HR1683 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1683 LRB095 23292 KXB 53999 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf, a nationally prominent Reform rabbi known for championing progressive politics and social justice, on December 23, 2008; and

WHEREAS, Arnold Jacob Wolf was born in Chicago on March 19th, 1924 and grew up in Lakeview; as a boy he was an actor with the Mutual Radio Network; and

WHEREAS, Being a person committed to scholarship, Arnold Wolf earned an associate's degree from the University of Chicago, and he earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Cincinnati in 1945; and

WHEREAS, Having been greatly influenced by an uncle and great-uncle, both Reform rabbis, Arnold Wolf received his ordination from Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati; he then served as a Navy Chaplain with United States occupation forces in Japan; and

WHEREAS, In 1957, Rabbi Wolf became the first full-time rabbi of Congregation Solel; there he expressed a willingness to ask questions and try new things, exposed his congregation to an eclectic collection of guest speakers including Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King and members of the Chicago Seven, and created a ground-breaking congregation; and

WHEREAS, Committed to social justice, the rabbi marched in Alabama with civil rights leader John Lewis in 1965; two years later he led a group of congregants to Washington to lobby against the Vietnam War; beginning in the early 1960's, his congregation began conducting an annual weekend of Holocaust remembrance, among the first synagogues in the country to do so; in 1973, Rabbi Wolf helped found Breira, an organization of progressive American Jews that advocated a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and

WHEREAS, After leaving Congregation Solel, Rabbi Wolf spent eight years as Jewish chaplain and Hillel director at Yale University; and

WHEREAS, Rabbi Wolf served as rabbi at KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation, Chicago's oldest Jewish congregation, from 1980 until his retirement in 2000 and served as rabbi emeritus until his death; he brought to the congregation practices then unheard of, now more common, such as letting his congregation write its own prayer book and making decisions previously reserved for the rabbi; and

WHEREAS, Always being young at heart, Rabbi Wolf was known for saying, "Life starts at 70;" he had his bar mitzvah at the age of 83, 70 years behind schedule because, "In those days, Reform Jews didn't do it," he said; and

WHEREAS, Rabbi Laurence Edwards said of him, "the core teaching of Torah for him had to do with justice, and one sometimes had to speak about that in ways that people didn't care to hear; and

WHEREAS, President-elect Barack Obama wrote of him, "My conversations with him were always lively; you knew that if he disagreed with you, he would let you know in no uncertain terms, especially if he thought you were overlooking the moral dimensions of an issue, or rationalizing your own failure to live up to the highest moral principles; but he did it with kindness, and often with a smile or a laugh to let you know that even though you were just plain wrong, and had no idea what you were talking about, he still loved you"; and

WHEREAS, The passing of Rabbi Wolf will be deeply felt by his wife, Grace Wolf; his sons Jonathan and Benjamin; his four stepdaughters, Sara Berger, Justine Henning, Sarah-Anne Schumann, and Dara Henning; and his 10 grandchildren; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with his family, friends, and the many people whose lives were touched by him, the passing of Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Rabbi Wolf as a symbol of our sincere sympathy.