Rabbi David Wolpe and Elon Gold at JFN 2013 [VIDEO]

Published on March 19, 2013

Rabbi David Wolpe and Elon Gold speak at the 2013 Jewish Funders Network Conference.

Is the Newsweek rabbis list good for the Jews?

Published on March 14, 2013

One night some years ago, two powerful Jewish men in media, one from New York and one from Los Angeles, were walking together through the streets of Jerusalem when they hatched a little idea.

Eric Garcetti: A new Jewish face for L.A.?

By Jonah Lowenfeld
Published on February 7, 2013

During a recent candidates’ forum at Sinai Temple, Los Angeles City Councilman and mayoral hopeful Eric Garcetti began his opening statement by thanking his hosts, the audience, and the moderator, Rabbi David Wolpe.

Lance Armstrong and the disease of wild narcissism and ruthless ambition

By Rabbi David Wolpe
Published on January 24, 2013

Lance Armstrong proved surprisingly poor at backpedaling. His stone-faced, reluctant regret made many who watched the interview wonder if this was an illness. Why did this man mow down associates, besmirch employees, lie, cheat and bully his way to the top of a sport he is now insouciantly tearing down around him?

‘Pi’ is approximately 3.1416% Jewish

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on November 20, 2012

High Holy Days: In the rabbis’ words

By JewishJournal.com
Published on September 12, 2012

This year, we return to the wisdom offered by our rabbis during the High Holy Days in years past. What follows are excerpts from some exceptional sermons and High Holy Days writings; many more voices could have been included, of course, but we hope this will inspire you to revisit your own synagogues’ archives.

A benediction for the Democratic National Convention

By Rabbi David Wolpe
Published on September 5, 2012

We are grateful that our nation is founded on the highest principles of freedom and resourcefulness and creativity and ever renewed strength. And we understand that those worthy ideals stand alongside the commitment to compassion, to goodness, our sacred covenant to care for those who are bereaved and bereft, who are frightened, who are hungry, who are bewildered and lost, who seek shelter from the cold.

Why Wolpe spoke at the DNC

By Rob Eshman
Published on September 5, 2012

This week David Wolpe, senior rabbi of Sinai Temple, delivered one of the invocations at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. Even for someone used to and deserving of such honors, this is a big deal.

September 5, 2012

By Shmuel Rosner
Published on September 5, 2012

Election roundup: Jewish souls, Jewish rabbis, Jewish vote, Jewish legislators

By Shmuel Rosner
Published on September 4, 2012

Sinai Temple welcomes new cantor

Published on July 11, 2012

An indelible film, ‘Shoah’ also reflects an extraordinary artist

By Rabbi David Wolpe
Published on April 11, 2012

Surely the most unpromising premise for a film ever conceived is this: Nine and one half hours of people speaking in languages you do not understand about mass murder. Yet “Shoah” offers an experience unlike any other film, and its creator has written a memoir introducing us to the extraordinary man responsible for its existence.

Wolpe vs. Beinart

By Rabbi David Wolpe
Published on February 13, 2012

Announcing his new book in a hucksterish email to J street members, Peter Beinart details the truths vouchsafed to him and his fellow enlightened acolytes. A brief sampler:

Christopher Hitchens, David Wolpe, Sam Harris, Brad Artson on the Afterlife [VIDEO]

Published on February 25, 2011

Is there an afterlife?

Friday the Rabbi Eats Tofu [RECIPE & SLIDESHOW]

By Rob Eshman
Published on March 5, 2010

LA Unity Mission

By Rob Eshman
Published on October 28, 2009

Disraeli: The curious case of England’s Jewish prime minister

By Rabbi David Wolpe
Published on December 31, 2008

Disraeli: The curious case of England’s Jewish prime minister

By Rabbi David Wolpe
Published on December 25, 2008

Benjamin Disraeli was born Jewish, baptized as a boy but (mostly) considered himself to be Jewish. He famously proclaimed to Queen Victoria -- who began by hating him and ended adoring him -- that he was the "blank page" separating the Old and New Testaments.

