Media coverage of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue has included feature articles and highlights in the many local, national and international news outlets. Below is some select coverage that highlights the synagogue.
Press inquiries may be directed to Communications Director Ryan Greiss at rgreiss@swfs.org or (212) 877-4050, ext. 267.
JTA: Why a liberal Zionist rabbi isn’t taking to the streets over Israel’s judicial reform plan
Apr 30, 2023
Our Rabbi Ammi Hirsch sat down with JTA’s managing ideas editor to talk about his upcoming book, Israel-diaspora relations and the state of American liberal Judaism.
The Forward: Rain on the Israel Day parade? Organizers recruit Israeli president to promote the annual spectacle
Apr 27, 2023
Amidst Israel’s political turmoil, Jewish leaders such as Israeli President Isaac Herzog and our own Rabbi Ammi Hirsch, are asked to encourage turnout and support at this year’s Celebrate Israel Parade. “The Israel parade, like Israel, belongs to us all,” said Rabbi Hirsch.
JTA: Did you hear the one about the Jewish comedians who set out to explain Israel?
Apr 26, 2023
Comedians Joel Chasnoff and Benji Lovitt — ahead of their Yom Ha’atzmaut performance at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue this Thursday evening — answered questions from JTA about their book “Israel 201: Your Next-Level Guide to the Magic, and Mystery, and Chaos! of Life in the Holy Land.”
NY Jewish Week: Here’s how New York City is celebrating Yom Haatzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day
Apr 24, 2023
To celebrate Israel’s 75th Independence Day, Stephen Wise Free Synagogue is hosting a night of lighthearted comedy about Israel featuring Israeli-American comedians Joel Chasnoff and Benji Lovitt, co-authors of “Israel 201.”
RNS: Is it time to reform Reform Judaism?
Apr 20, 2023
“Reform Judaism began as Jews, eager to enter the modern world, began to reassess their relationship with the inherited tradition, and to create new understandings of Judaism. It is time to do it again,” writes Rabbi Jeff Salkin in his Martini Judaism column about our upcoming Re-CHARGING Reform Judaism conference. “Some have noticed that this conference is a grassroots effort, and not officially organized by any of the arms of Reform Judaism. This was neither an act of conscious rebellion, nor anti-establishment sentiment. Rather, it was an enthusiastic response to this historical moment in the life of American Judaism.”
The New York Times: Israel’s Right-Wing Government Has Jewish Democrats at a Loss
Apr 20, 2023
Defending Israel’s far-right government is proving difficult for American lawmakers and rabbis alike. Our Rabbi Ammi Hirsch, who created the Amplify Israel initiative to renew a commitment to Zionism in a Jewish community drifting away from the Jewish state, appeared near a breaking point last month when he pleaded to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the bimah, “Stop this runaway out-of-control car before it hurtles off the abyss,” The New York Times reports.
JTA: Torah is the anti-ChatGPT. But we can embrace artificial intelligence without losing our soul.
Apr 20, 2023
“The technology behind ChatGPT is either going to destroy the world or solve all of our problems,” our Rabbi Samantha Natov wrote in JTA News. She weighs the benefits and dangers of our new AI reality – and the drastic ways it will change how we connect with one another.
The Media Line: In 1st, US Democrats Side More With Palestinians Than Israelis, Poll Finds
Mar 19, 2023
Amid polling that has found an 11% increase in Democrats who sympathize more with Palestinians than with Israelis, our Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch told The Media Line: “While we have been aware of this trend, still it should constitute another wake-up call for American supporters of Israel as well as Israeli policy-makers and diplomats.”
Times of Israel: Leading NY rabbi: Israeli government speeding ‘headlong toward abyss’ with overhaul
Mar 18, 2023
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue says in his “most painful” sermon: “Israeli government is tearing society apart, bringing world Jewry along for dangerous ride”
CBS New York: Dressing up, eating sweets and giving back are all part of Purim celebration in New York City
Mar 6, 2023
From parodies of Billy Joel songs to musicals like “Mamma Mia,” for more than three decades the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue on West 68th Street has been telling the story of Purim through its annual “Purim Spiel.” Our Cantor Dan Singer, Rabbi Dalia Samansky and Purim spiel assistant director and costume coordinator Eileen Remor explain the holiday and our Stephen Wise Free Synaoguge’s spieling tradition.
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