In his Yom Kippur sermon, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch reflects on heroism and our quest for meaning.

“If we really look, we will discover that everything is broken,” he says. “We are all infirm. We might look whole from the outside, but we are a collection of broken pieces coarsely glued together.”

“A hero is one who, in the face of all the senseless absurdities and sufferings of life, keeps on keeping on, not giving in to disillusion and despair. Why do I live? What is my purpose? Let life be for a heroic cause. This is why we are here today: to render our lives more meaningful, to gain perspective, a sense of what could be.”

Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch is the senior rabbi at 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, support for Israel, and committed social action in the local community and beyond for more than 100 years. Learn more at swfs.org

In his Kol Nidre sermon, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch considers the US presidential election and Judaism’s demand that we speak about — and act upon — the moral challenges of our time.

“Beyond all of the critical issues – the economy, race relations, climate change, security in an age of terrorism, widespread inhumanity causing millions of desperate refugees to wander the world, the reemergence of international tension not seen since the end of the Cold War – we should consider the core principles at stake in these elections,” he says. “Every political choice we make is fundamentally a moral choice. Ultimately, politics is about conscience and character.”

Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch is the senior rabbi at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue. A vibrant Reform congregation on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Stephen Wise has served as a catalyst for progressive Jewish thought, support for Israel, and committed social action in the local community and beyond for more than 100 years. Learn more at swfs.org.

Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch focused on Israel in his Rosh Hashanah sermon.

“The objective of the Jewish state is not only freedom for our people, but freedom for all people,” Rabbi Hirsch said. “We liberal Jews should be a powerful voice for Jewish universal humanism.”

Stephen Wise Free Synagogue’s ties to Zionism date back to the synagogue’s founder, Rabbi Stephen Wise (1874–1949), who — unlike most Reform Jews of the early twentieth century — was committed to the establishment of a Jewish state. A vibrant Reform congregation on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Stephen Wise has served as a catalyst for progressive Jewish thought, support for Israel, and committed social action in the local community and beyond for more than 100 years. Learn more at swfs.org.