Rabbi Olan in his twenties (?)- quite a dashing figure! Image courtesy of Frances M. Olan and Lionel S. Joseph. Commentary by Tim Binkley.
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Walls that divide
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Levi and Elizabeth
Levi Olan and daughter, Elizabeth. Image courtesy of Joshua Hirsch.
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How easy it is
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Three Generations
Three generations of Olans (l-r): Levi; his daugher, Elizabeth; and his father, Max. Image courtesy of Joshua Hirsch.
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Bigotry is an insult
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Beginning Our Fifth Year!
The “Rabbi Levi A. Olan: Conscience of the City” blog began in April 2018. To celebrate the completion of four years of weekly (and sometimes more often) blogging and our upcoming 275th post, the writing …
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Religion – Opiate or Stimulant
“It is the ‘Gotterdammerung’, the Twilight of the Gods!” The first half of the title to Rabbi Olan’s March 17, 1968 radio sermon is a direct reference to Karl Marx’s famous words, “Religion is the …
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When We Feel Depressed
“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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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 …