Rabbi Arnold Rachlis, spiritual leader of Irvine’s
University Synagogue, earned a spot on OC Metro magazine’s “Hot 25” list of
people who are making a significant difference in Orange County.
“Our list has never been about income levels, political
power or social ranking,” Steve Churm, the biweekly’s editor, said in a readers
note. People are selected for “shaping the way we live and think.”
No other religious leaders are among this year’s group,
which includes Angels left-fielder Garret Anderson, Laguna Beach architect Mark
Singer, congressional sister act Linda and Loretta Sanchez and Bowers Museum
trustee Anne Shih. Each subject is profiled in the Oct. 31 issue, the
magazine’s most widely read issue.
Rachlis tells the magazine he rejected religion as a teenager,
unable to reconcile his understanding of Judaism’s supernatural theology with
his own intellect. Only in college did he discover Reconstructionism, the
newest of the four major branches of Judaism, which has a liberal
interpretation of Torah theology and embraces equality.
Drawn by a challenge, Rachlis left his Chicago congregation
in 1991 to start a Reconstructionist synagogue, now one of the county’s largest
and fastest growing.
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