Prominent Reform rabbi to Democrats: Don't take American Jews for granted

The Democratic Party should not take the vote of American Jews for granted in the US elections, prominent American Reform Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch cautioned in a Friday sermon at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York.

“Allow me to express a non-partisan word to all our friends in elected office from the Democratic Party from one who is finely attuned to the American Jewish sentiment: Do not take American Jews for granted,” said Hirsch. “Be careful: The results of the upcoming election do not only depend on Michigan.”

A non-partisan word to our elected #Democrats: Do not take American #Jews for granted. Be careful: The results of the upcoming elections do not only depend on Michigan. pic.twitter.com/mLE79B91Hy

— Ammi Hirsch (@AmmiHirsch) April 14, 2024

Hirsch said he had spoken to many American Jews in recent months who had expressed to him their anxiety about the Democratic Party, and their perception that it had not only become increasingly hostile against Israel but also tolerant of antisemitism and anti-Zionism within its ranks.

Returning from a trip to Israel, Hirsch said he felt safe in Israel, and did not need to contend with the shadow of antisemitism as back at home. This antisemitism, he argued, had awakened not as a result of Jewish military power against Hamas, but in response to the vulnerability expressed on October 7. He called for the hostages not to be forgotten and reiterated the horrors perpetrated by Hamas during its October pogrom. Since then, anti-Israel actors have begun to make excuses and even engage in denial of the crimes.

“Israel is accused of genocide and the genocidal forces that launched this war are forgiven or forgotten,” Hirsch remarked.

Hirsch preached that it was important for Jews to have empathy with Palestinians and other civilians caught in the crossfire in the war with Hamas, like the World Central Kitchen aid workers killed on April 1. He emphasized that Israelis did not want to kill Palestinians, but had to defend themselves against the Gazan terrorist organizations, and did not want the war, which was started by Hamas.

The community had a responsibility to restore the “country’s moral sanity,” said Hirsch, who explained that October 7 had revealed a rot in Western society and that Western liberalism was under assault.

A rot in western society

“The Western world is spinning off of its moral axis,” said Hirsch. “The assault on liberty and decency will not end in the Middle East, it will come to the Midwest. It will not stop at Kibbutz Beeri, it will invade Brussels, Barcelona, Berlin, and Baltimore.”

Iran was behind much of the destabilization in the region, Hirsch noted in a Sunday video published by the synagogue in response to the launch of the Islamic Republic’s drone attacks on Saturday.

“It was a scary night last night in Israel,” Hirsch said, noting that a young girl was wounded by falling shrapnel.

Both Hezbollah and Hamas were the Iranian regime’s proxy. During his trip, the rabbi said he was unable to visit the North of Israel because of the continuous barrage of rockets that the Lebanese group fired into the Jewish state. He said the West had a direct existential interest in stopping Iran from having nuclear weapons, and praised the cooperation between Israel and its allies in stopping the attack.

“We should welcome the support of the allies. While of course, the Israelis took down many of those missiles, so did Israel’s allies. The United States first and foremost, the United Kingdom, France, and even the moderate Arab states took part in one way or another – the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, the Jordanians,” said Hirsch. “Big wars often create big geopolitical opportunities, and let’s hope that in the aftermath of this Iranian attack, the Western mind will be more focused.”

Hirsch praised Israeli society’s resilience and the IDF’s anti-missile systems.

“This did a lot to restore the confidence in the IDF that was shattered as a result of October 7,” Hirsch noted.

As Passover approached,  the rabbi called on his community not to take freedom and Jewish self-determination for granted.

“Our synagogue and American Jewry support Israel unconditionally, not uncritically, there never was such a Jew who was an uncritical Jew, but we support Israel unconditionally,” said Hirsch.