In These Times with Rabbi Ammi Hirsch
Every other week, Rabbi Ammi Hirsch hosts intellectually honest conversations unpacking current events through the lens of Jewish wisdom and values.
Unbound by politics and untethered by party lines, Ammi and his distinguished guests discuss everything from foreign affairs and antisemitism to politics and pop culture. This show is recorded from New York’s Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, a historic Reform congregation deeply rooted in liberalism, support for Israel and social justice.
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Matt Brooks and Mark Mellman
Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks and Democratic Majority for Israel President Mark Mellman unpack the results of the 2024 presidential election and help us understand the issues that drove American voters to choose Donald Trump over Kamala Harris.
Meet Your Host
Rabbi Ammi Hirsch is the senior rabbi of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York. With a fiery voice, a listening heart and a brilliant mind, Rabbi Hirsch articulates a clear vision for the survival and success of American Judaism while tending compassionately to the needs of his growing congregation. In 2018, The Jerusalem Post named him among “The 50 Most Influential Jews of the Year” and City & State praised him as “the borough’s most influential voice” for Manhattan’s more than 300,000 Jews. Prior to his arrival at Stephen Wise, he served for 12 years as executive director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA), the Israel arm of the North American Reform movement. An accomplished teacher, author and public speaker, he is also a trained lawyer and a veteran of the Israel Defense Forces. His new book, “The Lilac Tree: A Rabbi’s Reflections on Love, Courage, and History” is available now wherever you get your books online.
About Stephen Wise Free Synagogue
A vibrant Reform congregation on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Stephen Wise Free Synagogue has served as a catalyst for progressive Jewish thought, committed social action in the local community and beyond, and support for Israel for more than 115 years.
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Recent Episodes
Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks and Democratic Majority for Israel President Mark Mellman unpack the results of the 2024 presidential election and help us understand the issues that drove American voters to choose Donald Trump over Kamala Harris.
Watching Israel's war with Hamas unfold, Eylon Levy was surprised by the government's ineptitude in the media and decided to volunteer interviews from his living room. Within a week, he was working as an official spokesperson for the prime minister. Now, again, a private citizen, Eylon continues to make the case for Israel abroad as he tries to convince Israelis to take the information war seriously.
Rudy Rochman visits campuses and other hotbeds of anti-Israel activity and engages the other side with incredible equanimity — even in the face of the seething mob. His videos have garnered millions of views on social media, but Rudy doesn't do it for the likes; he wants to change hearts and minds and bring light to wherever there is darkness…
Israel is finding itself increasingly alone as it fights for the future of the free world. French Jewish philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy accuses the West of cowardice in the face of a powerful coalition of Islamist forces and the promulgation of infectious and illiberal ideas at home.
Israeli journalist Haviv Rettig Gur discusses the need for deeper engagement in the Jewish community, our historical resilience, and the impact of October 7th. He reminds us we are the strongest Jews in history — heirs to those who worked, bled and sacrificed to give us Israel and American Jewry.
Embattled Columbia Business School Prof. Shai Davidai and newly minted Barnard graduate Noa Fay discuss the crisis that has been unfolding on their campus.
Former Israeli military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin contextualizes the ongoing war with Hamas, evaluates Israel's strategic goals, and helps us understand the regional and international situation.
Nazi hunter Dr. Elizabeth "Barry" White and Polish historian Dr. Joanna Sliwa set out to verify Jewish Polish mathematician Janina Mehlberg’s incredible claims that she survived the Holocaust by posing as the Countess Suchodolska and saved some 10,000 Poles from the Majdanek concentration camp...
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Bret Stephens helps us understand the White House's attitude toward Israel, the major political currents in America that seem to be leaving Jews behind, and a new national ideology that values identity and even victimhood over character and achievement...
