Unfinished Rabbi: Selected Writings of Arnold Jacob Wolf

by Arnold Wolf, Jonathan Wolf (Editor)

A long-awaited collection of the most important writings from a lifetime of work by one of the most influential Jewish thinkers in American life over the last half-century. 'He has written with unique clarity, penetration, belief, and sophistication.'NEugene B. Borowitz, in his Foreword to the book. Edited by Jonathan S. Wolf.

287 pages, Paperback

First published February 25, 1998

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was such an inspiring undercover gem!!!! weeeeeee

wolf is certainly an imperfect person, but about 80% of these pieces are still as radical and relevant today as they were when he published them in the 60s and 70s (!). and boy oh boy what a lighthouse of a collection. wolf embodies the forgotten standard that a rabbi can and should uphold rigorous ethical boundaries, compassionate political action, and deep religious integrity as all part of the job description, part of judaism itself. his rejection of the idea that a rabbi should only push their community as far as they think they can handle is striking in today’s landscape, which prioritizes making the least amount of people uncomfortable as possible and ultimately leads to irrelevance at best and violence at worst. wolf’s is a long lost rabbinics that i can only hope to step into - one that respects the adaptability and diversity of thought in his community, and looks Judaism and the realities of our world right in the face and shares from a place of personal truth, moral bravery, and homiletical humility. i am certain that i will keep returning to his torah as i keep waddling along.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really really wanted to love this book. It was written by my Rabbi from when I was a little kid, and it also delves into Judaism in a way that I've wanted to explore for a long time. But I just didn't like it that much. Part of it's probably because I'm dumb. I think Rabbi Wolf is a much sharper knife than I am.

The book is basically a compilation of essays/sermons/articles that Wolf wrote over the course of his career as a politically active rabbi, and is organized into sections based on topic. The topics cover a lot, including Wolf's thoughts on Judaism in general, on the politics of Israel and Palestine, on his feelings on civil rights, and, my favorite, on his life.

Overall, Wolf was a truly remarkable man. He was so concerned with making the world a better place - it really put me to shame. He was incredibly brave about his convictions, and he put his money where his mouth was. I wish that I could be more like him.

But his writing can meander. I'm currently also reading The Phantom Tollbooth (an odd contrast, I know), and in that book they talk about not using more words than you need to describe things. Wolf does that a lot. At least, I think so. I wished that he was more direct and didn't try to impress you with rhetorical flourishes. Just connect with me! And that's where I think the book came short - it was hard to emotionally connect with a lot of the writing, which made it difficult to completely understand the author's thinking.

Still, it was very much worth the experience for me to read it. I hope that thinking about it more, and acting on many of Wolf's teachings, that I can become a better person. But I probably wouldn't really recommend it to others.

[Dennis Fischman · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Hillel rabbi--either he influenced me more than I realized at the time, or we were in tune all along.