Rabbi Ammi Hirsch reflects on humanity’s paradox of high self-image versus our capacity for harm, emphasizing for his congregation in this election moment: “We are not destined for evil; we have the ability to choose.” 1
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In his Kol Nidre sermon at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York City, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch asks his congregation to guess which verse the sages deem the most important in the Torah, revealing an obscure verse that offers wisdom for the new year 3
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Rabbi Hirsch reminds his congregation of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue that the climate change on American campuses has been incremental, and that it is not too late to reverse the catastrophe. 0
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Reflecting on his congregation’s recent mission to Israel, Rabbi Hirsch recounts a morning spent picking strawberries that moved him profoundly and left him hopeful for the future of Israel. 0
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Rabbi Hirsch cries out about the need for moral teachers, moral training, and constant moral discipline to counteract the failure of America’s top leaders and educators to respond to October 7th. 43
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In a sermon to his congregation of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in NYC, Rabbi Hirsch offers impressions from his two long days of jury duty, remarking on the reality of human imperfections and the dependency of American institutions on the honor and integrity of those within them. 24
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Rabbi Hirsch leads a gathering in solidarity with Israel from the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue. 212
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Fifty years after the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War, Rabbi Ammi Hirsch reflects on his experience as a 14-year-old new Israeli immigrant and the Jewish state’s brilliant successes and unresolved disappointments over the intervening decades. 92
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Rabbi Hirsch looks at the atrocities of history through the lens of Jewish intellectual Stefan Zweig in his Rosh Hashanah sermon which reminds us that events are not inevitable, and that repentance, prayer and charity can avert the severe decree. 48
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Looking at the Torah portion that describes the awful plights that can result from acting unjustly, Rabbi Hirsch discusses the interdependence of humans and how individual failings and successes are actually collective. 63
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