Ammiel Hirsch
Ammiel Hirsch is an American Reform rabbi and attorney. He is the senior rabbi of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue and former executive director of the Reform Zionists of America">Reform Judaism">Reform Zionists of America/World Union for Progressive Judaism, North America. In 2024, The Jerusalem Post' named him among “The 50 Most Influential Jews of the Year.” In 2016, ' magazine praised him as “the borough's most influential voice” for Manhattan's more than 300,000 Jews, and, in 2015, the named him among “New York’s Most Influential Religious Leaders.” He has written two books: "The Lilac Tree: A Rabbi's Reflections on Love, Courage, and History" and "One People, Two Worlds: A Reform Rabbi and an Orthodox Rabbi Explore the Issues That Divide Them", which he co-authored with Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Reinman.
Early life and education
Hirsch was born in the United States to Rabbi Richard G. Hirsch, a Reform rabbi who founded the movement's Religious Action Center in Washington, D.C., and Executive Director Emeritus of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. His mother is Bella Hirsch; he has two brothers and a sister, Ora Pescovitz.Hirsch spent his high school years in Israel and served in the IDF as a tank commander. He speaks fluent Hebrew. He went on to earn an LL.B. Honors from the London School of Economics and Political Science and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1985. He received rabbinical ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York, in 1989.
Reform leadership
From 1992-2004, Hirsch served as executive director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA), the Israeli arm of the North American Reform movement. An ardent Zionist, he guided ARZA to accept a new platform embracing Zionism in 1997. He was also a leader in the struggle against Israel's Orthodox religious establishment—which he called "the monopoly"—to recognize the Reform movement in Israel, and was influential in the successful lobbying effort to change Israel's Law of Return to recognize conversions performed by non-Orthodox rabbis in Israel.In 2004, he joined Stephen Wise Free Synagogue as Senior Rabbi.
Hirsch is also president of the New York Board of Rabbis and a member of Partnership of Faith — an interfaith body of New York religious leaders, the board of commissioners for New York City Mayor Eric Adams' Office to Combat Antisemitism, and New York State Attorney General Letitia James' Black-Jewish Clergy Roundtable. He lives in New York City.
Additionally, Hirsch runs a podcast, titled "In These Times with Rabbi Ammi Hirsch." In this podcast, Rabbi Hirsch meets with prominent Jewish, New Yorker, or International figures, and discusses current topics relating to politics and Judaism with the guests. A new episode releases once every 1-3 weeks.