The Rabbis WISE - an aside

     Two days ago, in part of the day's search that to the creation of this blog, I visited the website of Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (www.tbeonline.org).  On the home page, there was reference to that evening's event, the "Isaac Mayer Wise Shabbat."  The rabbi I e-mailed about my LEUBUSCHER search was delivering the sermon.

     Seeing the name of Rabbi WISE reminded me that I had run into his family before.

     In April 2010, in the course of LATZ family research, I was surprised to notice that R. Jonah B. WISE (1881-1959) had presided over three LATZ family weddings in Scarsdale, NY in the 1940s.  I was surprised that such a prominent New York rabbi had some connection to this LATZ family.

      The first of those Scarsdale weddings was between Paula LATZ and Richard FRANK of Portland, Oregon.  I assumed the connection was based on the fact that R. Jonah WISE had been rabbi in Portland from 1910 to 1924 when he moved to the Central Synagogue in Manhattan.  In the much smaller Jewish community of Portland in the period, it was easy to imagine a connection forming between Rabbi WISE and members of his congregation.

     Until today, I did not recall noting the much more likely reason for the presence of the eminent Rabbi WISE at these weddlings.   He was married to Helen ROSENFELD of Portland.  A quick review of US Census records, showed that Helen was a sister of Ruth ROSENFELD who married Aaron Meier FRANK; they were the parents of the groom of Scarsdale marriage #1.  So, the first marriage was of his nephew Richard.  And #2 and #3 were to Richard's wife's sisters.

     R. Jonah B. WISE was a son of R. Isaac Mayer WISE (1819-1900), one of the founders of Reform Judaism in the US, and a founder of Hebrew Union College.  He was present at the 1867 dedication of Temple Beth El, then in Detroit, Michigan.

     The family of Paula LATZ is decended from Israel LATZ (b.1825), a family line that is not yet connected to the rest of the LATZ clan originating in Posen.