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Stephen Wise Free Synagogue

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SWFS COVID-19 Safety Policy

Stephen Wise Free Synagogue requires all people ages five and older who are eligible for vaccination to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to enter the synagogue building. Mask-wearing is required for everyone ages two and older.

Helping Your Secular Schools Respond to This Moment: Advice for Parents

Rabbi Rena Rifkin

As rabbi-educators at large synagogues in New York, we were not surprised when our inboxes were flooded with emails from parents expressing their frustration and concern with their schools’ responses to the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. They wanted advice on reacting to statements from their schools that failed to directly call out terrorism or express compassion and concern for the Jewish community. In some cases, schools that had condemned other world events were silent in the face of a massacre in Israel. In other cases, schools allowed antisemitism from teachers or students to go unchecked. After spending…

Israel is at war

Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch

On this Shabbat and Simchat Torah, the most joyous of Jewish festivals, Hamas launched an inhuman, brutal attack on Israeli civilians… There will be a time for investigating what went wrong. For now, we pray for the souls of the dead and the full recovery of the wounded. We call on the international community to condemn in the strongest terms the war crimes committed against Israelis. We pray for the well-being of the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces as they seek to bring Hamas terrorists to justice and ensure the safety of Israeli civilians.

‘We’ve done our best with you’

“WE’VE DONE OUR BEST WITH YOU,” Rabbi Ammi Hirsch told our graduating high school seniors as they gathered in our sanctuary. “You have been given all the tools to lead productive Jewish lives — and to make a difference in the world. And this is it! From now on, Jewishly, you’re on your own.” Then the graduates approached the ark to receive individual blessings from Rabbi Hirsch, who spoke quietly to each one before they left the bimah. As part of our Religious School’s end-of-year siyyum ceremony, our clergy took the opportunity to honor not only our younger students, but…

‘It was like we hit the double jackpot’

“IT WAS LIKE WE HIT THE DOUBLE JACKPOT,” recalls Melissa Glassman. When Melissa and Ken, who met as undergrads at Yale Hillel’s Kosher Kitchen, were looking for a preschool for their son, they fell in love with our Early Childhood Center — and were blown away the following night when they came for Kabbalat Shabbat services. “The rest was history,” Melissa says. Both of their children, Noah and Lilah, attended the ECC and Religious School before becoming b’nai mitzvah on our bimah. Now they wake up early on Sundays — no small feat for high schoolers — to support Rabbi…

‘Lily was beside herself…’

LILY* WAS BESIDE HERSELF when her six-year-old daughter’s school notified her about an antisemitic incident in the classroom this past December. Another first grader reportedly told his classmates something along the lines of: “I hate Jews. All Jews should die. And everyone who celebrates Hanukkah — I want to kill.” This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened to her family at their progressive private school, but it was certainly the worst. “I love my school and my kids are happy there,” says Lily, but she doesn’t feel that her daughter or the other Jewish families received enough…

‘Climate change directly affects each of us’

“CLIMATE CHANGE DIRECTLY AFFECTS EACH OF US,” says eighth grader Julia Rosenthal. “And it’s something that’s in our power to mitigate.” She along with 27 other eighth and ninth graders from Stephen Wise Free Synagogue and Temple Israel of New York City, traveled to New Orleans over the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. In the pre-dawn hours of January 13, the group of teens departed for John F. Kennedy International Airport and landed in New Orleans just before lunch. This four-day trip, part of our post-b’nai mitzvah teen program, explored the complex and rich history and culture of New Orleans…

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CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF RABBI AMMIEL HIRSCH

This May 21, Stephen Wise Free Synagogue will celebrate 20 years of Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch’s leadership. Join our community and support our synagogue at our Spring Benefit!

SUPPORT SWFS + RSVP