Stephen Samuel Wise (1874–1949) was an influential American Reform rabbi, Zionist leader, and social activist during the Progressive Era. Born on March 17, 1874, in Budapest, Austro-Hungarian Empire, he immigrated as an infant to New York City with his family. Descended from a line of rabbis, his father served as rabbi of the Rodeph Sholom congregation in Manhattan. Wise studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, beginning his career as a Reform rabbi, and led congregations in New York and Portland, Oregon (1900–1906), where he shaped local Jewish life and laid the foundation for his national prominence in liberal Judaism and Zionism. He was a founding member of the NAACP and a key initiator and co-founder of the World Jewish Congress, for which he also served as the World Zionist Organization’s representative in the United States. His Zionist activism included advocacy for Jewish resettlement and service on President Roosevelt’s Advisory Commission on Political Refugees (1938–1945), aiding German Jewish immigration amid rising antisemitism. In 1940, he received the Greenwood Pledge from the British government in recognition of his work. Wise was among the first to receive reports of the Holocaust via the Riegner Telegram and championed unified American Jewish action, though his efforts faced challenges due to internal divisions over his militancy, Zionism, liberalism, and support for the New Deal. His activism extended beyond Jewish causes to broader progressive movements, solidifying his legacy as a vital bridge between Reform Judaism, civil rights, and international Jewish advocacy until his death on April 19, 1949.