The American Israelite - New Name and Continued Influence

New Name and Continued Influence

The Israelite was renamed The American Israelite beginning with the issue of July 3, 1874. The goal was to make the name more in consonance with the ideas it represented. Despite the change, the paper continued to cover and advocate for not only American Jews but also Jews around the world. By 1879, a typical issue had eight pages 28-by-42-inch in size, and a subscription cost $4, or $5 if the Die Deborah four-page supplement was included.

Rabbi Wise's son Leo Wise, who had become business manager for the paper in 1875, took over as its publisher from 1883 to 1884, and then he did so again, permanently, in 1888 (due apparently to some kind of rupture between Leo Wise and Bloch). A sister publication, The Chicago Israelite, was started in 1885. The papers stressed their reputation in trade publications, stating "None but clean advertisements of reputable houses accepted."

Leo Wise gradually took over the principle editorial functions from his father, but Rabbi Wise remained active on the paper until his death on March 26, 1900, writing an editorial for it just a few days before. Ownership then passed to Leo Wise.

By 1900, The American Israelite, in combination with The Chicago Israelite, claimed a circulation of other 35,000, about 12,000 in Ohio and Illinois and the balance spread across almost every other state as well as Canada and Mexico. The publication Printer's Ink said they had the largest guaranteed circulation of any Jewish newspaper in the U.S., and it continued to be especially strong in the West and the South. One 1902 book characterized The American Israelite as "the leading Jewish newspaper in the United States and the National Journal of the Jews."

In the early 20th century, the paper's short articles were sometimes picked up and run by The New York Times with a credit "From The American Israelite". In those years, The American Israelite became known for its very strong stance against the new Zionism movement, calling it in 1902 a "pernicious agitation" that would undermine the acceptance of Jews in the countries where they current resided. Rabbi David Philipson was among the editorial contributors to the paper who used it to oppose Zionism, arguing that Judaism was a religion exclusively, and thus stateless. Other noted contributors to the paper in this era included Rabbi Moses Mielziner and Jewish history scholar Gotthard Deutsch, as well as other prominent rabbis and Jewish thinkers within the country. The paper gave extensive coverage to the goings-on of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Hebrew Union College (and was sometimes viewed as a publication of them), as well as notices of various rabbinical conferences.

Die Deborah was discontinued after Isaac Wise's death, then resumed for a while. The Chicago Israelite ceased publication in 1920. Leo Wise edited The American Israelite until his retirement at age 78 in 1928 (he died in 1933). Another son of Isaac, Isidor Wise, worked as a writer and associate editor for the paper until his death in 1929.