Rabbi David Wolpe on Global Challenges, Judaism, and Our Existential Crisis
- Marginalia Review of Books
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Rabbi David Wolpe is the Max Webb Emeritus Rabbi of Sinai Temple and one of the most influential rabbis in America. Rabbi Wolpe has taught at institutions like Harvard University, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and UCLA, and he has published or been featured in outlets like The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, and Time. He has engaged in public debates with Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker and others about religion and its place in the world, and in his conversation with Marginalia’s Editor-in-Chief, Yale-trained philosopher Samuel Loncar, Rabbi Wolpe shares his reflections on the global challenges we face today and the existential responses required to navigate them as a species.
The response includes taking seriously the understanding of Judaism in the broader global community, including its complex history and relationship to Christianity, and how Judaism played a foundational role in shaping Western values and ethics, specifically around how we believe humans should treat other humans.
This conversation is a part of an on-going collection of public resources, produced by Marginalia’s Center for Jewish Christian Understanding. The Center integrates and advances the most significant scholarship on this subject with the aim of ending antisemitism, promoting greater global understanding, and informing key stakeholders in policy, media, academia, and religious communities. It is a project grounded in Loncar’s original research on the historical roots of modern antisemitism and aims to promote paths towards peace through scholarship. Our vision is a world in which antisemitism is impossible, because its causes have been understood and acknowledged, and are widely known, informing academics, journalists, and the public, leading to a new constructive vision of Christianity and Judaism.
The Center enables Marginalia to commission new scholarship, convene international symposiums, and produce publicly accessible digital and print media to achieve The Center’s mission. Our annual operations require funding for: a full conversation series, produced in both video and written forms ($50,000), a symposium convening the world’s leading scholars, integrating their expertise to create new knowledge that we make freely available to the public ($100,000), and the production of pay-wall free essays, book reviews, forums, and curriculums ($50,000). The Founder’s Circle includes $5000+ contributors and the Benefactor’s Circle includes $1000+ contributors. We’ve raised $15,000 towards our initial goal of $50,000, and we’ve already witnessed our work impact thought leaders and major media outlets.
