Your Daily Phil: Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch and the state of Zionism in the Reform movement
Good Monday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on HIAS CEO Mark Hetfield’s appearance at the Halifax International Security Forum over the weekend, and feature an opinion piece by Ron Wolfson about what Bernie Marcus taught him about leadership and Jewish engagement. Also in this newsletter: Odelia Epstein, Kelsey Piper and Michael Morris. We’ll start with a look at how Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch has emerged as one of the Reform movement’s leading Zionist figures and internal critics.
Over the last decade — and particularly in the past year, in wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks — Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, the senior rabbi of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan, has emerged as perhaps the Reform movement’s most prominent pro-Israel voices, reports Jay Deitcher for eJewishPhilanthropy. Hirsch has accused his co-denominationalists of putting a universal form of tikkun olam (repairing the world) over ahavat Yisrael (loving fellow Jews) and has criticized the movement’s leadership for tolerating anti-Zionism.
His emergence as one of the most visible Zionist Reform rabbis has brought with it support for his initiatives, as well as pushback from other members of the movement, who see Hirsch as publicity-savvy, but not necessarily more important, and as ignoring the need for Reform Jewry to embrace a big-tent approach to Israel and Zionism (a claim he rejects).
The son of Rabbi Richard Hirsch, who founded the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center, the younger Hirsch spent his high school years in Israel, served in the Israel Defense Forces and was executive director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA) from 1992 until 2004, when he joined the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, one of the most prominent Reform congregations in the United States.
In recent years, Hirsch has used his perch on the pulpit of the Manhattan synagogue to launch Zionist initiatives for the movement.
The Reform movement has always maintained a universalist attitude, seeing the importance in the Jewish community considering itself as part of and responsible for society in general, and not exclusively or primarily for itself, which he said can quickly slip into non- or anti-Zionism. “We are [the] most on the seam between universal and particular values in the Jewish community,” Hirsch told eJP.
Rabbi Josh Weinberg, executive director of ARZA, stressed the need for the Reform movement to embrace a wide variety of opinions on Israel. “We are not a monolithic movement,” he told eJP. “We have diversity on everything: God, Torah, religious life and Israel too.”
While Hirsh is “a very, very important voice,” Weinberg said, “we have a whole movement of important voices as well.”
But many of those important voices are not as well recognized outside of their communities, Weinberg said. “Some rabbis have more of a PR campaign, and some rabbis are more local,” he said. “I don’t think there was a single rabbi who did not speak about Israel from the pulpit [after Oct. 7].” They “set the tone” for congregants’ relationships with Israel. When local governments vote on resolutions that affect Israel, “our rabbis represent the Jewish people to their local municipality.”
Steven Windmueller, emeritus professor of Jewish communal studies at HUC-JIR, Los Angeles, believes that Hirsch is not only carving out a space for avowedly pro-Israel voices in the Reform community but is working to ensure that Reform Jews continue to have their voices heard in Zionist circles, both in the Diaspora and — perhaps more importantly — in Israel, where Orthodox Judaism receives a far greater amount of funding, support and recognition from the government.
“There’s a huge battle [about] what role do liberal religious organizations and groups play in Israel,” said Windmueller, who spoke at the first two Re-CHARGING Reform Judaism Conferences. Hirsch is “playing for the long-term game… You need to stay in the battle in order to hopefully win a place at the table,” he said.
IN THE ROOM
Why the refugee group HIAS came to a Canadian defense conference
Most of the people at the Halifax International Security Forum (HFX) are senior lawmakers, high-ranking military officials or foreign policy experts. As president and CEO of HIAS, Mark Hetfield knows his work puts him in the minority twice over: the exclusive, 300-person conference has no other Jewish communal leaders this year, and only a scant few representatives from the human rights space, reports Gabby Deutch for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider, from the conference.
A global issue: But Hetfield, who has been a regular at HFX for nearly a decade, said that it makes perfect sense for a conference focused on promoting democracy and the rules-based international order to invite the leader of one of the world’s leading refugee groups. “We have the greatest number of refugees in human history right now,” Hetfield told JI in an interview at the conference on Saturday. “It’s a problem that the United States can’t solve alone, and certainly under Trump won’t. It requires a multilateral response, so it’s good to be at a multilateral forum.”
