“Our age is bedevilled by a passionate need for all men to reach the top. This is mistaken ambition and self-destruction.” What is a noble mediocrity? Rabbi Olan argues that our dominant human characteristics of …
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On Being a Noble Mediocrity
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Overcoming Monotony
“What profit has a man of his toil beneath the sun? One generation goes, another comes, but the earth is forever unchanged… All things are tiresome… There is nothing new under the sun.” To Rabbi …
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What Shall Men Praise?
“What is there to which every living thing can join in one resounding chorus of Hallelujah?” Rabbi Olan’s March 4, 1964 radio sermon explored a deep theological question about the role of God in mid-century …
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When God’s Deputies are Silent
"Indeed, God's deputies are often silent today about the shameful inhumanity right before their eyes." In his sermon from April 12, 1964, Rabbi Olan discusses a Broadway play that was causing great stir and protest for the way it portrayed the Deputy of Christ – Pope Pius XII – and his refusal to speak out against Hitler. Rabbi Olan uses this play to...
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On Not Knowing What To Ask
“Making and doing is important. But love and death, beauty and pain, ideals and despair are the stuff of our existence. Education which fails to open the mind to the meaning of human experience is …
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How Can We Believe in God in a World Like This – II
“God may be in His heaven, but all is not well on earth.” This sermon from April 5, 1964 is a reworking on a message originally broadcast by Rabbi Olan on January 13, 1963 ( …
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Psychiatry and Religious Faith
“The Biblical faith teaches that man and God are co-workers in the business of living.” Is psychiatry a replacement for religion? During the 1960s reliance on the former was growing in popularity while the latter …
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Psychiatry and Religious Faith
“The Biblical faith teaches that man and God are co-workers in the business of living.” Is psychiatry a replacement for religion? During the 1960s reliance on the former was growing in popularity while the latter …
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An Attempt at Defining Religion
“The Biblical answer to man’s question – ‘Why should I do good and not evil?’ – is that man is made in the image of God. God is holy, so is man.” Rabbi Olan’s March …
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Let Us Pay What We Owe
“There is a story of a poor beggar who came to the home of a very rich man. He looked upon the lavish furniture, the gold and silver ornaments, the precious jewels and clothes of …
Rabbi Levi A. Olan: The Conscience of the City 