Last night, I posted this in the
Rabbi Wolf is best known as the founder of the Wilshire Blvd. Temple Camps. These camps (Camp Hess Kramer and Gindling Hilltop Camp) were vital in cementing my Jewish identity; they are continuing to do this for my daughter. Rabbi Wolf was responsible for the founding of the camps in San Bernadino in 1951; they were in Pacific Palisades in 1952 and moved to Malibu in 1953. We take Jewish camps and camping for granted nowadays, but think about what a radical idea this was for a congregation to establish its own camps was in the 1950s! This is what Rabbi Wolf got Wilshire Blvd Temple to do. I have memories of him out there in jeans and a T-shirt (you never saw Rabbi Magnin that way), working alongside campers to plant trees and build the camps!
I also remember Rabbi Wolf at Wilshire working with the students in the school. In particular, I remember working with his late daughter Judy, who ran the student teacher program there when I was a student teacher.
Lastly, Rabbi Wolf made contributions that affected every Reform Jew in the San Fernando Valley and in West LA. Rabbi Wolf, when he was the regional director of UAHC (now URJ), was responsible for the establishment of Temple Beth Hillel in Valley Village, Temple Isaiah in West Los Angeles, and Leo Baeck Temple in West Los Angeles. I know that for the valley, Temple Beth Hillel was the seed congregation for the other Reform congregations in the area; I’m sure it is true in West LA as well.
Rabbi Wolf was a model of a gentleman and a scholar and a do-er. Unlike many in the rabbinate around him (including his superior at WBT, Rabbi Magnin), he didn’t live for ambition or to make a name. He lived to do good in the community.
Rabbi Wolf made numerous other contributions as well, especially in the area of interfaith activities. I’m less familiar with those, although I’m sure that other friends of mine, such as Rabbi John Sherwood, are well acquainted with those activities.
I’ll miss the man. I can proudly say that he touched my life.
