Blog
More than anything, we are a community. The families who have celebrated births, weddings and b'nei mitzvah through successive generations are the heart and soul of our congregation. We invite you to share your favorite memory here. Please email your blog post to mcurtis@wbtla.org. We reserve the right to edit blog entries for suitability.Dan Wolf Fondly Recalls a Stately Babysitter.....
Dan Wolf is the son of Rabbi Alfred Wolf (ז״ל ), who served the Temple for 36 years, from 1949 1985.
From my youngest age, the Temple sanctuary was something of a babysitter for me. This is because on many Friday nights, rather than arrange a flesh-and-blood babysitter, my parents would take me with them to services, which back then were always held in the main sanctuary (except during the summer, when they were conducted in the patio).
I provide this detail to establish my credentials as someone who has attended literally hundreds of services in that remarkable room. But here's the really extraordinary thing: During every one of those hundreds of services, I have looked up and been surprised. There is something about that dome that makes it more magisterial than one remembers, no matter how many times one has gazed into its heights. Like the Grand Canyon, it is a curious mixture of the real and the surreal.
Each time I look up, a part of me responds that it can't be real while at the same time I know it is. In a space so singular, it is that much easier to appreciate the words written above ... the lord our God the lord is one.
Since my first babysitting experience at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, I have gotten to know many other domes--from the Capitol to the Pantheon--and each has its awe-inspiring virtues. But only one dome can I call home. May it continue to surprise for countless generations to come. --Dan Wolf
Posted on 2009-10-22 17:13:26
Above: Bar mitzvah boy Dan Wolf standing on Wilshire Boulevard at the Temple's steps.
