David Wolpe

David J. Wolpe (b. 1958 -) is an author, public speaker and rabbi of Sinai Temple (Los Angeles, California). Named the "#1 Pulpit Rabbi in America" by Newsweek magazine (2008), he is considered a leader of the Conservative Jewish movement. Wolpe was named one of The Forward's Forward 50, and one of the hundred most influential people in Los Angeles by Los Angeles magazine. Author of six books and a regular weekly column in the New York Jewish Week, Wolpe became the focus of international controversy when he gave a Passover sermon that discussed the historic validity of the Exodus from Egypt.

Career

Wolpe taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York, and also served as assistant to the Chancellor of that institution. He also taught at the University of Judaism (now the American Jewish University) in Los Angeles, at Hunter College in New York and at UCLA he teaches Modern Jewish Religious Thought.^{[citation needed]} Wolpe is a regular contributor to several publications such as New York Jewish Week, the Jerusalem Post, Los Angeles Times. He frequently is featured on documentaries on Biblical topics produced by A&E Networks (A&E, Bio, History Channel and History Channel International). He has also appeared as a commentator on CNN and CBS This Morning. Wolpe's most recent book, Why Faith Matters, is both an answer to books about atheism and a recounting of his battle with illness (he has undergone surgery for a brain tumor and chemotherapy for lymphoma). In 2008 and 2009, he had public debates with Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Steven Pinker, Roger Cohen^[1][2][3] and others.

Wolpe is the head rabbi of Sinai Temple (Los Angeles, California).

Missions to Israel

Wolpe has led three missions to Israel since 2002. The first, in June 2002, was a solidarity mission at the height of the intifada that broke out after the Camp David peace talks. The second, in May 2005, was a mission of gratitude to pick up the Torah commissioned in honor of his recovery from brain surgery.[3] The third, in July 2006, at the height of the war with Hezbollah, was another solidarity mission that covered Jerusalem, Haifa and Sderot.[4] Wolpe also led the largest AIPAC delegation ever assembled from one synagogue (230 people) to the AIPAC conference in Washington in 2008.

Historicity of the Exodus

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On Passover 2001, Wolpe told his congregation that "the way the Bible describes the Exodus is not the way it happened, if it happened at all." Casting doubt on the historicity of the Exodus during the holiday that commemorates it brought condemnation from congregants and several rabbis (especially Orthodox Rabbis). The ensuing theological debate included whole issues of Jewish newspapers such as the Jewish Journal in Los Angeles and editorials in the Jerusalem Post, as well as an article in the Los Angeles Times. Critics asserted that Wolpe was attacking Jewish oral history, the significance of Passover and even the First Commandment. Wolpe asserted that he was arguing that the historicity of the events should not matter, since he believes faith is not determined by the same criteria as empirical truth. Wolpe argues that his views are based on the fact that no archeological digs have produced evidence of the Jews wandering the Sinai Desert for forty years, and that excavations in Israel consistently show settlement patterns at variance with the Biblical account of a sudden influx of Jews from Egypt.

Covenantal Judaism

On November 10, 2005, Rabbi Wolpe addressed the Jewish Theological Seminary and proposed that the name of Conservative Judaism be changed to "Covenantal Judaism," to better encompass the view that rabbinic law is both binding and evolving.

Bibliography

• The Healer of Shattered Hearts: A Jewish View of God (1991) ISBN 0-14-014795-0
• In Speech and In Silence: The Jewish Quest for God (1992) ISBN 0-8050-2816-1
• Teaching your Children About God: A Modern Jewish Approach (1995) ISBN 0-06-097647-0. Wolpe believes that nurturing children spiritually leads to greater intellectual and emotional enlightenment.
• Why be Jewish? (1995) ISBN 0-8050-3927-9
• Making Loss Matter: Creating Meaning in Difficult Times (1999) ISBN 1-57322-820-6. Wolpe recognizes the ultimate human potential to find strength from loss. He tells stories from his own life in addition to relaying lessons from ancient stories, rabbis, poets, philosophers, and scholars.
• Floating Takes Faith: Ancient Wisdom for a Modern World (2004) ISBN 0-87441-733-3. This collection of essays, explores some of the most challenging questions for the modern Jew. It considers how Jews live today and how ancient Jewish values shape the contemporary Jew’s understanding of his place in the modern world.
• Why Faith Matters: God and the New Atheism, Wolpe's latest book asserts religion’s place in the modern world.

External links

• Covenental Judaism Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles (2005)
• CNN Interview November 1, 2001
• PBS Interview on the Afterlife
• Sinai Temple webpage
• Exodus Controversy
• Orthodox critique
• David Wolpe: Gems of Compressed Wisdom, Jewish Current Issues
• Wolpe's author profile

References