The mission of this blog is to stimulate interest in the deeply perceptive and still-relevant teachings of Levi A. Olan (1903-1984) by sharing from the Levi A. Olan Sermons and Images at Bridwell Library Digital Collection. The title "Conscience of the City" was applied to Rabbi Olan by a Fortune magazine reporter in 1964. Although Olan's city was Dallas, his thought transcends locality. Our goal is to...
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Faith Does Not Pay
“People who do good because they want to win eternity are neither moral nor religious.” In this sermon, Rabbi Olan demolishes some sacred beliefs associated with capitalism, patriotism, Christianity, and even the Old Testament with characteristic …
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An Answer to War
"History is the record of threatening crises." When Rabbi Olan delivered his radio address, "An Answer to War," on November 18, 1962, the United States and Soviet Union had just weeks before...
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Watch Your Temper
"Like so many other traits of human behavior, anger can be both a virtue and a vice." In his sermon from November 11, 1962, Rabbi Olan challenges the ways in which anger is necessary in a society plagued by injustice yet destructive when...
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The Poor Condemn Us
“Providing for the poor has been for both Jews and Christians a prime religious duty.” Speaking to Dallasites and other North Texans on October 21, 1962, Rabbi Olan declared that privilege and prosperity come with …
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1963 photograph of Rabbi Olan with Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with, from left to right, H. Rhett James, Rabbi Levi Olan, and J. A. Stanfield, on a visit in Dallas for Dallas County United Poll Tax Rally at the Fair …
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Belief in a Living God
“Is America acting as a nation as though it is really under God? Are we as individuals living our daily lives as though God truly exists?” Does God exist? On October 14, 1962 Rabbi Olan …
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In this critical hour
“In this critical hour of American History when many issues are really those of life and death for our nation as well as humankind, we had better recognize that we need a sympathetic understanding of each other’s concerns. The fact is that we need both the conservative and the liberal, both of whom ultimately want the same thing, a free, strong nation.”
Rabbi Levi A. Olan. From “The Conservative-Liberal Debate,” broadcast March 18, 1962.
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The Conservative-Liberal Debate
“Every nation and every church or synagogue is better prepared for its growth and strength if it has an on-going healthy debate between those who want to change and those who are guardians of the …
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We Need Not Fail
“Whatever else life is, it is striving, failing, trying again.” Rabbi Olan’s October 7, 1962 (Erev Yom Kippur) message conveys a three-fold process for getting our lives back on track during the High Holy Days …
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The Fear of Growing Old
“What does one do to prepare against the loneliness and the emptiness which becomes intense as we grow older?” Here Rabbi Olan addresses a profoundly personal problem with uncharacteristic concreteness. More characteristic is his search for answers …