What’s next?: A chief concern among HFX attendees, hailing from Canada, Europe, the United States and more than 60 democratic nations, is how to prepare for a second Trump administration. “There’s a real danger that the Trump administration will bring us in the wrong direction,” said Hetfield. “[Migration] is a reality in the world today that every country has to deal with, and can be and is generally a positive when dealt with effectively. That’s kind of the crossroads that we’re at.”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
LIFE LESSONS
What Bernie Marcus taught us about leadership
“How I met Bernie is itself a story of relationships. In 2002, Bernie invited Jay Kaiman, then the Southeast regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, to join The Marcus Foundation… [He] called fellow ADL directors, asking if they knew of any exciting initiatives. The Midwest Plains regional director happened to be my brother, Bob Wolfson, who told him about Synagogue 2000/3000, a synagogue transformation initiative I co-founded with Rabbi Larry Hoffman… Bernie not only was a funder of S2K/S3K, but he also eagerly became our teacher. In a phenomenal workshop for clergy, staff, and lay presidents of Atlanta synagogues, Bernie shared his insights about quality service with these leaders,” writes Ron Wolfson, a professor of education at American Jewish University, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Centrality of relationships: “I once went to my local Home Depot looking to learn how to grout kitchen tiles. I walked in, anxious and embarrassed. ‘I know this is a stupid question, but…’ I told the associate in the grout aisle. ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘There’s no such thing as a stupid question in our store’ and began showing me how to grout… Those employees in bright orange aprons were not only there to sell; they were there to teach… From this I learned to teach, to never assume that the people who walk into our synagogues and JCCs know how to ‘do Jewish.’ Think of these institutions as the DIY centers for Jewish empowerment. To borrow a powerful tagline used for years in The Home Depot advertising: ‘You can do it. We can help.’”
Worthy Reads
A Good Education: In Prizmah’s journal, HaYidion, Odelia Epstein examines the scholarship on the positive effects of Jewish day school attendance. “At Prizmah, we are frequently asked about the impact of a Jewish day school education. What is the value proposition of Jewish day schools? What impact does their Jewish day school experience have on students as adults? We all know the reasons from our own experiences: a values-based education, a Jewish environment, a safe space to explore Jewish identity, a place to learn Jewish texts and the Hebrew language and gain a love for the [State] of Israel… Research conducted over the past two decades unequivocally illustrates the profound and lasting impact of Jewish day school education on individuals and the broader Jewish community. More than academic instruction, Jewish day schools provide an immersive environment rich in Jewish customs, values and culture. This holistic approach fosters strong Jewish identities, deep connections to Israel, and a commitment to communal involvement that extends well into adulthood.” [HaYidion]
Do Good or Give Well?: In Vox, Kelsey Piper laments that when Sam Bankman-Fried fraud trial spoiled the concept of effective altruism for many people, it took down some worthwhile ideas with it. “But a few things fall by the wayside if you stop talking about effective altruism in favor of just talking about the specific issues that the movement tended to zero in on. One of those things? The innovation called ‘earning to give.’ Earning to give is the controversial effective altruist idea that one good way to make the world a better place is to take a job where you make a lot of money and donate much of that money to important, underfunded work… Over the years, many of the people I know who have done earning to give ended up switching to directly working on important problems. That makes sense. If you’re a skilled tech or finance person, the kind who can earn a really high salary, there’s probably a lot of crucial work that would benefit from your skills, not just your checkbook. But I have always found something valuable and important in the case for earning to give. It goes like this: There’s a lot of important work that needs funding, and an individual family’s donations — my wife and I give around $50,000 a year — can make a huge difference in getting some of that important work done. Billionaire foundations will never cover all of it, and it’s better for organizations to be funded by motivated individuals than by billionaire foundations anyway.” [Vox]
Around the Web
United Arab Emirates authorities arrested three Uzbek nationals who are suspected of murdering Rabbi Zvi Kogan, an Israeli-Moldovan citizen and a Chabad emissary in the UAE, who was killed after being abducted in Dubai on Thursday; Kogan’s alleged murder was deemed an “antisemitic act of terror” by the Israeli government and was denounced by nearly all major Jewish organizations…
The first of 16 planned health centers in Israel was opened on Thursday as part of a collaborative project between the Jewish Federations of North America and the Israeli Health Ministry. JFNA has pledged to contribute nearly $7 million to the Mental Health in the Community program following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack…
A poll commissioned by France’s umbrella organization of Jewish institutions, CRIF, found a “historical reversal” with antisemitism increasing among the political left and among young people, and 12% of the respondents saying they thought it would be good for France if Jews left the country…
Some 35,000 people in the United Kingdom took part in the country’s annual “Mitzvah Day” of social action yesterday…
A coalition of over 50 synagogues, Jewish schools and other Jewish organizations in the Atlanta area led by the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta issued a letter condemning Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA) for voting to block weapons transfers to Israel…
The Hebrew Order of David Foundation, an international Jewish men’s fraternity, donated $200,000 to help the IDF Widows and Orphans Fund establish an educational endowment…
The UJA-Federation of New York will open its $12.5 million “social service hub” in south Brooklyn on Dec. 2. The Brooklyn Hub will be operated by the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty and is meant to be part of the federation’s anti-poverty efforts in the neighborhood, which has the highest Jewish poverty rate in New York City…
Atlanta Jewish Times owner and publisher Michael Morris pays tribute to his father, philanthropist Bernie Marcus, after his death three weeks ago, and thanks the community for their support…
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency explores the rise of “the Joshes” as three Democratic Jewish Joshes will be in the governor’s houses as of January — newly elected Josh Stein in North Carolina; Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania; and Josh Green in Hawaii — with the possibility of a fourth, if U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) wins his bid for governor of New Jersey…
In an opinion piece in the Chicago Sun Times, two medical professors highlight the increasing prevalence of antisemitism in medicine following Oct. 7 and call for an educational program to root it out of hospitals and medical schools….
