David Wolpe
Encyclopedia
David J. Wolpe 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 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
.
in New York, and served as assistant to the Chancellor of that institution; at the University of Judaism
(now the American Jewish University) in Los Angeles; and at Hunter College
in New York. At UCLA he teaches modern Jewish religious thought. Wolpe is a regular contributor to several publications such as The Jewish Week
, The Jerusalem Post
, Los Angeles Times
. He frequently is featured on documentaries on Biblical topics produced by A&E Networks (A&E
, The Biography Channel
, 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
, and Indian yogi and mystic Sadhguru
, among others.
Wolpe is the head rabbi of Sinai Temple (Los Angeles, California)
.
commissioned in honor of his recovery from brain surgery. The third, in July 2006, at the height of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War, was another solidarity mission that covered Jerusalem, Haifa
, and Sderot
. Wolpe also led the largest American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) delegation ever assembled from one synagogue (230 people) to the AIPAC conference in Washington in 2008.
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.
In March 2010, Wolpe expounded on his views saying that it was possible that a small group of people left Egypt, came to Canaan, and influenced the native Canaanites with their traditions. He added that the controversy of 2001 stemmed from the fact that Conservative Jewish
congregations have been slow to accept and embrace biblical criticism
. Conservative rabbis, on the other hand, are taught biblical criticism in rabbinical school.
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
of Sinai Temple (Los Angeles, California)
Sinai Temple (Los Angeles, California)
Sinai Temple in the Westwood district of Los Angeles, California is the oldest and largest Conservative congregation in the greater Los Angeles area. Architect Sidney Eisenshtat designed the current synagogue building, constructed in 1956 and expanded in 1998...
. Named the "#1 Pulpit Rabbi in America" by Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
magazine (2008), he is considered a leader of the Conservative Jewish
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
movement. Wolpe was named one of The Forward's
The Forward
The Forward , commonly known as The Jewish Daily Forward, is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York City. The publication began in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily issued by dissidents from the Socialist Labor Party of Daniel DeLeon...
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 Jewish Week
The Jewish Week
The Jewish Week is an independent weekly newspaper serving the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. The Jewish Week covers news relating to the Jewish community in NYC and has world-wide distribution.-Editorial staff:...
, Wolpe became the focus of international controversy
Controversy
Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of opinion. The word was coined from the Latin controversia, as a composite of controversus – "turned in an opposite direction," from contra – "against" – and vertere – to turn, or versus , hence, "to turn...
when he gave a Passover
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
sermon that discussed the historic validity of the Exodus
The Exodus
The Exodus is the story of the departure of the Israelites from ancient Egypt described in the Hebrew Bible.Narrowly defined, the term refers only to the departure from Egypt described in the Book of Exodus; more widely, it takes in the subsequent law-givings and wanderings in the wilderness...
from Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
Career
Wolpe has taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary of AmericaJewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary of America is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism, and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies.JTS operates five schools: Albert A...
in New York, and served as assistant to the Chancellor of that institution; at the University of Judaism
University of Judaism
The American Jewish University, formerly the separate institutions University of Judaism and Brandeis-Bardin Institute, is a Jewish, non-denominational educational institution in Los Angeles, California....
(now the American Jewish University) in Los Angeles; and at Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
in New York. At UCLA he teaches modern Jewish religious thought. Wolpe is a regular contributor to several publications such as The Jewish Week
The Jewish Week
The Jewish Week is an independent weekly newspaper serving the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. The Jewish Week covers news relating to the Jewish community in NYC and has world-wide distribution.-Editorial staff:...
, The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily English-language broadsheet newspaper, founded on December 1, 1932 by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. The daily readership numbers do not approach those of the major Hebrew newspapers....
, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
. He frequently is featured on documentaries on Biblical topics produced by A&E Networks (A&E
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
, The Biography Channel
The Biography Channel
The Biography Channel is an American digital cable television channel owned by A&E and based on the television series of the same name. A version of the channel also airs on ONO and Telefónica in Spain and on Sky Digital and cable television in the United Kingdom, a version of the channel also...
, History Channel and History Channel International
History International
H2 , formerly History International , is a digital cable and satellite television channel that features historical documentaries, traditionally with an international focus...
). He has also appeared as a commentator on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
This Morning
The Early Show
The Early Show is an American television morning news talk show broadcast by CBS from New York City. The program airs live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday; most affiliates in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones air the show on tape-delay from 7 to 9 a.m. local time. ...
