| Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch | |
|---|---|
| Position | Senior Rabbi |
| Synagogue | Stephen Wise Free Synagogue |
| Other | Former Executive Director, Association of Reform Zionists of America/World Union for Progressive Judaism, North America |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Ammiel Hirsch |
| Born | 1959 |
| Nationality | United States |
| Denomination | Reform Judaism |
| Residence | New York City |
| Parents | Rabbi Richard G. and Bella Hirsch |
| Alma mater | London School of Economics and Political Science |
| Semicha | Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion |
Ammiel Hirsch (Hebrew: עמיאל הירש, also spelled Amiel Hirsch) (born 1959)[1] is a Reform Jewish rabbi and a bar-certified lawyer in New York. 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.
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He was born in the United States[2] to Rabbi Richard G. Hirsch (born 1926)[3] a Reform rabbi who founded that movement's Religious Action Center in Washington, D.C.[3] and is Executive Director Emeritus of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.[4][5] His mother is Bella Hirsch; he has two brothers and a sister.[3]
Hirsch spent his high school years in Israel,[5] serving in the IDF as a tank commander.[2] He speaks fluent Hebrew.[6] He went on to earn an LL.B Honors law degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and became a member of the New York State Bar in 1985.[7] He received rabbinical ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York, in 1989.[8][5]
From 1992–2004 Hirsch served as executive director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA), the Israel arm of the North American Reform movement.[8] An ardent Zionist[9], he guided ARZA to accept a new platform embracing Zionism in 1997.[6] 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,[6] and was influential in the successful lobbying effort to change Israel's Conversion Law to recognize conversions performed by non-Orthodox rabbis in Israel.[2][10]
In 2004 he joined Stephen Wise Free Synagogue as Senior Rabbi.[8]
Hirsch is also an officer of the New York Board of Rabbis and a member of the Partnership of Faith, an interfaith body of New York religious leaders. He lives in New York City.[8]
In 2000[11] a literary agent introduced Hirsch to Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Reinman, an Orthodox rabbi and Talmudic scholar, with the idea of collaborating on a book airing the Reform and Orthodox viewpoints on various issues. Their email correspondence over the next 18 months resulted in the book One People, Two Worlds: A Reform rabbi and an Orthodox rabbi explore the issues that divide them.[1] The book was hailed by the religious left as a breakthrough in Orthodox recognition of religious pluralism, while generating criticism in Orthodox circles for Rabbi Reinman's willingness to conduct an official rabbinic dialogue with Reform.[12] The book was denounced by the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel of America[13] and the heads of Beth Medrash Govoha, Lakewood, New Jersey, where Reinman received his rabbinic ordination.[14] Reinman subsequently pulled out of a 14-city promotional tour after two appearances, leaving Hirsch to continue the tour on his own.[15][16]