On Friday the Texas State Board of Education approved a reading curriculum that includes Christian material, which has many Texas Jews concerned…
The Jewish nonprofit Mifneh L’Kedushah hopes to reopen a historic Quaker meeting house in Fairfield, Maine., as a multifaith community center this spring…
President-elect Donald Trump tapped hedge fund executive Scott Bessent to serve as his Treasury secretary…
Amid growing anti-Israel sentiment in Ireland following the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre and ensuing war, a new report by the education monitoring group IMPACT-se finds a steep rise in antisemitic attitudes within schools, including distortions of the Holocaust, Israel, Judaism and Jewish history in Irish textbooks, and says the government has been slow to address the issue…
The Times of Israel spotlights a two-day therapy retreat for the ZAKA rescue organization, whose members were among the first responders to the sites of the Hamas massacres on Oct. 7…
The city of Sderot commemorates the battle between Hamas terrorists and local police on Oct. 7 with a film memorializing the battle for the police station where 20 officers were killed and a memorial plaza at the site where the station, which was destroyed in the attacks, had stood….
A new survey from the U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps released on Tuesday reveals a return of nonprofit volunteers following the COVID-19 pandemic, with 28.3% of Americans — equivalent to 75.8 million people — having volunteered with a nonprofit between September 2022 and September 2023. Though rising, the numbers are still below pre-pandemic volunteerism levels…
After pushback from the Jewish community, the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers distanced itself from a speaker with a history of antisemitic remarks after initially promoting University of Minnesota teaching assistant Taher Herzallah to speak at a recent seminar called “being an educator in a time of war & genocide…”
Pic of the Day
Members of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement meet with representatives from the New York Police Department and other law enforcement agencies last week ahead of the annual International Conference of Shluchim, which draws thousands from emissaries from around the world, this weekend.
Birthdays
CEO of the Israeli American Council, he was the U.S. special envoy for monitoring and combating antisemitism during the Trump 45 administration, Elan Carr…
Writer, lawyer, actor and economic commentator, Ben Stein… President and CEO of the American Council for Capital Formation, Mark A. Bloomfield… Comic book writer and novelist, Christopher S. Claremont… Obstetrician and gynecologist, he is a past president of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven, Norman Ravski, MD… Beverly Hills commercial real estate investor, Albert Ahobim… Retired men’s college basketball coach with 615 career wins, he won coach of the year honors four times in two different conferences, Ben Braun… Historian at Tel Aviv University, focused upon religious phenomena in the Middle Ages, he is also president of the Ruppin Academic Center in Israel, Aviad Kleinberg… Director of the Chabad House in Johannesburg, Rabbi David Masinter… Retired senior research scientist at ExxonMobil and editor of Rav J.B. Soloveitchik’s commentary to the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur machzorim, Arnold Lustiger… Israeli fashion and wedding dress designer, her reality TV show airs in over 145 countries worldwide, Pnina Tornai… Member of the Knesset for the Likud party, he was the editor-in-chief at the Israel Hayom newspaper, Boaz Bismuth… Actress, comedian, entertainer and past member of the Tel Aviv-Yafo City Council, Orna Banai… Founder and former managing director at Beacon Global Strategies LLC, he was the deputy assistant secretary of state for strategic communications under Hillary Clinton, Philippe Reines… Attorney and former member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2003 until 2011, Adam Hasner… Strategic communications manager at the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ, Lauren Sueskind Theodore… Judge of the U.S. District Court for Maryland, Julie Rebecca Rubin… Former member of both houses of the South Dakota legislature, now a bail bondsman and a teacher at Congregation Beth Shalom in Sioux City, Iowa, Daniel Isaac Lederman… Vice chair and commissioner at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission until this past August, Keith Sonderling… Executive editor at Jewish Insider, Melissa Weiss… Deputy Washington editor and democracy editor for the Guardian, Kira Lerner…
