“This preacher stands in one of the most beautiful of Sanctuaries in a city where twenty percent of the houses of the poor have been officially condemned as unfit for human habitation. How can any earnest religious person avoid the terrible question – can this richly ornamented sanctuary really be the house of God?”

March 9, 1969

This is one of Rabbi Olan’s most angry and radical sermons.  He condemns the City of Dallas, he condemns well-meaning liberals, he even seems to condemn himself for allowing the poor to continue suffering for one more day while the comfortable enjoy their wealth.

“We need a new kind of good will and a new liberalism.  It must do more than talk well and be busy with good causes.  If we meant what we piously proclaim, we would eat no more than the poor, sleep no better, live no more comfortably.  Anything else is really pretension.”

*Written by Joshua F. Hirsch*