Reisen was born in Koydenev (now known as Dzyarzhynsk) in Minsk Governorate (in present-day Belarus) in 1887 to parents interested in the Jewish Enlightenment, or Haskalah.
After founder Shmuel Niger[citation needed] left for America, Reisen took over as chief editor and developed the paper into an important forum for discussion of cultural and societal questions of Judaism.
Reisen's most notable achievement was the publication of the Leksikon fun der yidisher literatur, prese, un filologye, (Vilna: 1926–1929).
This reference work centralized biographical and bibliographical information on Yiddish writers, providing an invaluable resource to scholars.
In February 1925, Reisen organized a conference with Max Weinreich to discuss Nochum Shtif's recent call for a Yiddish institute of higher education.