Community Café

On February 26, 1842, a small group of German-Jewish immigrants here in Cincinnati officially became a congregation. Eleven years later, they elected a man as their spiritual leader who would not only set their future course, but also that of Reform Judaism as the world now knows it: Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise.

There’s a folk wisdom saying, “If your mind can conceive it, and your heart can believe it, then you can achieve it,” which personifies the history of the Plum Street Temple.

It is a special year for Wise Temple. The Reform congregation has not one, but two big milestones to recognize: 175 years as a congregation and 150 years since the opening of Plum Street Temple.