Arnold Jacob Wolf

Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf (March 19, 1924 – December 23, 2008) was an American Reform Rabbi, and a longtime champion of peace and progressive politics.

Biography Wolf received an associate degree from the University of Chicago, a BA in philosophy from the University of Cincinnati. His rabbinical studies were at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati and he was ordained in 1948. While at HUC, he served as secretary to Abraham Joshua Heschel.

He served a stint as an assistant to his uncle, Rabbi Felix A. Levy, at Temple Emanuel in Chicago, then he served as a Navy chaplain in Japan during the Korean War. A near crash in a seaplane that landed safely in the water was a life-altering experience.

Congregation Solel In 1957 he helped launch Congregation Solel in Highland Park, Illinois, where he remained until 1972.

Congregation Solel established an annual Holocaust remembrance weekend starting in the 1960s, making it one of the first synagogues in the United States to initiate the practice.

Rabbi Wolf died at age 84 on December 23, 2008, in Chicago of an apparent heart attack.

Beliefs

He believed that "The core teaching of Torah for him had to do with justice, and one sometimes had to speak about that in ways that people didn't care to hear," and that "I am Adonai your God" was not a promise but a challenge to be lived up to every moment in every action."

He was the founder and leader of Breira, A Project of Concern in Diaspora-Israel Relations, which was in the 1970s a prominent organization for peace in the Middle East that supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Founded in 1973, the organization dissolved in 1977, having been the target of criticism from pro-Israel groups in the United States.

Support for Barack Obama He was vocal in his support for Barack Obama, whose home is across the street from the K.A.M. Isaiah Israel Temple where Rabbi Wolf served for decades.

Rabbi Wolf had supported Obama's campaign for the Illinois Senate in 1996, telling him that "Mr. Obama, someday you will be vice president of the United States". Obama laughed, responding "Why vice president?"