Forced to marry a man whom she later discovered was a member of Al Qaeda, Yasmine Mohammed eventually found the strength to break away from radical Islam and cut ties with her abusive, fundamentalist family. Today her story continues to inspire people around the world as she works to help free other hearts and minds.
A true friend of both the Jewish community and the Jewish state, there's nothing in Congressman Ritchie Torres' background that would have predicted the millennial Democrat would become such an outspoken advocate for Israel. Rep. Torres challenges the narrative around what's happening with the U.S.-Israel relationship in Washington and within his party — and reveals how much support we really have.
One of the central players in Egypt's 2011 revolution, Dalia Ziada was forced to flee her homeland after voicing support for Israel in the wake of October 7th. Speaking with Rabbi Hirsch from an undisclosed location, this brave activist and analyst helps us unpack the fraught Egyptian-Israeli relationship and contextualize Arab states' proclaimed support for Hamas.
Dr. Ora Hirsch Pescovitz is the president of Oakland University and was among the first to issue a statement condemning the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel. Rabbi Ammi Hirsch's older sister helps us understand the atmosphere on American college campuses today and why so many university administrations have tolerated a deteriorating situation for Jewish students.
One of the Jewish world's great thinkers, writers and podcasters, Liel Leibovitz discusses his ideological homelessness, Judaism’s life-changing potential, and the problem with American universities in the wake of October 7th.
Celebrated biographer of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Kai Bird discusses the brilliant physicist's triumph, tragedy and legacy.
The massacre on October 7th was a turning point in history. Political analyst Ari Shavit discusses the immeasurable and long-lasting consequences this war will have for Israel and the Western world.
New York Times national political reporter Adam Nagourney discusses his new unauthorized history of The Grey Lady over the past four decades and the pursuit of truth in our turbulent times.
Alongside the shock, mourning, grief, and mobilization of war, there is also revelation. Returning guest Dr. Einat Wilf and author and editor David Hazony discuss the aftermath of October 7's "Black Sabbath" and its implications for the future of the Jewish people.
Acclaimed author Dara Horn explores the reasons “people love dead Jews” — and why the idea of Jewish power makes non-Jewish society so uncomfortable.
The Jerusalem Post's military correspondent for nearly a decade and its editor-in-chief for seven years, Yaakov Katz helps us understand how Israel ended up in this war and what might happen next...
With Israel at war, Rabbi Ammi Hirsch delivers a blunt yet uplifting message answering the question on all our minds: "What can we do?"
The civil unrest in Israel — centering around the judicial overhaul — is an unprecedented existential crisis that threatens to tear the country apart. Daniel Gordis has been one of Israel's most unabashed advocates. But today, he's calling on diaspora Jews to get involved in ways he never has before...
In this special episode, we air Rabbi Ammi Hirsch's keynote speech from Re-CHARGING Reform Judaism, a historic grassroots gathering of some 300 Reform leaders at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue to address the key challenges facing the movement.
Retired General Wesley K. Clark is a warrior and a scholar. Amid a rising tide of authoritarianism washing across the globe, the former NATO supreme allied commander helps us understand the defining global conflicts of our times — and how democracy can prevail.
Tablet Magazine Editor-in-Chief Alana Newhouse believes the real debate today is not between the left and the right, but rather between those who think there's something fundamentally broken in America and those who do not.
One of the main architects of the Abraham Accords, Jason D. Greenblatt discusses his appointment by President Trump as special envoy for the Middle East and how the failed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan gave way to a different kind of peace for the region.
During his six terms in Congress, Ted Deutch saw so much effort being poured into performative and pugnacious politics at the expense of the greater good. Now, as the new CEO of the American Jewish Committee, he's committed to building a strong center that strengthens us all.
Why is a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so elusive? Dr. Einat Wilf thinks the answer is simple, but that we've been unwilling to accept it.
The best-known documentary filmmaker in the world, Ken Burns is a master storyteller — and a patriot in the truest sense. His 35 films on subjects such as baseball, jazz, Mark Twain, the Civil War, and now the U.S. and the Holocaust see our country not only for what it is, but what it could be...
