“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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God Is Real
“I am going to talk to you today about God.” In many of his sermons, Rabbi Olan talked about atheism and belief in God. In this sermon, delivered on February 11, 1968, he placed belief …
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The Man With an Alibi
“To be human is to be personally responsible for a good measure of one’s life.” On February 4, 1968 Rabbi Olan returned to a theme that he preached many times: the reciprocal relationship between freedom …
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Dictatorships, responsibility, liberty
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If There Is No God
“We are what others want us to be. We make ourselves up attractively to appeal to the current market. What we really are, as persons with individual ideas, ethical values and tastes is submerged in …
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On Rejecting our Fathers
“We are unwise when we reject those stones which are the chief corner-stone of our tradition.“ In this sermon, delivered on January 21, 1968, Rabbi Olan challenges us and himself to answer the question, how …
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On Hanging a New Calendar
“As we hang the new calendar for the year 1968, the prognosis is not a cheerful one.” Rabbi Olan’s foresight was correct. 1968 turned out to be a year of conflict and calamity. He could …
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Building God’s kingdom
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“Two Holidays–Two Religions”
In addition to being a courageous fighter for social justice, Rabbi Olan was also one of the leading theologians of Reform Judaism. It is in that role that we see him in this sermon, delivered …
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What It Takes to Live in Peace
“The television camera brings into my home a close-up of a boy blown apart, bleeding, his face twisted in agony. Television has brought that boy into my home, he sits at my table, he stands …
Rabbi Levi A. Olan: The Conscience of the City 