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

Early life

Alfred Wolf was born in 1915 in Eberbach, Germany. He attended a Hebrew seminary in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and went to the

Hebrew Union College Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

on a student exchange program. As the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

had come to power, Wolf decided to stay in the United States. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1941. Later that year, he sponsored his parents to emigrate to the United States on visas.

Career

Wolf served as a rabbi in

Dothan, Alabama Dothan () is a city in Dale, Henry, and Houston counties and the Houston county seat in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is Alabama's eighth-largest city, with a population of 71,072 at the 2020 census. It is near the state's southeastern corner, ...

from 1941 to 1946. He served as the director of the

Union for Reform Judaism The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) until 2003, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the congregational arm of Reform Judaism in North America. The other two arms established ...

from 1946 to 1949. Wolf became a rabbi at the

Wilshire Boulevard Temple Wilshire Boulevard Temple, known from 1862 to 1933 as Congregation B'nai B'rith, is the oldest Jewish congregation in Los Angeles, California. Wilshire Boulevard Temple's main building, with a sanctuary topped by a large Byzantine revival dome an ...

, a

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...

synagogue in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, from 1949 to 1985. During his tenure, he promoted inter-faith dialogue, even meeting Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in 1987. Additionally, he established summer camps for Jewish children on the West coast. As early as 1952, he established

Camp Hess Kramer Gindling Hilltop Camp is a Jewish summer sleep-away camp administered by Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Malibu, California in Little Sycamore Canyon between the Santa Monica Mountains and the Pacific Ocean on a coastal ridge, 750 feet above sea level ...

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malibu ...

. Wolf co-founded the Inter-Religious Council of Southern California in 1969. He served as its founding president. During the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

, he made sure the organizers added a mosque for Muslim athletes. Wolf served as the founding director of the Skirball Institute on American Values, a program of the

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish org ...

founded by

Jack H. Skirball Jack H. Skirball (June 23, 1896 – December 8, 1985) was an American rabbi, film producer, real estate developer and philanthropist. Early life Jack H. Skirball was born in 1896 in Homestead, Pennsylvania. His father was an immigrant from Czech ...

, from 1985 to 1996.

Personal life

Wolf had a wife, Miriam. They had two sons, Dan and David, and a daughter, Judy Wolf Lee, who predeceased him in 1987.

Death

Wolf died on August 1, 2004, at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in

. He was eighty-eight years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf, Alfred 1915 births 2004 deaths People from Eberbach (Baden) People from Los Angeles Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States American Reform rabbis 20th-century American rabbis 21st-century American Jews