American synagogues were Reform. Unfortunately, many Reform congregations were difficult to distinguish from neighboring protestant churches, with preachers in robes, pews with mixed seating, choirs, and organs (Jewish Virtual