Pulse: 60-Second Critic: Favorite Son

Main Liners may know David Wolpe — rabbi of L.A.’s Sinai Temple, author, talking head — as the son of ­Gerald, former ­rabbi of Penn Valley’s Har Zion. This month, Wolpe fils ups his profile with a series of debates against famed atheist writer Christopher Hitchens, using arguments from his new book Why Faith Matters, which follows his journey from ­nonbeliever into a man Newsweek calls the country’s best pulpit rabbi. “Part of the process of coming to faith is coming back to it,” Wolpe says. “It’s like going away before you come home again.” No Philly debates are scheduled, but Wolpe comes home — literally — November 18th to fund-raise for his alma mater, Barrack Hebrew Academy. Jbha.org