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.
Haaretz: To Build a Space to Mourn All the Lives Lost – Palestinian, Israeli and More’
Oct 13, 2024
This Yom Kippur, many prayer services in New York City focused on reconciling between Israelis and Palestinians, reflecting on Zionism, and mourning all the lives lost on Oct. 7 and during the Gaza war. At the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch delivered a sermon that sparked criticism for his remarks about young Reform Jews turning their backs on Zionism. In his sermon, Hirsch stated, “We tried to instill in you a sense of justice, righteousness … to mourn the life of Palestinian civilians is a virtue … What we did not intend is for your generation to turn your backs on our people. We wanted you to be Zionists. Abandoning Israel, we desert God.”
The New York Times: A Year After Oct. 7 Massacre, Jewish Anxiety Peaks in Pennsylvania
Oct 7, 2024
Jewish voters in Pittsburgh feel squeezed by intolerance on the left and the right, and torn by presidential candidates seeking their support in a vital battleground state. The phenomenon is hardly limited to Orthodox Jews, or confined to Pittsburgh. In New York, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch condemned elite liberals he described as abandoning their Jewish allies over the past year. “Oct. 7 was an easy moral case: Babies in cribs and grandparents who could barely walk were slaughtered in their houses,” he thundered. “What does it take for those who consider themselves paragons of social justice to speak out for Jews, and if not Jews, at least in defense of the central values of Western enlightenment?”
Newsweek: In a Post-October 7 World, American Jews Face a Crisis of Confidence
Oct 6, 2024
“One of the saddest developments since October 7 is the shock experienced by American Jews, who, for the first time in their lives, are encountering pervasive antisemitism,” writes Rabbi Ammi Hirsch in Newsweek. “The realization that age-old hatreds are still alive and kicking, even in America, thrust American Jews into a crisis of confidence…”
The New York Times: How Oct. 7 Changed American Jews
Oct 6, 2024
The toll of the past year since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel has shaken the foundation of American Jewish life. Many Jews have responded by reaching into deep wells of their history and faith. “There’s been a great not only trauma, but reawakening,” our Rabbi Ammi Hirsch told The New York Times. “Those who are distanced are coming back…”
FOX 5: NYC rabbi reflects on Rosh Hashanah: ‘The most trying and challenging year in my career’
Oct 2, 2024
With the start of Rosh Hashanah, many are approaching the Jewish New Year with mixed emotions. “This has been the most trying and challenging year in my career and the lifetimes of many of our people,” Rabbi Ammi Hirsch told FOX 5. “My hope for the world entire is that this war ends in the upcoming year. That Israel’s security is assured. That the killing stops, and we begin to take steps toward more peace… I hope that this year finds us in the United States a little less polarized, a little more tolerant, a little more united in the year to come.”
Haaretz: War, Grief and Ideological Divides to Dominate as U.S. Rabbis Prepare High Holy Days Sermons
Oct 2, 2024
With the High Holy Days coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the October 7 massacre, the challenge of speaking to the moment becomes especially daunting for U.S. rabbis this year as their congregations grapple with grief, uncertainty and anxiety.
The Jerusalem Post’s ’50 Most Influential Jews’ of the Year
Oct 1, 2024
Rabbi Ammi Hirsch was honored to be named one of The Jerusalem Post’s “50 Most Influential Jews” of 5784. “With the emotional turmoil caused by the Israel-Hamas War and the major spike in global antisemitism since October 7, the importance of rabbis as spiritual and community leaders has become more evident than it has been in decades. Many Jews who aren’t Orthodox have also struggled, particularly those in progressive spaces, like many Reform Jews around the world. It is here that Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch has been a pillar of guidance. Throughout the war, he has been active on social media and in media interviews, criticizing progressive groups that support Hamas and condemning the rising antisemitism in the US.”
Washington Examiner: Muslim-Americans push Harris for new Gaza commitment during debate
Sep 9, 2024
Joe Biden won a sweeping majority of the Jewish-American vote in 2020, but some members of the key Democratic voting bloc continue to view Harris with skepticism after she chose Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) as her running mate. “There’s a kind of suspicion that was in the back of our minds, and it’s creeping more to the center of our minds, that maybe it had something to do with the Jewishness of Governor Shapiro,” Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, who leads the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, told the New York Times last month. “Even if it didn’t, that perception is not healthy for the Democratic Party,” he added.
The New York Times: For Some Jewish Democrats, Heightened Worries About Antisemitism
Aug 11, 2024
In The New York Times, our Rabbi Ammi Hirsch expresses his concerns about the hard left: anti-Zionism “is not healthy for the Democratic Party, and it is not healthy for the well-being of the American polity.”
Israel Hayom: ‘We knew that the virus of antisemitism had not disappeared, but America has always been different’
Jul 8, 2024
“A Pandora’s box was opened on the day of the October 7 massacre, and all the evil and the antisemitism that was released from it — including the inextricable ties between anti-Zionism and antisemitism were completely exposed,” surprising the vast majority of American Jews “who define themselves as Zionists and regard Israel as an important part of their Jewish identity,” our Rabbi Ammi Hirsch told Makor Rishon in an interview about the “new” antisemitism that has roiled America and the western world. (This interview was originally conducted in Hebrew for Makor Rishon and an English translation was published in Israel Hayom.)
Subscribe To Our E-Newsletters
