In a fascinating history of the response by Isaac Mayer Wise to a tragic series of Yellow Fever outbreaks in the 19th century, this article shows us how deeply and generously American Jews extended their care to those who became ill and were affected by earlier pandemics in American history. Tracing individual and communal responses to regional and national healthy crises, Rabbi Gary P. Zola, Ph.D., shows just how much we have inherited from the founder of institutional Reform Judaism in the U. S.