. 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
Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens is an Anglo-American author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the...
, Sam Harris
Sam Harris (author)
Sam Harris is an American author, and neuroscientist, as well as the co-founder and current CEO of Project Reason. He received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Stanford University, before receiving a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA...
, Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Steven Arthur Pinker is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author...
, Roger Cohen
Roger Cohen
Roger Cohen is a British-born journalist and author. He is a columnist for The New York Times and International Herald Tribune. He has worked as a foreign correspondent in fifteen different countries.- Biography :...
, and Indian yogi and mystic Sadhguru
Jaggi Vasudev
Jaggi Vasudev also known as Sadhguru, is an Indian yogi and mystic. He founded the Isha Foundation, a non-profit organization which offers yoga programs around the world, including India, United States, England, Lebanon, Singapore, Canada, Malaysia, Uganda and Australia...
, among others.
Wolpe is the head rabbi of Sinai Temple (Los Angeles, California)
Sinai Temple (Los Angeles, California)
Sinai Temple in the Westwood district of Los Angeles, California is the oldest and largest Conservative congregation in the greater Los Angeles area. Architect Sidney Eisenshtat designed the current synagogue building, constructed in 1956 and expanded in 1998...
.
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 Second Intifada that broke out after the Camp David peace talks. The second, in May 2005, was a mission of gratitude to pick up the TorahTorah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
commissioned in honor of his recovery from brain surgery. The third, in July 2006, at the height of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War, was another solidarity mission that covered Jerusalem, Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
, and Sderot
Sderot
Sderot is a western Negev city in the Southern District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 20,700. The city has been an ongoing target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip...
. Wolpe also led the largest American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) delegation ever assembled from one synagogue (230 people) to the AIPAC conference in Washington in 2008.
Historicity of the Exodus
On PassoverPassover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
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
Historicity
Historicity may mean:*the quality of being part of recorded history, as opposed to prehistory*the quality of being part of history as opposed to being a historical myth or legend, for example:** Historicity of the Iliad**Historicity...
of the Exodus
The Exodus
The Exodus is the story of the departure of the Israelites from ancient Egypt described in the Hebrew Bible.Narrowly defined, the term refers only to the departure from Egypt described in the Book of Exodus; more widely, it takes in the subsequent law-givings and wanderings in the wilderness...
during the holiday
Holiday
A Holiday is a day designated as having special significance for which individuals, a government, or a religious group have deemed that observance is warranted. It is generally an official or unofficial observance of religious, national, or cultural significance, often accompanied by celebrations...
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
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles is an independent, nonprofit community weekly newspaper serving the Jewish community of greater Los Angeles, published by TRIBE Media Corp. The Journal was established in 1985. As of 2010 it had a verified circulation of 60,000 and an estimated readership...
in Los Angeles and editorials in The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily English-language broadsheet newspaper, founded on December 1, 1932 by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. The daily readership numbers do not approach those of the major Hebrew newspapers....
, as well as an article in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
. Critics asserted that Wolpe was attacking Jewish oral history
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
, the significance of Passover and even the First Commandment
First Commandment
The First Commandment could refer to:*The commandment to Adam not to eat the Forbidden fruit *The first of the Ten Commandments: I am the Lord your God, You shall have no other gods before me, You shall not make for yourself an idol.*The Great Commandment...
. Wolpe asserted that he was arguing that the historicity of the events should not matter, since he believes faith
Faith
Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief that is not based on proof. In religion, faith is a belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. Generally speaking, it is offered as a means by which the truth of the proposition,...
is not determined by the same criteria as empirical truth
Truth
Truth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with fact or reality. It can also mean having fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. In a common usage, it also means constancy or sincerity in action or character...
. 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.
In March 2010, Wolpe expounded on his views saying that it was possible that a small group of people left Egypt, came to Canaan, and influenced the native Canaanites with their traditions. He added that the controversy of 2001 stemmed from the fact that Conservative Jewish
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
congregations have been slow to accept and embrace biblical criticism
Biblical criticism
Biblical criticism is the scholarly "study and investigation of Biblical writings that seeks to make discerning judgments about these writings." It asks when and where a particular text originated; how, why, by whom, for whom, and in what circumstances it was produced; what influences were at work...
. Conservative rabbis, on the other hand, are taught biblical criticism in rabbinical school.
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.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
- Sam Harris vs Rabbi David Wolpe - Does God Exist?