Raisin was born on July 15, 1881, in
Nesvizh,
Minsk Governorate,
Russia, the son of Aaron Solomon Raisin and Taube Slutzky. His brother was Rabbi
Jacob S. Raisin. Raisin immigrated to America in 1892. In 1903, he received an A.B. from the
University of Cincinnati and was ordained a rabbi by
Hebrew Union College. He also did post-grad studies at the
University of California and
Columbia University. He was elected rabbi of Congregation B'nai Abraham of
Portsmouth, Ohio in 1901, while he was still a student at Hebrew Union College. By 1903, he wrote
A History of the Jews of America in Hebrew and contributed to Hebrew periodicals in Russia and Germany. In 1903, he was elected rabbi of Congregation Ryhim Ahoovim in
Stockton, California. In 1904, he became rabbi of Temple Sinai in
St. Francisville, Louisiana. In 1905, he became rabbi of the new Congregation Israel in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first
Reform congregation in
South Philadelphia. Later that year, he resigned from the congregation and was unanimously elected rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in
Meridian, Mississippi. In 1912, Raisin received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the
University of Mississippi, the first Mississippi rabbi to be so honored. He fought with some success to wipe out child labor in Mississippi. In 1913, he became rabbi of
Shaari Zedek Synagogue in
Brooklyn, New York. In 1918, he resigned from Shaari Zedek to become rabbi of a new congregation called the Brooklyn Synagogue, the first Jewish congregation in
Bedford. In 1921, Raisin became rabbi of the
Barnert Memorial Temple in
Paterson, New Jersey. He retired as rabbi emeritus of the Temple in 1946. In 1941, Raisin was elected to a two-year term president of the Association of Reform Rabbis of New York City and Vicinity. He collaborated with his mentor
Ahad Ha'am on
Ha-Shiloaḥ, and from 1916 to 1918 he was editor of
The American Jewish Chronicle. He wrote, among other publications,
The Jew and His Place in the World in 1913,
Djohn Milton, Haish, Hameshorer, Hanabi (
John Milton, the Man, the Poet, the Prophet) and
Yisrael Beamerika (Israel in America) in 1924,
Mordecai Manuel Noah: Zionist, Author, and Statesman in 1905, and
A History of the Jews in Modern Times (which was a supplement to
Heinrich Graetz's History of the Jews) in 1919. He also published autobiographical works, including
Dappim mi-Pinkaso shel Rabbi in 1941,
Out of My Life in 1956, and
Great Jews I have Known in 1959. He prolifically wrote in Hebrew, Yiddish, and English on contemporary issues, the history of
Reform Judaism, and Hebrew literature. He was also an ardent Zionist when it was unpopular in the Reform movement. Raisin became an instructor for the New Jersey Normal School for Jewish Teachers in
Newark, New Jersey, in 1925. He was a member of the
Central Conference of American Rabbis, the
New York Board of Jewish Ministers,
B'nai B'rith, the
Rotary Club, and the Manuscript Club. In 1909, he married Florence L. Steinhart. Their children were Beatrice Carol, Maxine (wife of Ellis Rosenthal), and Louise. == References ==