Michael Lazar Biedermann (1769-1843) was a successful jeweler and wool merchant. He took great interest in Jewish matters and headed the Jewish Community of Vienna from 1806 until his death in 1843. He initiated a number of reforms and invited reform-oriented rabbi Portrait of Isaak Noah Mannheimer, to continue his work.

Isaak Noah Mannheimer (1793-1865) developed the so-called Mannheim minhag, that were a compromise between Orthodoxy and reform. The “derasha”, the sermon during the Torah service was in German, but the liturgy remained Hebrew. Mannheimer called cantor Salomon Sulzer (1804-1890) to Vienna, who was active at the synagogue from 1838-1857.