Facing God, and the challenge of individual conscience

By Rabbi David Wolpe
Published on November 26, 2008

A Moderate Proposal

By Rob Eshman
Published on November 20, 2008

The start of the event was running late -- did I mention it was a Jewish event? -- and midway through our green room conversation, Hitchens pulled out a small bottle of Johnnie Walker Black. He emptied it into a 16-ounce clear-plastic cup and drizzled in some Crystal Geyser spring water. And he began sipping.

Yom Kippur 5769: The Art of Forgiveness

By Jane Ulman
Published on October 1, 2008

In Jewish tradition, the act of seeking forgiveness from someone we have harmed is clear and specific.

Rabbi Wolpe fights cancer battle; Terror victim becomes advocate for others

Published on September 21, 2006

Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple informed his congregation by letter this week that he was recently diagnosed with a form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma; Anna Krakovich survived a suicide bomb attack to become a response team leader for SELAH; Salman Rushdie speaks out as pro-Israel Muslim; Israeli and American staff and campers at the Union for Reform Judaism's Camp Newman collaborated on recording a song titled "Kol Yisrael (We Are All Connected)."

The Spin on Spinoza—Rebel or Traitor?

By Rabbi David Wolpe
Published on May 25, 2006

"Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity": Traditional Judaism feared and distrusted this child of the enlightenment. Although prominent Jewish thinkers, from Moses Mendelssohn to Solomon Maimon to modern Zionists, have claimed him as their own, every deliberation on Spinoza wonders -- is he a Jewish thinker?

Community Briefs

By David Finnigan
Published on December 22, 2005

Rabbi David Wolpe has removed himself from consideration for the job of leading the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in New York. Wolpe, of Sinai Temple in Westwood, had been widely considered a front-runner for chancellor at JTS, the central institution in Conservative Judaism.

Wolpe Out of the Running

By Amy Klein
Published on December 8, 2005

Rabbi David Wolpe has removed himself from consideration for the job of leading the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in New York. Wolpe, of Sinai Temple in Westwood, had been widely considered a frontrunner for chancellor at JTS, the central institution in Conservative Judaism.

Letters to the Editor

Published on February 17, 2005

Letters to the Editor.

Learning From the Debate

By Julie G Fax
Published on May 10, 2001

Rabbi David Wolpe keeps the hundreds of "Exodus letters" he's received in two piles on his desk: for and against. And given the still-swirling controversy over his speech on Pesach, even he is surprised that the grateful and congratulatory letters outnumber the negative ones 20 to 1.

Jewish Big Time

By Marlene Adler Marks
Published on May 3, 2001

A month after Passover, the winds have not yet died down from the "Wolpe Hurricane."

Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Westwood caused a stir when he asserted, in earshot of a Los Angeles Times reporter, that the Exodus story can still inspire us even if, as some archaeologists assert, the story of the liberation from Egypt is not true. Rabbi Wolpe's remarks ended up on the Times' front page during Passover and became grist for sermons and Torah study all over town.

A Message From David Wolpe

By David Wolpe
Published on April 19, 2001

It's a well-known fact that millions of Jews have doubts about the literal veracity of Bible stories. On April 8, 9 and 15, I gave a series of sermons that emphasized the following point: faith is independent of doubt. I wanted the millions of doubting Jews to know that they can still be faithful Jews and live a life of meaning and mitzvahs.

The Lessons of Yom Kippur

By Rabbi David Wolpe
Published on October 5, 2000

Today you die. No one pronounces that horrible sentence on Yom Kippur, but it is true. Yom Kippur reenacts death. We wear white, like the shrouds we will one day be buried in. We do not eat, wash, procreate; we are as corpses. We recite the "Unetaneh Tokef," filled with graphic, even gruesome images about our death.

Learning From Loss

By Diane Arieff
Published on September 23, 1999

When painful loss occurs in our lives, we want to make some sense of it: Why did she get so sick? Why did I lose my livelihood? Why can't we conceive a child? Why did he die? In his new book, "Making Loss Matter: Creating Meaning in Difficult Times" (Riverhead Books, $23.95), David Wolpe, author and rabbi of Sinai Temple in Westwood, begins by asserting that during periods of great pain, we tend to ask the wrong questions. Whether consciously or not, we search in vain for an answer to the plaintive "why" in order to gain some measure of control over what has made us so powerless.