“In most critical situations, we can light a candle instead of cursing the darkness.“ Rabbi Olan begins this sermon by normalizing “periods of despair and frustration” as reactions both to bad news from the wider …
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When We Feel Depressed
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God and Auschwitz
“Somehow life and religion can never be the same after Auschwitz.“ In the light of intense human cruelty and suffering, it is natural to ask “Where is God?” and “Why doesn’t God intervene?” Is God …
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Beware of False Messiahs
“There is no easy road to the Promised Land. There is no way of avoiding the wilderness of suffering and endurance in our journey towards the better life. No one can relieve us of our …
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Thou Shalt Teach Thy Son
“It is easy, it seems, to bomb masses of people. It is more difficult to do it to the individual. It is easier to hate a group than a person.” In his radio sermon of …
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If It Had Not Happened
“We… will make decisions in our personal lives and for the nation…. Let us be as sure as we can possibly be that the consequences are those we want.” We have all played the game …
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On Being Unimportant
“Moses commanded the people, ‘And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it into the blood, and strike the lintels and the two side-posts of your houses.’” Rabbi Olan makes a simple point …
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Taking God Seriously
“The church and the synagogue have too often stood in the way of the God-faith by opposing truth and ignoring the demands of justice.” Surely this is one of Rabbi Olan’s most pointed and powerful …
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Come Let Us Pray
“In the real issues of our lives, in facing grief or experiencing joy, in the presence of fear, or the need for hope, hard work and hard thought are not enough…Prayer can lead [us] to …
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Why Do People Live Double Lives?
We profess noble ideals but in practical life adhere to something far less. In this sermon of February 27, 1966, Rabbi Olan isn’t talking about a double life in the context of a marriage, but …
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The Modern False Messiah
“Science is itself becoming a new superstition, a false Messiah.” Rabbi Olan was not anti-science. In fact, he was clearly in awe of it. However, in his February 20, 1966 sermon Olan wanted to challenge …
Rabbi Levi A. Olan: The Conscience of the City 