Difference between revisions of "Arnold Jacob Wolf"
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In 1965 Arnold Wolf was a Vice-Chairmen of [[Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights]]<ref>Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights Letterhead Feb 1965</ref> | In 1965 Arnold Wolf was a Vice-Chairmen of [[Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights]]<ref>Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights Letterhead Feb 1965</ref> | ||
| − | == | + | ==Democratic Socialists of America== |
| − | + | In 2000 Rabbi Wolf was named as a member of [[Democratic Socialists of America]] in the DSA publication [[Religious Socialism]] <ref>http://www.religioussocialism.com/pdf/2000.sum.pdf</ref>. | |
==Obama friend, neighbor and supporter== | ==Obama friend, neighbor and supporter== | ||
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:''"There were several every week," he recalled... "I remember what I said to him: 'Someday you are going to be vice president of the United States.' He laughed and said, 'Why not president?''' | :''"There were several every week," he recalled... "I remember what I said to him: 'Someday you are going to be vice president of the United States.' He laughed and said, 'Why not president?''' | ||
| + | ==Death== | ||
| + | |||
| + | Long-time [[Democratic Socialists of America]] member<ref>http://www.chicagodsa.org/ngarchive/ng121.html</ref>and supporter Rabbi Arnold Wolf died unexpectedly on Tuesday, December 23 2008 He was 84 years old. | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
Revision as of 01:04, 24 December 2009
Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf...
Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights
In 1965 Arnold Wolf was a Vice-Chairmen of Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights[1]
Democratic Socialists of America
In 2000 Rabbi Wolf was named as a member of Democratic Socialists of America in the DSA publication Religious Socialism [2].
Obama friend, neighbor and supporter
Rabbi Wolf was a member of Rabbis for Obama, he has held Obama fundraisers in his home and was a big fan of the then Senator from Illinois[3].
Wolf came to Hyde Park before urban renewal. For 25 years he led the congregation at KAM Isaiah Israel, a synagogue across the street from Obama's mansion[4].
- "Barack is perfect for the neighborhood!...You can't say Barack's a product of Hyde Park. He's not really from here. But everybody saw the potential early on. We had a party for him at our house when he was just starting, back in the Nineties. I said right away: 'Here's a guy who could sell our product, and sell it with splendor!' "
On "the product" Obama could sell?[5]
"The thing is, it's not what you might think...It's not radical. It's not extreme. It's a rational, progressive philosophy based on experience. You see it here. This neighborhood is genuinely integrated. We did it here, we really did it! Not just talk about it. Look around. And Barack and his family fit right in. This is their neighborhood."
In March 2008 Wolf told Jewish Week;
- But it's not neighborly instinct that's led me to support the Obama candidacy: I support Barack Obama because he stands for what I believe, what our tradition demands.
- I've worked with Obama for more than a decade, as has my son, a lawyer...
- I am very proud to be his neighbor. I hope someday to visit him in the White House.
Knowing Ayers and Dohrn
Rabbi Wolf dismisses Hyde Park's radical reputation and defends two of its most well known citizens-Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn[6];
- "People think we're radicals here, wild-eyed!...Bill Ayers--I know Bill Ayers very well. Bill Ayers is an aging, toothless radical. A pussycat. And his wife, too. I sat on a commission with his wife a few years ago. My god, she was more critical of the left than I was! The two of them, they're utterly conventional people. They had a violent streak at one time. But now--they're thoroughly conventional, just very nice, well-educated people from the neighborhood."
Wolf's ralationship with Bill Ayers went back to the 1960s[7];
- Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf knew Ayers in the 1960s and re-met Ayers and Dohrn decades later. In the 1960s Wolf said he and Ayers were on opposite sides of the use of violence to effect social change. Then, Ayers thought it useful. Wolf came out of the school of nonviolence.
Hosting Obama
The famous 1995 meeting In the home of Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, that launched Obama's political career was apparently one of several functions designed to introduce Obama to the Hyde Park set[8].
- Around this time, Obama started to attend a series of coffees in the Hyde Park community where he lived, standard operating procedure for political rookies running in the neighborhoods surrounding the University of Chicago.
- "I was certainly (hosting) one of the first," said Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf, rabbi emeritus at Chicago's KAM Isaiah Israel
- "There were several every week," he recalled... "I remember what I said to him: 'Someday you are going to be vice president of the United States.' He laughed and said, 'Why not president?'
Death
Long-time Democratic Socialists of America member[9]and supporter Rabbi Arnold Wolf died unexpectedly on Tuesday, December 23 2008 He was 84 years old.
References
- ↑ Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights Letterhead Feb 1965
- ↑ http://www.religioussocialism.com/pdf/2000.sum.pdf
- ↑ http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/1076922,CST-NWS-rabbi27.article
- ↑ http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/197wxqsf.asp?pg=2
- ↑ http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/197wxqsf.asp?pg=2
- ↑ http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/197wxqsf.asp?pg=2
- ↑ http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/901879,CST-NWS-sweet18.article
- ↑ http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/10/ayers_alone_did_not_launch_oba.html
- ↑ http://www.chicagodsa.org/ngarchive/ng121.html