Ammiel Hirsch: How To Understand Reform Judaism’s Anti-Zionist Crisis [Denominations Bonus Episode]

This series is sponsored by Joel and Lynn Mael in memory of Estelle and Nysen Mael.

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we follow up with Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch to break down the anti-Zionist crisis facing the Reform Movement.

As young Jews feel increasingly disconnected from the Jewish People, America’s non-Orthodox synagogues, summer camps, and day schools are challenged to ensure continuity and unity for the Jewish future. In this episode we discuss: 

—Do we need to choose between caring about our fellow Jews and caring about the world? 
—Why are younger Jews more antagonistic toward Israel than previous generations?
—Can American Jewry survive without a connection to Israel? 

Tune in to hear a conversation about the past, present, and future of American Jewry. 

Interview begins at 6:12.

Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch is a leader of the Reform Movement. He is the senior rabbi of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue and former executive director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America/World Union for Progressive Judaism, North America. He wrote two books: The Lilac Tree: A Rabbi’s Reflections on Love, Courage, and History (2023) and One People, Two Worlds: A Reform Rabbi and an Orthodox Rabbi Explore the Issues That Divide Them (2003), which he co-authored with Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Reinman.

References:

18 Questions, 40 Israeli Thinkers

Leviticus 19:17

Genesis 12:3

Amos 9

The War of Return by Adi Schwartz and Einat Wilf

Jewish Wisdom by Joseph Telushkin

The Book of Jewish Values by Joseph Telushkin

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