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Alfred Wolf (rabbi)

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Alfred Wolf
Born1915
Eberbach, Germany
DiedAugust 1, 2004
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
NationalityUnited States (naturalized in 1941)
OccupationRabbi
SpouseMiriam Wolf
Children2 sons, 1 daughter

Alfred Wolf (1915–2004) was a German-born American rabbi.

Early life

Alfred Wolf was born in 1915 in Eberbach, Germany.[1][2][3] He attended a Hebrew seminary in Berlin and went to the Hebrew Union College in Ohio on a student exchange program.[1] As the Nazis had come to power, Wolf decided to stay in the United States.[1] He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1941.[1] Later that year, he sponsored his parents to emigrate to the United States on visas.[4]

Career

Wolf served as a rabbi in Dothan, Alabama from 1941 to 1946.[1] He served as the director of the Union for Reform Judaism from 1946 to 1949.[1]

Wolf became a rabbi at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, a Reform synagogue in Los Angeles, California, from 1949 to 1985.[1][2][3] During his tenure, he promoted inter-faith dialogue, even meeting Pope John Paul II in 1987.[1] Additionally, he established summer camps for Jewish children on the West coast.[1] As early as 1952, he established Camp Hess Kramer in Malibu, California.[3][4]

Wolf co-founded the Inter-Religious Council of Southern California in 1969.[1][2][4] He served as its founding president.[1] During the 1984 Summer Olympics, he made sure the organizers added a mosque for Muslim athletes.[1][2]

Wolf served as the founding director of the Skirball Institute on American Values, a program of the American Jewish Committee founded by Jack H. Skirball, from 1985 to 1996.[2][5][6]

Personal life

Wolf had a wife, Miriam.[1] They had two sons, Dan and David, and a daughter, Judy Wolf Lee, who predeceased him in 1987. Who is the man named Jon Wolf who claims to be his son also?[1]

Death

Wolf died on August 1, 2004 at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.[1] He was eighty-eight years old.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oliver, Myrna (August 2, 2004). "Alfred Wolf, 88; Noted Rabbi Started Jewish Youth Camps". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e Tugend, Tom (August 5, 2004). "Rabbi Alfred Wolf: Summer Camp Pioneer, Dies at 88". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  3. ^ a b c "Rabbi Alfred Wolf, Camp Organizer, 88". The Forward. August 6, 2004. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  4. ^ a b c "Obituary Rabbi Alfred Wolf Dies at Age of 88; Pioneer of Camps and Interfaith Dialogue". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. August 4, 2004. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  5. ^ "A Finding Aid to the Skirball Institute on American Values". American Jewish Archives. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  6. ^ Beyette, Beverly (November 17, 1985). "Familiar Face at Skirball Institute : Wolf Retires From Wilshire Temple, Takes Director Post". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
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