As the head of The Jewish Federations of North America, former U.S. Congressman Eric Fingerhut bears the responsibility of working with partners who often don't see eye to eye. He views that cooperation as key to the success of the Jewish community in America.
Michelle Goldberg has her finger on the pulse of the progressive left. The New York Times columnist sits down with our Rabbi Ammi Hirsch to discuss American politics, COVID-19 policies and Israel.
Perhaps today’s most prominent advocate for COVID-19 vaccines, Dr. Peter J. Hotez is struggling to untangle politics, anti-science and antisemitism — and save lives.
Raised Catholic, Stephen J. Dubner discovered his family's Jewish past later in life — and Judaism called to him from within. That same inquisitive spirit implores the "Freakonomics" co-author and radio host to explore "the hidden side of everything."
After she left her turbulent arranged marriage of more than 20 years, her ultra-Orthodox community shunned her. Now Beatrice Weber is fighting to place her youngest son in a yeshiva that teaches more than 90 minutes of math and English a day — and for the right of all New York's Hasidic children to receive a basic education.
Since arriving in Israel as a teenager, journalist Matti Friedman has spent his life and career trying to make sense of the Jewish state — and why it receives such outsized coverage.
A successful businessman, a generous philanthropist and one of the Jewish world's most important leaders, Ronald S. Lauder wasn't involved in Jewish life until his experience as ambassador to post-war Austria changed him.
In a special episode just ahead of the expected announcement of Israel's most far-right governing coalition in history, Times of Israel's founding editor David Horovitz unpacks the elections and their potential consequences for Israel and its relationship with American Jews.
Feminist icon Letty Cottin Pogrebin discusses her new book "Shanda," delving into the secrets and feelings of shame that defined her Jewish upbringing, celebrating the strides women have made, and framing the fight for the future of reproductive rights.
Does it feel like everything you read in the news is somehow slanted? Newsweek's Batya Ungar-Sargon presents her carefully researched history of American journalism and where she believes it started to go seriously wrong.
There are some people who'd have you believe it's impossible to support liberal causes and be a Zionist. But as founder and executive director of Zioness, Amanda Berman is fighting as hard as she can to reclaim progressive spaces for Jews.
Being Jewish has always been complicated. Listen as Rabbi Ammi Hirsch and Shalom Hartman Institute’s “Identity/Crisis” podcast host Dr. Yehuda Kurtzer examine how the success of assimilation has made negotiating our modern Jewish identities more complex.
Julia Jassey didn’t set out to lead the charge against antisemitism on college campuses, but a brush with casual Jew-hatred her freshman year changed the course of her life.
An eloquent advocate for peace and coexistence, Yossi Klein Halevi didn't start out that way. Hear how this former militant Jewish extremist is reaching across the divide to model a new kind of conversation between Jewish Israelis and Palestinians.
What happens when universities prioritize the pursuit of social justice theories over the search for truth? Hear from scholar/warrior Dr. Rachel Fish, who has spent her career studying the decline of critical thought on American campuses and empowering students and faculty to fight against the pressure to conform.
What would make a wildly successful entrepreneur switch gears and devote himself entirely to battling antisemitism? Hear how Jonathan Greenblatt went from Starbucks and the West Wing to the helm of the world’s leading anti-hate organization — the Anti-Defamation League — during these most challenging times for Jews in America.
Eve Barlow was living her dream as one of the world's top music journalists when one simple tweet in support of Israel turned her world upside-down. Hear Eve's inspiring story of courage in the face of overwhelming hate — and learn how you can fight antisemitism and anti-Zionism online.
He sought passage to Israel and he paid the price: nine years of hard labor in a Soviet prison. But the gulag only hardened his resolve. Hear Natan Sharansky's legendary story of Jewish resistance and his take on Russia's war against Ukraine.
