Alfred Wolf (rabbi)
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Alfred Wolf | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1915 |
| Died | August 1, 2004 (aged 88–89) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Rabbi |
| Spouse | Miriam Wolf |
| Children | 2 sons, 1 daughter |
Alfred Wolf (1915–2004) was a German-born American rabbi.
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]
